The Welcome Demise of Climate Change Catastrophism

Is the American Left finally waking up from its decades-long climate catastrophism stupor? For years, climate alarmism has reigned as political catechism: The planet is burning, and only drastic action — deindustrialization, draconian regulation, even ceasing childbearing — could forestall a certain apocalypse. Now, at least some signs are emerging that both the broader public and leading liberal voices may be recoiling from the doom and gloom.

First, recent polling shows that the intensity of climate dread is weakening. According to a July 2025 report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, while a majority (69 percent) of Americans still say global warming is happening, only 60 percent say it’s “mostly human-caused”; 28 percent attribute it mostly to natural environmental changes. A similar October 2025 study from the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute found that “belief in human-driven climate change declined overall” since 2017. Interestingly, Democrats and political independents, not Republicans, were primarily responsible for the decline.

Moreover, public willingness to countenance personal sacrifice in the name of saving the planet seems to be plummeting: An earlier October 2024 poll from the Pew Research Center found that only 45 percent said human activity contributes “a great deal” to climate change. Another 29 percent said it contributes “some” — while a quarter said human influence was minimal or nonexistent.