{"id":85464,"date":"2025-12-07T22:12:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T22:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85464\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T22:12:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T22:12:48","slug":"contributor-the-lefts-climate-panic-is-finally-calming-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85464\/","title":{"rendered":"Contributor: The left’s climate panic is finally calming down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is the American left finally waking up from its decades-long climate catastrophism stupor? For years, climate alarmism has reigned as political catechism: The planet is burning and only drastic action \u2014 deindustrialization, draconian regulation, even ceasing childbearing<\/a> \u2014 could forestall certain apocalypse. Now, at least some signs are emerging that both the broader public and leading liberal voices may be recoiling from the doom and gloom.<\/p>\n

First, recent polling shows that the intensity of climate dread is weakening. According to a July report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication<\/a>, while a majority (69%) of Americans still say global warming is happening, only 60% say it\u2019s \u201cmostly human-caused\u201d; 28% attribute it mostly to natural environmental changes. A similar October study from the University of Chicago\u2019s Energy Policy Institute<\/a> found that \u201cbelief in human-driven climate change declined overall\u201d since 2017. Interestingly, Democrats and political independents, not Republicans, were primarily responsible for the decline.<\/p>\n

Moreover, public willingness to countenance personal sacrifice in the name of saving the planet seems to be plummeting: An October 2024 poll from the Pew Research Center<\/a> found that only 45% said human activity contributed \u201ca great deal\u201d to climate change. An additional 29% said it contributed \u201csome\u201d \u2014 while a quarter said human influence was minimal or nonexistent.<\/p>\n

The moral panic is slowly evaporating. Millions of Americans may still believe warming exists, but far fewer view it as an imminent existential threat \u2014 let alone embrace sweeping upheavals in energy policy and personal lifestyle.<\/p>\n

The fading consensus among ordinary Americans matches a more dramatic signal from ruling-class elites. On Oct. 28, no less an erstwhile ardent climate change evangelist than Bill Gates published a remarkable blog post<\/a> addressing climate leaders at the then-upcoming COP30 summit. Gates unloaded a blistering critique of what he called \u201cthe doomsday view of climate change,\u201d which he said is simply \u201cwrong.\u201d While acknowledging the serious risks for the poorest countries, Gates insisted that humanity will continue to \u201clive and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.\u201d He added that \u201cusing more energy is a good thing, because it\u2019s so closely correlated with economic growth.\u201d One might be forgiven for suffering a bit of whiplash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The unraveling of climate catastrophism got another jolt recently with the formal retraction<\/a> of a high-profile 2024 study<\/a> published in the journal Nature. That study \u2014 which had predicted a calamitous 62% decline in global economic output by 2100 if carbon emissions were not sufficiently reduced \u2014 was widely cited by transnational bodies and progressive political activists alike as justification for the pursuit of aggressive decarbonization. But the authors withdrew the paper after peer reviewers discovered that flawed data had skewed the result. Without that data, the projected decline in output collapses to around 23%. Oops.<\/p>\n

The climate alarm machine \u2014 powered by the twin engines of moral panic and groupthink homogeneity \u2014 is sputtering. When the public grows skeptical, when billionaire techno-philanthropists question the prevailing consensus and when supposedly mainstream scientific projections reverse course, that\u2019s a sign that the days of Al Gore\u2019s \u201cAn Inconvenient Truth\u201d propaganda documentary and John Kerry\u2019s \u201cspecial presidential envoy for climate\u201d globe-trotting vanity gig<\/a> are officially over.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, no one stands to benefit more from this incipient trend toward climate sanity than the American people themselves. In an era when optimism can be hard to come by, the professed certitude of imminent environmental apocalypse is pretty much the least helpful thing imaginable. If one is seeking to plant the seeds of hope, nothing could be worse than lecturing to the masses that one is a climate change-\u201cdenying\u201d misanthrope if he has the temerity to take his family on an airplane for a nice vacation or \u2014 egad! \u2014 entertain thoughts of having more children. Even more to the point, given the overwhelming evidence that Americans are now primarily concerned about affordability and the cost of living<\/a>, more \u2014 not less \u2014 hydrocarbon extraction has never been more necessary.<\/p>\n

There are green shoots that liberals and elites may be slowly \u2014 perhaps grudgingly \u2014 giving up on the climate catastrophism hoax to which they have long stubbornly clung. In America\u2019s gladiatorial two-party system, that could well deprive Republicans of a winning political issue with which to batter out-of-touch, climate-change-besotted Democrats. But for the sake of good governance, sound public policy and the prosperity of the median American citizen, it would be the best thing to happen in a decade.<\/p>\n

Josh Hammer\u2019s latest book is \u201cIsrael and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.\u201d This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. X: @josh_hammer<\/a><\/p>\n

Insights <\/p>\n

L.A. Times Insights<\/a> delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles. <\/p>\n

Viewpoint This article generally aligns with a Right point of view. Learn more about this AI-generated analysis<\/a> Perspectives <\/p>\n

The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.<\/p>\n

Ideas expressed in the piece<\/p>\n

The author contends that climate catastrophism has dominated progressive political discourse for decades but is now experiencing a notable decline in public support and credibility. Recent polling demonstrates weakening consensus on climate risks, with only 60% of Americans attributing warming primarily to human causes compared to 28% citing natural environmental changes, while belief in human-caused climate change has declined particularly among Democrats and independents since 2017. The author notes that public willingness to accept personal sacrifices for climate goals has diminished substantially, with only 45% of Americans saying human activity contributed \u201ca great deal\u201d to warming. The author highlights prominent figures like Bill Gates questioning the \u201cdoomsday view of climate change\u201d and emphasizing that humanity will continue to thrive, arguing that increased energy consumption correlates with economic growth. The retraction of a 2024 Nature study that had predicted a 62% decline in global economic output by 2100\u2014which peer reviewers found used flawed data\u2014serves as evidence, according to the author, that catastrophic projections lack credibility. The author maintains that climate alarmism has been counterproductive to American well-being, fostering pessimism about the future and discouraging people from having children or pursuing economic development, and that moving away from this narrative will allow policymakers to address concerns Americans prioritize, particularly affordability and cost of living, through expanded hydrocarbon extraction.<\/p>\n

Different views on the topic<\/p>\n

Scientific researchers have documented substantive health consequences from climate-related extreme events that suggest legitimate grounds for public concern rather than baseless alarmism. A comprehensive peer-reviewed literature review identified extensive evidence linking climate change to measurable increases in anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation following extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and droughts[1]<\/a>. The research demonstrates that approximately 80% of the global population experiences water and food insecurity resulting from climate impacts, with particularly acute effects in rural areas facing drought and agricultural disruption[1]<\/a>. Scientific studies indicate that anthropogenic warming has contributed to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, with vulnerable populations\u2014including elderly individuals, low-income communities, women, and disabled persons\u2014facing disproportionate risks due to limited access to resources and protection[1]<\/a>. Rather than representing unfounded catastrophism, documented mental and physical health outcomes following extreme weather suggest that public concern about climate impacts reflects genuine public health challenges warranting policy attention and resource allocation for adaptation and mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is the American left finally waking up from its decades-long climate catastrophism stupor? For years, climate alarmism has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8222,11432,21162,48152,48149,29447,48150,1751,48151,48,52,51,47,50,49,48154,7755,48155,48153,11466,4743],"class_list":["post-85464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-decline","tag-americans","tag-bill-gates","tag-climate-alarmism","tag-climate-change-communication","tag-consensus","tag-decades-long-climate-catastrophism-stupor","tag-democrats","tag-energy-policy-institute","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-moral-panic","tag-one","tag-public-willingness","tag-ruling-class-elite","tag-sign","tag-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}