“It is time for free market energy policies to replace crony capitalism and the termite aspirations of the Climate Industrial Complex. To all climate alarmists and forced energy transformationists, check your premises for mid-course correction. Climate anxiety not.”
Gilad Regev, self described as “empowering people to take climate action,” is very discouraged. Government climate policies are all pain, no gain, and the general public has alarm fatigue. And even climate campaigners are moving toward adaption instead of (futile) mitigation.
He recently stated:
Maybe the problem isn’t climate denial. Maybe it’s climate messaging. We’ve been attempting to scare or shame people into caring, and it’s not effective. Is it time to completely rethink how we talk about climate and sustainability? We’ve spent years trying to influence people through fear, data, and moral urgency. The results? Mixed.
Regev continues:
If we want genuine buy-in, we need to be honest about what’s isn’t working. Here are seven messaging mistakes we keep repeating.
1. Leading with Guilt and Doom: “We’re killing the planet!” doesn’t inspire – it overwhelms.
Guilt sparks awareness, but rarely leads to action.
2. Talking About “The Planet” Instead of People: People don’t wake up thinking about biodiversity – they think about bills, housing, jobs. Make climate personal. What can THEY GAIN out of changing their behaviour?
3. Assuming Rational Facts Will Change Behavior: 1.5°C Warming Is Essential, But Not Sufficient.
Facts Inform, but Emotions Drive Action.
4. Using Elite, exclusionary language jargon, such as “net zero” and “green premiums,” alienates the majority. Sustainability can’t sound like it’s just for experts or elites.
5. Neglecting economic and social equity when we assume everyone can afford an EV or solar system, we lose trust. Green should be accessible to everyone – not just the wealthy.6. Framing Green as Restriction, Not Opportunity: Less driving, flying, consuming… Where’s the upside?
A green transition should feel like a win: lower bills, warmer homes, and cleaner air.
7. Treating Climate Like a Separate Issue. Climate isn’t separate from the economy, housing, or healthcare – it is those things. When we silo it, we shrink its relevance.
“So, how do we change the story?, Regev then asks.
Speak to lived realities. Discuss how green policies improve everyday life, including jobs, bills, housing, and health.
✅ Shift from sacrifice to solutions. Replace “cut back” with “get more” – resilience, savings, mobility, and wellbeing.
✅ Make it simple. Use plain, human language. Instead of “decarbonize the grid,” say “cleaner, cheaper energy in every home. Help people to measure their carbon footprint.”
✅ Center fairness easily. Ensure that the benefits of sustainability are accessible – especially to those who have been historically excluded.
✅ Embed climate into everything. Don’t treat it like a separate crusade – show how it strengthens the economy, creates jobs, and benefits communities.
Joe Romm Dissents
Enter Joe Romm, the subject of yesterday’s post. This climate alarmist/energy technocrat (to save you and your loved ones from climate change) commented:
The problem is not denial nor this strawman description of “climate messaging” that no one I know actually does— and I’ve been doing this for three decades.
The problems are 1) the biggest disinformation campaign in human history, 2) which is amplified by every major social media site and 3) which combined outspend the money disseminating any of the climate messaging by 20x to 100x.
The world is not subjected to bad climate messaging so much as it subjected to an open fire hydrant of lies on the one hand and climate silence on the other. [1]
No Joe, you have been exaggerating (and insulting) for three decades, a reason why your voice has become more and more marginalized over time. Your arguments are shallow, except for your free market positions on nuclear and hydrogen. Hyperbole backfires.
Final Comment
Carbon dioxide greens Planet Earth. Incremental warming has benefits. Fossil fuels allow ‘climate mastery.’ Climate models cannot be tested and rely on fudge factors for ‘tuning’ to reality. Social justice requires reliable, affordable, plentiful energy. Industrializing the living space with wind, solar, and batteries is ecologically fraught. Adaptation has put prior warming in the rear view mirror. The saturation effect is in play with future CO2 forcing.
Sum the arguments and … it is time for free market energy policies to replace crony capitalism and the termite aspirations of the Climate Industrial Complex. To all climate alarmists and forced energy transformationists, check your premises for mid-course correction. Climate anxiety not.
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[1] Joe parenthetically added (is it nepotism time?): “Good messaging is incredibly important, which is why I launched a new podcast (with my hilariously skeptical GenZ daughter) on the secrets of viral storytelling.”
I repeat—
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Now comes the hard part:
deprogramming the addicts who drank the climate Kool-Aid.