âThis is the hottest day of my lifeâ Bart says. Homer leans in with a half-smile and says, âThe hottest day of your life so far.â
This climate doom meme is everywhere. Itâs one of thousands poking nihilistic fun at a climate apocalypse. The news is more serious, every day showing a worsening situation and severe climate events. The impact of all this growing coverage was revealed this week when Google shared that searches for âclimate anxietyâ have soared 565 percent over the past 12 months.
Market researchers have tracked this growing concern for decades. A Ipsos Global Trends survey is conducted at the start of each year. In the 2023 report, an average of 80 percent of respondent in 50 countries agreed that âWe are heading towards an environmental disaster unless we change our habits quickly.â Iâve long said that Iâm more worried about growing fatalism than I am of global warming itself. Climate change is just chemistry, human consciousness is much more complicated.
The difference is that these Google searches arenât about âclimate change scienceâ or even âclimate crisisâ (although theyâve grown too). All those people are tapping into Googleâs search box about their own mental state, or because they are worried about their childrenâs eco-anxiety. People are now seeking emotional solace and psychological support. I doubt they are getting much in response to those searches. At best, some article on âhow to copeâ with impending disaster.
But, thereâs another fascinating finding about our online activity which suggests a solution. Last year SKY research revealed that in the UK, nearly one in three people search for positive and uplifting content on social media every single day. From #HopeCore positive quotes to cat videos, nostalgia stories to random acts of kindness, people spend on average two hours each day seeking out positive content, increasing to almost four hours for those aged 16-24.
The greatest secret of course is that climate action will deliver exactly that happiness boost people are spending so much time looking for. When someone searches âclimate anxietyâ the first page of results should be about the health benefits of a sustainable diet, how renewables can lift people out of poverty, that solar will make us safer and that â15 min citiesâ will give you more time in your day.
Too often we forget to sell the huge emotional benefits of climate action. Just last year the IPCC report set out how enacting huge climate infrastructure changes would improve progress towards almost every Sustainable Development Goal. From health to livelihoods, gender equality to national security â climate action makes the world a better place.
And that means a happier place. We know that in countries closer to meeting the SDGs, people are already happier. This is the message climate communicators too often forget. Even when we sell âvisionsâ they tend to be clinical or technological utopias. We donât tell people how they will feel in that future. We must allow climate solutions for the heart.
Shoulders a bit more relaxed. Getting better sleep because youâre healthier. Excited about your kidâs future. Taking big deep breaths. Having time to daydream rather than rush about. Smiling with pride rather than riddled with guilt. There are so many more benefits if we build in how it feels to live with some green space, renewably powered, with neighbourhood resources in a world youâre not constantly reminded is going to burn.
Great initiatives are already working into this nexus, like the inner development goals and Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnsonâs TED talk on climate joy. We need so many more people leaning into the emotional benefits of our great low-carbon transformation.
The next time someone taps âclimate anxietyâ into Google, I hope they find a host of resources about how climate solutions = happiness.