How to Read Positive Articles on Climate Change If You Feel It is Hopeless

The mainstream media often portrays the climate crisis as a helpless crisis, but you can change the way you think by reading positive climate articles instead. For instance, Unicorn Riot and It’s Going Down are two popular climate change blogs that don’t focus on political campaigns, Presidential election results, or diplomatic accords. Instead, they highlight the work of ordinary people who are fighting climate change on their own.

While both forms of optimism are useful in creating change, they can lead to conflicting results. Using doomsday scenarios and positive assessments of human behavior may turn people off or encourage denial. Therefore, environmental movements are increasingly shifting their focus to positive climate change narratives and stories of change. People need hope to act on climate issues and feel they can do something about it. But, they need to do it in a constructive way.

While individual “green” behaviors are important, they are not enough to reverse climate change. Not everyone can afford to install solar panels or control hot water heater insulation. And the time required to make changes is a factor. Ultimately, the only way to make a difference is to change the mindset of the whole society. For example, the climate-change dialogue can worsen mental health problems. The first step in treatment is finding a therapist who recognizes that climate despair is not a symptom of a mental illness.

But you might think it’s hopeless if you don’t believe that the media is biased. In fact, most climate-change-related articles are filtered by corporate interests. Those who are critical of the cause may be accused of being too left-wing or too radical, which only serves to make their message more bleak. And if the media are neutral, then they won’t cover any positive developments.