Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged the world to adopt a new communication strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change. Speaking to CBS “Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith, Schwarzenegger said that the global effort to address climate change was being hindered by a fundamental communication problem. “As long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere. ‘Cause no one gives a s— about that,” he said. Schwarzenegger argued that the issue should be reframed and communicated as a problem of pollution instead. He suggested that this approach would be more effective in highlighting the severity of the problem.
Schwarzenegger has become a prominent voice in the fight against climate change. As the host of the Austrian World Summit, a global climate change conference, he is on a mission to reduce greenhouse gases worldwide. Schwarzenegger, who is also a bodybuilder and actor, is fighting for a healthy Earth and a healthy body.
Anthropogenic global warming is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned. The momentum toward fighting climate change has grown in recent years. The International Energy Agency reports that global investment in producing clean energy, which does not generate greenhouse gases, is now surpassing investment in fossil fuels. The agency predicts that $1.7 trillion will go into clean technologies such as renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements, and heat pumps by 2023. This is more than the $1 trillion expected to go into coal, gas, and oil.
Despite these efforts, global emissions are still rising. In March, the International Energy Agency reported that global emissions generated from energy are rising by only 1% in 2022, less than initially feared. However, global carbon emissions are still at record levels, and there is a 50% chance that global warming will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius target established by the Paris Climate Accord in nine years, according to the Global Carbon Project.
Efforts to address climate change have increased substantially, but they are still insufficient. In the United States, 54% of American adults view climate change as a major threat to the country’s well-being, according to Pew Research Center data. This nationwide average includes a significant split along party lines. Almost eight in ten Democrats, 78%, say climate change is a major threat to the country’s well-being, up from 58% a decade ago. Meanwhile, only about one in four Republicans, 23%, say climate change is a major threat to the country’s well-being, nearly unchanged from the 22% who reported it as such in 2013.
Schwarzenegger has previously called for a rebranding of communications surrounding climate change. In a USA Today op-ed published on May 16, he argued that a new environmentalism based on building, growing, and common sense was needed. He criticized the old environmentalism that was afraid of growth and hated building. Schwarzenegger suggested that the new environmentalism should focus on building clean energy projects as quickly as possible. “We have to build, build, build,” he wrote.
Schwarzenegger is urging a new communication strategy to address climate change. He believes that reframing the issue as a problem of pollution would be more effective than talking about global climate change. While efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change have increased, they are still not sufficient. Schwarzenegger is calling for a new environmentalism that focuses on building clean energy projects as quickly as possible.
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