Scientists: We're doomed. Or are we?

Dramatic glacier melt is just one sign that climate change is happening faster than we thought possible.

"Act now or face climate catastrophe" was the Telegraph headline. There must have been a climate conference on. That the Telegraph are giving front page space to the climate is a clear sign of how difficult it's getting to ignore the realities of how the world is changing.

Well so what?  Another day, another bad news story about the climate, right? I'm not so sure. In fact, I think the Telegraph piece summed up by that headline might actually be a good news story.

It might seem a bit glib to say that we can see the seriousness of the climate science as an opportunity rather than a problem. But the truth is that the doom and gloom that can surround climate change plays straight into the hands of the people who don't want us to actually change anything.

Not only is seeing climate change as an impending catastrophe a bit disempowering, it's also inaccurate. Why? Well, the word 'catastrophe' suggests to me something sudden that's going to happen in the future, rather than a problem we can get to grips with now. It's like one morning we'll wake up, and BAM! Climate change will have happened, and there won't have been anything we could have done to stop it.

Clearly, that's not how it works. That's not to say things won't get much worse if we don't change the way we're doing things - the overwhelming message from the scientists that met in Copenhagen last week is that they will. But climate change clearly is already a problem - people are already dying because of the effect we've had upon our planet. And we know how to solve the problem - transform the way we generate energy away from fossil fuels towards efficient use of renewable energy, stop expanding airports, stop cutting down tropical forests, cut greenhouse gas emissions, help the rest of the world do the same - basically, stop ignoring the environmental impact of the way we live.

We know enough about climate science to know that we're well past the time we should be flat out fixing the way we behave. In fact, climate scientists themselves have recognised that we don't need more science to know that we need to act. Katherine Richardson, who organised the Copenhagen conference, was clear that it wasn't about doom and gloom: "The good news is there's no excuse for not doing anything now" she said.

'Climate catastrophe' draws the attention, and sells papers. But for all that we should be honest about how serious the problem is, it's equally true that we can change the way we do things and stop the worst effects of climate change at the same time. Climate catastrophe only materialises if we do nothing.

The interesting bit of the Telegraph headline for me is the bit we might be less inclined to notice: "Act now." That's the part we've got to make real for ourselves, and that's where organisations like Greenpeace can play an important role in creating an alternative take on what's going on - less about the catastrophe, more about being focused on actually doing things, changing things, coming up with good ideas for how to do things better.

In practice, that could mean Greenpeace active supporters getting out on the street to change people's minds, campaigners lobbying MPs, or the tens of thousands of people getting involved with campaigns like Airplot helping come up with fun and effective ways to make change. By getting involved, we collectively get to avoid fixating on the 'catastrophe', and focus on the 'act'. And if we can do that, then when we hear warnings from climate scientists about the latest bad news, it can be a spur to action, rather than something to get depressed about.