It’s not always easy to find good news about climate change. We read about climate disasters on the news, see shocking images and data on social media, and hear about new doomsday scenarios from our friends and family all the time. It’s enough to make you want to give up hope—almost.

There are two ways to talk about climate change. Some people focus on how bad things have gotten. These people are called climate doomers. They believe fear will inspire action. Some even assume there’s no point in acting. For them, it’s already too late. Others are what we could call climate optimists. These people say there are good reasons to believe we can solve our climate problems. They think we should focus more on the good news. This group says if we focus only on bad news, people will feel helpless and hopeless. That might make them give up. The best way to inspire people to act is to give them hope. That is what climate optimists believe.

We agree with the optimists. What about you?

Who says humanity is doomed?

In 2021, young people ages 16 to 25 were surveyed about their attitudes toward climate change. Ten thousand people took part in the survey. More than half said they believe humanity is doomed. More than one-third reported they were afraid to have children because of future climate change. Many said they believed they would have a harder life than their parents had. The climate doomers have convinced many people.

Still, they haven’t convinced everyone. Were you born after 1996? If so, you’re a member of the generation most likely to do something about climate change. Your age group spends more time talking about climate change and taking action to fix it than your parents or your grandparents.¹ And you are giving older generations hope. People are listening to you.

But perhaps you are not yet a climate activist. Maybe climate change makes you very worried. Let me try to convince you to become what we call an informed optimist.

What do informed optimists believe?

Should we be optimistic? It seems like there’s a new story about a climate disaster every day. Summertime is particularly bad. All summer, we hear about heat waves, fires, and hurricanes.

But this isn’t the whole picture. The data that scientists look at gives us a more complete idea than individual news stories. It shows there’s cause for optimism. For example, the data in the chart below shows that new technologies and better social organization are making people better able to handle natural disasters. Death rates from these disasters are falling.

Death rates from disasters

And it doesn’t stop there. The cost of renewables like solar energy and wind power has dropped steeply. The price of batteries for storing all that clean energy is also lower. Electric vehicle sales are increasing every year. And lawmakers have passed some meaningful climate laws, like the Inflation Reduction Act.

Scientists who know climate data the best are still worried, of course. They want us to work together to stop some changes before they have a huge negative effect. But many also want us to understand that there are still things we can do. They still believe we can turn things around. These scientists certainly don’t think we are doomed.²

Informed optimism is not blind optimism

There are good reasons to be optimistic about the future. But nobody’s saying climate change isn’t an enormous challenge. Being optimistic doesn’t mean you should be satisfied with how things are. Informed optimists know if we do nothing, things will get worse. They also know that there are solutions to climate change. There are new ideas and new ways of doing things that they believe will make a big difference.

Informed optimists know that new ideas often fail. The public is often slow to accept new things. Many technologies we need to fight climate change still face great resistance. That is true of everything from nuclear energy to plant-based meat substitutes. But informed optimists don’t give up. Instead, they learn and continue to act and find new solutions.

We have to keep at this!

We still have time to make a difference. But we won’t solve our problems unless we work on them together. And that sort of widespread cooperation requires hope. It won’t be possible unless there are informed optimists around the world.

We must begin using new forms of energy. We also need to change how we grow and treat our food, the materials we use to build, how we move ourselves and our cargo, and how we heat and cool our buildings. We must convince governments, corporations, and individuals to adopt these changes. This work will be risky. It will sometimes fail, and it will often be expensive. But we won’t do any of this if we’re pessimistic—if we think the world is already doomed. We need informed optimists.

So, it’s time to choose between the two big trends of your generation. We can give in to fear and expect the worst about climate change. Or we can be willing to believe in the possibility of a better future and try to make it happen. The informed optimists will act. Will you join them?

1 Cary Funk, “Key Findings: How Americans’ Attitudes About Climate Change Differ by Generation, Party and Other Factors,” Pew Research Center, May 26, 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/26/key-findings-how-americans-attitudes-about-climate-change-differ-by-generation-party-and-other-factors/
2 Hannah Ritchie, “Stop Telling Kids They’ll Die from Climate Change,” Wired, January 11, 2021. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/climate-crisis-doom