Can Humanity Address Climate Change Without Believing It? History Says Maybe

"But people’s beliefs and interests need not align if everyone finds some benefit in the recommendations."

By Ron Barrett, Macalester College
Jul 14, 2024 2:00 PMJul 13, 2024 2:00 PM
Monster Soup commonly called Thames Water. Wellcome V0011218
(Credit: Wellcome Images via Wikimedia) Monster Soup, an 1828 political cartoon by William Heath, shows a woman horrified by a magnified drop of Thames River water.

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Strange as it may seem, early germ theorists could tell us a lot about today’s attitudes toward climate change.

While researching for a new book about the history of emerging infections, I found many similarities between early debates over the existence of microbes and current debates over the existence of global warming.

Both controversies reveal the struggles of perceiving an unseen threat. Both reveal the influence of economic interests that benefit from the status quo. But most importantly, both reveal how people with different beliefs and interests can still agree on key policies and practices for tackling a global problem.

What You Can’t See Might Hurt You

Seeing is believing, and until the mid-19th century, it was very difficult to see the tiny organisms responsible for our so-called “fever” diseases.

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