In the first of his four maxims on habit, philosopher William James writes that “in the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one, we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as possible” (1890). Climate scientist Michael Mann suggests such an approach should be applied more broadly :

“Climate action requires a fundamental transition in our new global economy and massive new infrastructure, but there is no reason to think we can’t accomplish it – and accomplish it rapidly – with the right market incentives… [that] must involve both supply-side and demand-side measures” (2021, p. 120).

Mann cautions that clear messaging is critical to climate action. Referencing activist and author Naomi Klein’s more inclusive approach, that “climate change can’t be separated from other pressing social problems, each a symptom of neoliberalism; income inequality, corporate surveillance, misogyny and white supremacy”, Mann suggests “such framing fans the flames of the conservative fever swamps, reinforcing the right-wing trope that environmentalists are ‘watermelons’ (green on the outside, red on the inside) who secretly want to use environmental sustainability as an excuse for overthrowing capitalism and ending economic growth” (2021, p. 95).

Whether cutting emissions or considering riskier geoengineering approaches in climate action, the critical factor is consensus, according to physicist David Keith, and such decision-making

“demands an extension of our moral compass to include beings distant from our day-to-day world: future generations, the distant poor, and the natural world. No basket of technical fixes will solve the carbon-climate problem if humanity cannot reach some rough social consensus about shared values that drive action” (2013, p. 173).

In building consensus, are we to agree with author of the counter-cultural “Whole Earth Catalogue” (1968), Stewart Brand, who states that climate change is everyone’s problem, “because it was brought about by damn near everyone, and unintentionally”? (2009, p. 293). What of the systems underlying carbon emissions and how do they square with climate action if, as activist Clive Hamilton claims, “the root cause of environmental ills is over-consumption driven by industrial capitalism”? Do solutions demand “fundamental social reforms, not new technologies that merely buy us more breathing space”? (2013, p. 127).

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Brand, S. (2009) Whole Earth Discipline. New York, United States: Penguin Books

James, W. (1890), Habit, in The Principles of Psychology, Volume I, Chapter IV, (pp. 122 – 127). New York, United States: Henry Holt and Co. [HTML document] retrieved April 2022 from https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/prin4.htm

Keith, D. (2013) A Case for Climate Engineering. Cambridge, United States: Boston Review – The MIT Press

Mann, M. (2021) The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back the Planet. New York, United States: PublicAffairs – Hachette Book Group