On the difficulty in fearing well about climate change

One common strategy in climate communication is to appeal to one's fear of the frightening consequences of climate change. One common concern, however, is that fear can be counterproductive as it tends to lead to disengagement. Proponents of fear appeals typically respond by emphasising the importance of pairing fear with an efficacious recommended action. In this paper, I argue that, in the context of climate change, it is difficult to find a recommended action that is sufficiently efficacious. I suggest that one way to overcome this challenge is to appeal to our fear of moral corruption, rather than the negative physical consequences of climate change. I further argue that motivating right actions should not be the only goal in climate communication. Instead, getting the audience to feel fitting emotional responses, including fitting fear, is another goal that we can justifiably adopt. Thus, the counterproductivity of fear does not always necessitate refraining from using fear appeals.