Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants Us To Focus On “Pollution” Rather Than “Climate Change”
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been one of the few Republican champions of climate action. That’s not to say he’s been perfect on the topic, but he has been serious about wanting to address global heating and disruptive climate change. He’s also been a top-notch climate communicator. Talking about climate change in an effective way is a humongous challenge, especially on the Republican side of the aisle, and he’s been a star in that regard. But, as it turns out, the “I’ll be back” guy is talented at both short-form and long-form statements on the climate crisis.
So, yes, headlines about Arnold Schwarzenegger saying “No one gives a sh** about [climate change]” caught my attention. I didn’t expect the worst from him — rather, I thought that perhaps that this was another lesson in climate communication. It was.
Now, this isn’t a novel discovery or idea. The argument Schwarzenegger makes has been made before — has been made for years — and I already found it to be a compelling approach. Unfortunately, it is primarily ignored.
“As long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere, because no one gives a s–t about that,” Schwarzenegger told CBS News. He added that climate change sounds subtle, warm, welcoming, whereas pollution comes with a directly and fully negative connotation — a personal one. Pollution still scares people, including people far from the battle, because we know it means early death, cancer, asthma, heart disease, and more.
If we focus on the word pollution, we can stir up more action from people. Pollution is something that people can viscerally feel and sense. “Climate change” sounds mild, almost comfortable, to those of us who aren’t already terrified of it — and for those of us terrified of it, we don’t really need more of a scare. “So my thing is, let’s go and rephrase this and communicate differently about it and really tell people we’re talking about pollution. Pollution creates climate change, and pollution kills.”
So, indeed, Arnold does care about climate change and does care about protecting our Earth. But he realizes that most do not so easily feel alarmed by the crisis and need something more direct, more personal to reach them. “I’m on a mission to go and reduce greenhouse gases worldwide, because I’m into having a healthy body and a healthy Earth,” Schwarzenegger said. “That’s what I’m fighting for, and that’s my crusade.”
Featured image created by DALL·E.
Sign up for CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica's Comment Policy
