Our Climate Needs a Mythology

Summary

An empiricist’s case for myth. Solitaire Townsend calls climate change “the most scientifically documented crisis in human history and the most poorly narrated”: “We are attempting to fight a dragon with spreadsheets.” She wants a modern mythology, “an ecosystem of stories” rather than one message, because “Myth is not the opposite of truth, it’s how truth travels across generations.”

Rationale

We share her sense that facts alone won’t do it. But a crafted mythology of heroes, villains and dragons risks reproducing the conquest story we hope to grow beyond.