In this talk we first step into a doomsday worldview about climate change and make the case for that perspective. Then we step outside of that perspective to reflect on worldviews and climate change.

1. 17. We are F****d
Adam Briggle
UNT Phil 4250 Climate Change
adam.briggle@unt.edu

2. Ackbar looks in his
crystal ball… and sees
doom!!

3. What does it
mean to be
doomed?
• Not necessarily human extinction, but it could mean mass
deaths (though rich may flourish still).
• The end of global human development –
backsliding/contraction.
• Some really bad outcomes:
• Heat makes large parts of Earth uninhabitable
• Agricultural systems fail, leading to starvation
• Coastal zone flooding
• Mass migration leading to conflict and war
• Spread of infectious diseases
• Water shortages and air quality hazards
• Oceanic and other ecosystem collapse and biodiversity
crashes

4. Vaclav Smil
• Kiss this way of life goodbye
• Justice cannot mean more
consumption for all…

5. We are Doomed
1. The only way to avoid disaster is to stay within our carbon budget.
2. It is too late for that. This will lead to those bad outcomes.
3. We have not and will not act in time. Why?
4. Because global ‘decoupling’ is a fool’s errand.
5. Because of corporate hegemonic power and greed.
6. Because we are trapped in a petro/carbon culture.
7. Because we lack moral imagination and will power.
8. Let’s look at the evidence, shall we?

6. So…do we give up?
• No, because being doomed is a matter of degrees (figuratively and
literally)
• Still push for aggressive mitigation
• But we also need to start adapting in all sorts of ways – policies,
infrastructure… also mentality (learning to die, let go of this way of
life)… and adapting our sense of self – enlarging our empathy, our
moral community.

7. Worldviews
• Theory: a view of the decisive features – a way of making sense or
meaning out of all the complexity.
• A ‘discourse’ or worldview.
• One way to classify worldviews about climate change is by degree of
alarm.
• How serious is it? Asteroid or diabetes… (McKibben or Shellenberger)

8. A spectrum of worldviews
Climate as crisis
or emergency
Climate as
manageable issue
The down wing
Risk-averse
Earth as fragile
Humans as hubristic
The up wing
Risk brings reward
Earth as robust
Humans as clever

9. Determinants of Worldviews
• Why do beliefs fall along a spectrum (why not all agree – we have the
same facts available to us!)?
• Well, it can sometimes be for illegitimate reasons… e.g., not alarmed because
you believe it is all a hoax.
• But there is plenty of legitimate room for disagreement.
• Because the data or science alone does not tell us what to ‘make of it’ – what it
all means.
• And because we are talking about the future, which is unpredictable.
• Worldviews are shaped by values, judgments, assumptions…

10. Determinants of Worldviews
• What is your attitude toward risk?
• What is your view on the proper human reach?
• How sensitive is the Earth?
• Thresholds and positive feedback? Limits? Unforeseen and unintended
consequences?
• How smart are humans?
• Can technology deliver on promises of green growth?
• Can this happen in the context of nation state geopolitics?
• Can this happen in the context of neoliberal global capitalism?

11. “Don’t worry…I
mean… maybe Elon
Musk or Jeff Bezos will
get us off Earth before
it gets really bad…?”
-- Ackbar, space cadet
and lousy optimist