A good writer should never assume their readers know what they are talking about; this is one of the cardinal rules of journalism. Yet I believe that an exception can be made for this piece. There is no need to repeat the disastrous predictions regarding our warming planet, which scientists have decried year after year in summits and reports. Quite frankly, if you aren’t convinced of the dangerous reality and unavoidable impacts of climate change – when the facts have never been clearer – then it’s unlikely I can change your mind.

Instead, I would like to focus on the issue that fuels climate change from the shadows: the lack of attention that is paid to the issue in the first place. In a way, it’s a uniquely human problem. You can attribute it to a phenomenon called “psychic numbing,” where a person will care more about the danger of one person’s life than many humans collectively. A prime example of this is the absurd death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is currently approaching seven million. With common sense mitigation strategies and a shared sense of humanity among all of us, this virus could have been a lot less impactful and deadly. Yet as the deaths piled up, we all collectively began to care less.

With COVID-19, humans faced an unknown and unique threat to their livelihoods and could barely muster up the solidarity to care about the mounting loss of life in front of our eyes. With climate change, we have an exhaustively researched understanding of what is coming.

The future will be one plagued with sweltering heat, enhanced storms, extensive human migration and other natural and societal disruptions. We will almost certainly face these affects firsthand during our lifetimes – and we can’t forget the severe ramifications for our children and grandchildren.

Where is the outrage? Where is the rebuke for gas companies and their decades-long downplaying of the crisis? Where is the recall and removal of elected officials and other leaders that have failed to take meaningful actions to reduce carbon emissions or prepare the world for the upcoming impacts? Most damning of all, where is the social reckoning that this crisis requires?

We know the solutions; a complete and immediate reversal of current fossil fuel use is essential to curbing the warming of our planet. Yet we continue to be stumped by our own inability to adapt and take account of the bleak future ahead of us.

Psychic numbing plays a part. As with the pandemic, society has become numb to the massive consequences of climate change and the doom-and-gloom predictions from scientists. This isn’t the fault of scientists; it’s their job to warn the public of their discoveries. This isn’t inherently society’s fault, either. It can be overwhelming to hear these predictions of death and destruction and be asked to take actions to reverse it. This is especially true when the limited actions of individuals can feel so insignificant, regarding the large-scale, long-term impacts world leaders and corporations can make. It doesn’t help that the crisis feels so far into the future. There’s so much going on around the world right now that thinking about an issue that will happen decades later seems unproductive.

Things might seem bleak. In a way, they are. But it is essential to try and make an impact against the impending climate crisis in any way possible. Elevate stories about climate change and their impacts. Support good climate journalism. Take steps to reduce your individual climate footprint. Participate in a local protest or boycott the companies that contribute to fossil fuel emissions the most. Contact your local leaders and representatives and push them to make your community more sustainable. Bring this energy to the state and national level, too.

Personally, I need to take more action too. It can be hard to fight back against a force that seems so inevitable and far flung, one that is hard to comprehend yet has such drastic consequences. I hope that by writing about the crisis, I am doing my part in spreading the word and, if I’m lucky, convincing one of my readers to act. But I know that I, like all of us, must do more. If there’s one thing you gain from this column, let it be that we collectively have the power to make change. We just have to care enough.

Luke Halpern can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lukehalpern.