June 2023 was the hottest month in recorded history. 4 July was, for a few hours, the hottest day in 120,000 years, before 5 July took its crown and was toppled in turn by 6 July. All in all, some 10,000 climate records have been broken in the last 30 days.

These figures have all been bandied about in the media. But for most who read them, they have very little meaning. The time periods are too long, the actual temperatures involved too familiar.

Nor do the graphic images of wildfires devastating Greek islands seem to have shocked us all that much. Even as RhodesA large Greek island known for both its ancient ruins and beach resorts. burst into flame and thousands were evacuated, flights continued to land on the island.

And there is little sign that the news is driving the climate crisis up the political agenda. In fact, both major UK parties have backpedalled on their climate policies in recent days. 

British prime minister Rishi SunakA British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024. said green policies must be "proportionate and pragmaticDealing with things sensibly and realistically, in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. ", while the Labour PartyThe main left-wing political party in the UK. has watered down a pledge to spend £28 billion on green projects.

That is why some think the reason we have not been able to deal with the climate crisis is our own complacencyFeeling of satisfaction with your own work that stops you from trying harder. .

Scientists believe this complacency could even be wired into our brains. They say humans have an "optimism bias": an unshakeable conviction that things will turn out fine. And because we have evolved to deal with what is immediately in front of us, instead of long-term problems, we find it difficult to conceptualise long-term trends.

Others think the real problem is our political system. In modern societies, people expect constant economic growthThe process through which a country's wealth increases over time. . Governments that are unable to provide strong growth are seen as failures and might even lose power as a result.

States also compete with each other to see who can achieve the best growth. All of this means that none of them wants to risk moving away from fossil fuels first, because they risk angering their citizens and making themselves weaker on the international stage.

So the issue, they argue, is not complacency, but a lack of collaboration. We need all states to agree to reduce their use of fossil fuels, but no-one wants to make the first move.

But there are some who say we are not being complacent at all. They point out that we have made rapid progress in certain areas.

Ten years ago, just 15% of the electricity produced in the UK came from renewable sources. By the end of last year, this had shot up to 58%.¹

This is not enough to solve the crisis, they concede. But it shows we are moving in the right direction.

The reason we cannot move more quickly, they say, is not complacency, but political pressure. Last year, the oil and gas industry spent $124.4m (£96.8m) lobbyingTrying to influence the decisions of the government. A lot of lobbying is legal and carried out by reputable organisations, but sometimes it can be illegal or unethical, especially when a politician uses their connections to benefit a company or organisation they belong to. the US federalIn the USA laws are made both by individual states and the federal government, which governs all states together. government alone, seeking to secure policies that will expand fossil fuel extraction.²

So, they think, blaming the crisis on human complacency is a distraction. It lets those who spend millions keeping fossil fuels burning off the hook.

Yes: We have known about this crisis for decades. We know what we need to do to halt it. Yet we still keep burning more and more fossil fuels. It is as if we do not know we are driving ourselves to extinction.

No: Slow it might be, but we are making real progress towards net zeroWhen the gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by those being taken out of it. carbon emissions. Certainly, more can be done, but it is not complacency that is stopping us; it is competition.

Or... Most people have no capacity to affect the climate crisis themselves. The ones that could change things are the big polluters, like the fossil fuel companies; and they are only making it worse.