I should probably say up front that I work in this field, so this isn't based on a few headlines or a panic after a hot week. My job has involved working with scientists, policymakers and communities for years, I have a PhD in social policy (focused on social action and social change), so I'm fairly well immersed in the evidence. If anything, it's made me less alarmist, not more.
But I honestly feel like I'm watching two different realities.
The impacts we've been warned about for decades are now happening with increasing regularity, yet most people seem remarkably unbothered. We have a hot spell, floods somewhere else, another wildfire, another record broken... and everyone just seems to shrug and move on.
I'm not expecting people to spend every day worrying about it. Life is busy enough. But I genuinely don't understand why there isn't far more public outcry and pressure on politicians to treat this as the priority it surely has to be. People do talk about the consequences (such as wildfires etc) but the discussion on the causes (fossil fuels, over consumption etc) remain largely untouched - when we should be absolutely raging!
Maybe people feel powerless. Maybe we've just adapted to each new "once in a generation" event until it becomes normal.
I don't know. I just find the lack of urgency really hard to get my head around. This is the single biggest threat to our current and our children's futures - it could literally kill them - and we seem to be walking blindfolded....