Time to freak out? How the existential terror of hurricanes can fuel climate change denial

Authors: Many people deny climate change is a worsening threat, or that it exists at all.

They say people often cope with the specter of death by attaching themselves to cultural ideologies.

Authors: When people are made aware of death, those systems of meaning become even more critical to their psychological functioning.

Shifting the narrative from helplessness to collective empowerment and action can help people confront climate change without triggering existential anxieties that lead to denial.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.