Re: [HPAC] What’s distracting humanity from addressing climate change

[John Nissen]

Those who exert authority on climate change show no sympathy for the young people of today, who are going to suffer most from the consequences of inaction.  Planetary restoration puts young people first: the objective is to return the planet to a safe, sustainable, biodiverse and productive state.  Nothing should stand in the way.

Unfortunately a scientific analysis of the situation shows that SAI is urgently needed, particularly for refreezing the Arctic, while SAI remains very unpopular among the climate élite for a host of reasons.  One hopes that loving concern for young people will change priorities such that SAI intervention is accepted.

Happy New Year, everyone

John

On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 2:47 AM 'rob de laet' via Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC) <healthy-planet-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Happy New Year Herb and everyone, 

Thank you all for what you are doing. 

May 2026 be a year the world is waking up to our solutions to fight the existential crisis on our beautiful, living but damaged planet Earth, 

Warm regards from India. 

Rob de Laet 

Project Lead Cooling the Climate

Member of the EcoRestoration Alliance

Fellow of Global Evergreening Alliance

Fellow fo the Schumacher Institute

Planetary Solvency Taskforce

Co-founder of Senang Eco Services

WhatsApp: +55 71 992617846

On Wednesday, 31 December 2025 at 15:46:08 CET, H simmens <hsim...@gmail.com> wrote:



Yesterday I posted a series of cognitive habits that have been shown to improve one’s ability to forecast the future - a useful skill for those of us attempting to change the climate paradigm. 

Today I’m proposing that we pay attention and address another aspect of the climate change puzzle - the built-in addictions of the smart phone/ social media ecosystems that influence the behavior of most everyone. 

I’m told that about 25 billion hours are spent looking at smartphones each and every day - about 40% of our waking hours. 

Below is the response I received when I asked Grok about the influence of smartphones on effective climate action:

Overall Degree of Role in Distraction and Inaction

To a substantial degree – perhaps 30-50% of the explanation for inadequate action, alongside factors like fossil fuel lobbying, economic interests, and political polarization. The distraction effect makes abstract, delayed threats less salient, while misinformation actively undermines consensus. Even influential people are immersed in the same digital environment, where short-term outrage or entertainment dominates feeds. However, the same tools enable activism, so the net effect is mixed but tilting negative due to algorithmic biases toward engagement over accuracy.

Evidence justifies concern: without the smartphone/social media era, public discourse might sustain focus on systemic issues better, similar to pre-digital environmental movements. Addressing this requires not just climate policy, but reforms to the attention economy itself (e.g., reducing addictive features).”

Much progress was made this year in addressing the addiction of young people and children. Whether that has or will have an effect on the rest of us remains to be seen as well as whether these reforms will accelerate the efforts by young people to address climate change. 

This post describes the extraordinary progress that was made. 

A Year of Real Progress for Kids open.substack.com

Happy new year to everyone including new members of HPAC - both those who offer to clean our ductwork and especially to those here to take action to restore a safe and healthy climate.

Herb

Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future

“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com

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