THE EARTH ON FIRE AND UNDER THE SWORD: how can we be indifferent or even denialist?

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that makes Earth habitable, but our economy, built on ever-growing fossil fuel consumption, has amplified its intensity, causing rising concentrations of greenhouse gases and a consequent increase in average global temperature that is now approaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The rate at which concentrations of the main greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere has no equivalent in the history of our planet. Why can we not deny it or pretend it isn't happening? If you discovered you had a high fever, would you throw away the thermometer or call the doctor? 

The question is rhetorical, because you would of course call the doctor. In the case of global warming, however, people hesitate and take refuge in statements such as "it has been hot before in other geological periods, and even hotter," or "the climate has always changed." Both statements are true, but beside the point, because during many of those past warm periods, human beings could not have survived. In short, too many people are still trying to throw away the thermometer and claim there is nothing to worry about.

Amitav Ghosh calls this the "great derangement": we fail to see something not because it is insignificant, but because it is immense. FREE ENTRY - LANGUAGE IT