In our age of fast-moving global changes, we need hope and optimism as natural antidotes to pessimism. The greater the uncertainty around an issue such as climate change, the more vital it is that we step into this uncertain future with a sense of possibility and opportunity.
Despite the growing and often overwhelming evidence of the effects and costs of climate change, there is a great deal we do not know—for example how fast, and in what ways—human-caused changes to our environment will emerge.
Why We Need Hope and Optimism
Hope and optimism are necessary for taking action and solving problems, even though we cannot fully know the future. No matter how much information we have about climate change, there are still large uncertainties because of our limited knowledge and ability to predict the future through scientific models.
The more that such predictions become dire, the greater is our need to ask ourselves: What do I really think will happen and what difference will it make if I take action?
The answer to this question helps us determine whether we should work on the problem.
For example, if we think curbing emissions is unlikely to reduce global warming significantly, then that decreases the value of taking action and increases our need to focus on adaptation instead.
However, if we think that taking action might limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, then we would be motivated to act even in the face of large uncertainties.
Moving Forward Despite Our Fear
It’s natural for humans to avoid uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, but it is important that we work through them rather than deny them.
Denial comes from a place of fear. We are afraid of uncertainty, which brings up a sense of powerlessness. So we avoid it and feel a sense of relief when we do.
However, by doing so, we are closing ourselves off from making an important contribution to society that can only be made from a place of empowerment.
In this way, the importance of hope and optimism with climate change is that they allow us to embrace the vast uncertainties of our future world and take action from a place of empowerment.