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Articles

Climate of Disbelief

Paul Biegler asks whether the way we form our beliefs means we’re hardwired to succumb to global warming.

In January 2012 physicist Stephen Hawking decided to celebrate his birthday early, with a warning of apocalypse: “I think it is almost certain that a disaster such as nuclear war or global warming will befall the Earth within a thousand years” (BBC Radio 4 interview, 6th Jan 2012). Further souring the ambience, he warned that during “a period of unprecedented climate change, scientists have a special responsibility once again to inform the public and to advise leaders about the perils that humanity faces.” In the wake of ex-UN Climate boss Yvo de Boer’s salvo that the UN’s 2014 Climate Report would “scare the wits out of everyone,” Hawking’s words have fresh oxygen, albeit with lashings of carbon dioxide, too.

But if the physics professor hoped to avert Armageddon by playing Jeremiah, he failed to spot a flaw in his formula. Warning the public is one thing.

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