Cognitive dissonance

August 14, 2025

Cribbs describes a bleak future, a “loss in human cognitive ability”. We may well have reached a point “where our technology has outpaced our ability to comprehend what it delivers, let alone do anything purposeful to correct it”.

Science historian Naomi Oreskes writes that as early as the 1950s, scientists were warning about the dangers of human-made climate change. By the 1970s, the scientific community was highlighting the potential impacts of human activities on global temperatures. ExxonMobil scientists projected that fossil fuel emissions would lead to .02 degrees of global warming per decade, with a margin of error of 0.04 degrees. James Black, a senior Exxon scientist, informed the company that the “most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels”.

Our ability to act collectively on our dire climate position has been hampered by a deliberate cover-up, dis- and misinformation campaigns, waged and orchestrated by fossil fuel industries for more than half a century.

We have the knowledge and technological knowhow to turn things around, but our lack of urgent action stems in part from this deliberate, concerted and long-term strategy of denial.