A Summary and Review of "The Grip of Culture: The Social Psychology of Climate Change Catastrophism"
Andy West's groundbreaking book.
Human activity, largely through the combustion of hydrocarbons since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, is changing the earth’s climate in ways that will eventually result in a total apocalyptic collapse of the the planet.
At least that’s what the dominant cultural narrative as pushed by media, governments, and apparently a broad consensus of scientists say. This view was popularized into the mainstream in part by the 2007 documentary An Inconvenient Truth co-directed by former US Vice President Al Gore.
People who push back at this narrative, even at the slightest are cast as “climate-deniers,” an nod to Holocaust deniers, regardless of whether they acknowledge the human contribution to changing climate or flat out believe that CO2 isn’t the climate “control knob.” There are currently several popular authors out there such as Bjorn Lomborg, Michael Shellenberger, and
who’ve argued against parts or most of this narrative. Challengers also include scientists with a wide variety of views (with significant disagreements among each other) such as and Steve Koonin, Judith Curry, William Happer, Willie Soon, and statistician .With Curry and Shellenberger as exceptions1 each of these individuals’ work, however, has not captured much on the social and psychological aspects of climate catastrophism. This is where Andy West comes in with his book, “The Grip of Culture: The Social Psychology of Climate Change Catastrophism,” available in print from major bookshops or for free as a PDF.
West was gifted a copy of An Inconvenient Truth shortly after the release of the film to home video which started his project to understand more in detail based on his interest in evolutionary biology and human culture under an evolutionary lens.
West describes the greater Climate Catastrophe Narrative as a cultural entity. A cultural entity is social movement or group bound by strong beliefs, often exhibiting characteristics similar to religious or ideological movements. Climate Catastrophism is West’s term for the cultural narrative that posits imminent, irreversible, and apocalyptic global catastrophe as a central theme that influences public policy and discourse. Nested within the overall Climate Catastrophism Cultural Entity are collections of heavily emotive and exaggerated claims about climate change pushed by group of believers who interact in the same ways as adherents to religions. West even calls this one a secular religion akin to Genderism and like Genderism, it defies all science.
Climate Catastrophism is supported by purported people of authority such as politicians, leaders in international organizations such as the United Nations, the Corporate Press, scientist activists, NGOs, economists, and even religious leaders such as the Pope. West even dedicates an entire fascinating chapter of the use of child prophets and proselytisers drawing parallels to arguments and observations in Shellenberger’s article, The Infantilization of the Apocalypse. Children have two separate roles in such cultures, one being they’re easy to recruit and radicalize (recall Mao’s Cultural Revolution or the Khmer Rouge), and the other is that they can be used as prophets and martyrs. Greta Thurnberg the famous teenage climate activist and Nonqawuse a 19th Century Xhosa girl whose prophesy narrative encouraged the Xhosa people to kill all their cattle and cease farming are examples of child prophets. Any pushback against the use of children in either role or the questioning of their narrative, beliefs, or actions is a social taboo. Nassim Taleb’s cheeky term pedophrasty2 comes to mind here.
Believers of Climate Catastrophism behave similar to any other cultural entity. Between members in such cultural entities, there are various ways of signaling both their commitment to the overall narrative and individual status within the group. Within this group it may include “eco-friendly” activities which act as indulgences such as recycling, installing solar panels, driving electric cars, or even bicycling but can extend to more ritual activities such as blocking roads, spilling soup cans on paintings, dressing up in funky cultish garb, to full on “eco-terrorism.” Between each other emotive hot buttons are used such as fear, guilt, hope, and even inspiration to ensure the belief system continues to resonate between the believers, to foster a sense of belonging within the group and to emphasize urgency for the cause. As Jonathon Haidt3 wrote in his book The Righteous Mind, “morality binds and blinds,” referring to the groupish nature of people and their inability or refusal to understand those who don’t belong to their group. Cultural and narrative policing is present to guard against external threats but also from those within the cultural entity.
The climate denial label and demonization of those who don’t adhere to the narrative is mentioned as well in a dedicated chapter. West traces the genesis of much the climate denier label to one paper, “Denialism: what is it and how should scientists respond?” authored by Pascal Deithelm and Martin McKee which has been heavily cited in academic journals across multiple fields and is one of the primary sources for the Wikipedia entry for Denialism. West argues the criteria for a denier as defined in this paper has issues. He also discusses two types of skepticism, innate and scientific with the former relating to an instinctive reaction against a cultural narrative while the latter refers to rational and evidence-based skepticism.
West even comes up with his own model to describe and measure this culture combining various opinion polls from around the world. He notes with the exception of the United States, that national religiosity is a key driver whether the people within a particular country embrace Climate Catastrophism. Given that Climate Catastrophism is a faith-based rather than rationality-based belief system, this is no surprise as religions tend to compete with each other and people tend to not belong to two entirely separate religions. The United States however is an animal of its own. Although the foundations of his model do not change he dedicates a separate chapter due to that country’s deep political polarization based on political tribes.
Things start to really get interesting later in the book where West discusses the influence of the cultural narrative on energy policy and activism.
The chapter on energy begins by examining the rationale behind the global push for “renewables”, highlighting how the urgency of the climate catastrophe narrative has led to significant investments in wind, solar, and other “renewable” technologies. West argues that this push for renewables is not solely based on scientific or economic considerations but is heavily influenced by the cultural entity surrounding climate change. (Well, and the fiat money printer) He suggests that the narrative's emotive power drives policy decisions that may not always align with practical realities. For instance, while renewable energy sources are often portrayed as the ultimate solution to climate change, West notes that the transition from fossil fuels is complex and fraught with challenges, including technological limitations, economic costs, and infrastructure requirements. The narrative of an imminent climate catastrophe has led to the demonization of fossil fuels and those who support their continued use, and it’s also no surprise that “deniers” are often cast as “involved” with “the fossil fuel industry.“ Such a polarized view ignores the complexities of energy systems and the potential role of transitional technologies, such as natural gas, in achieving lower carbon emissions. This view too also ignores the use of using nuclear energy as a solution with claims of misunderstood hazards, the immense cost, and the claim that nuclear plants cannot be built in enough time to avert catastrophe. Even those who completely buy into this secular religion are cast as deniers if they endorse nuclear energy.
The activism chapter is equally interesting. Since the belief system hampers on a moral imperative to fight against climate change, the activities of the activists such as those with Extinction Rebellion, School Strike for Climate, and Just Stop Oil is seen as part a moral struggle against an existential threat. The activism dimension within the Climate Catastrophe Narrative often via the use of mass protests and (sometimes) peaceful civil disobedience is immensely visible with constant coverage by the Corporate Press and often elevated by politicians. West argues these groups and their activities have successfully shifted the Overton Window with successfully getting policymakers to endorse their some of their demands. There’s also discussion on how these activist groups (similar Cluster B(ike) Activism, Wokism and Genderism) handle those with dissenting views (Car-Brained/Vehicular Cyclists, “Uncle Toms”, and De-Transitioners) by using shaming and ostracism to demand and enforce group conformity.
Despite the density of West’s material, he does an excellent job at the beginning and end of most chapters of providing brief summaries and reviews of material already presented in the book. He does one such overview in the penultimate chapter, which almost provides a long-form Cliffs Notes for the entire book but with a broad lens. The final chapter before the book closes compares Climate Catastrophism with historical culture movements, mainly millenarian and revolutionary movements and the risks of societies adopting such extreme positions.
At just shy of 300 pages of main text,“The Grip of Culture: The Social Psychology of Climate Change Catastrophism,” is academic in tone yet approachable to those with a deep interest in the topic. It contains pages of endnotes and over a dozen appendices. West’s publisher even maintains his detailed notes and sources for the main chapter on the Catastrophe Narrative, two separate Excel formatted reference files with charts, and an additional set of online appendices.
“Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting. Often done with the aid of pictures.
Pedophrasts prey on our maternal (and paternal) instincts.
Pedophrasty has its most effects on actors, journalists and similar types who are intellectually insecure, deprived of critical judgment, and afraid of being classified as violators of some norm of political correctness. For instance, pedophrasty has been commonly used in the Syrian war by such propagandists as Julian Roepke continuously supplying the German public with pictures of dead children. Or the various lobbies hired by Saudi Barbaria (and allies), such as the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, to promote Sunni Islamist policies under the cover of “think tanks”."
Source: https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other-modern-scams-c84bd70a29e8
I was pretty concerned the first time the world was going to end back in the 1980's. I have gotten used to it by now.
Great book except, fearing the "conspiracy theory label", the book denies that cultural entities (social organisms) can be designed and controlled for nefarious purposes by powerful ruling class organs through scripting of cultural entity narratives! The evidence is overwhelming after studying the activities of the Rockefeller Foundation complex, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, the Trilateral Commission, etc.