USA Today published an article claiming global warming is harming mental health, but the substance of the article reveals it is global warming alarmism that is the true culprit. The more that alarmists and the media play up global warming scares – most of which turn out not to be true (http://www.cfactstore.com/product/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-climate-change/) – the more that alarmists cause people mental health harms.

“Climate change may take a toll on our mental health, too,” reads the headline of an August 31 USA Today article. The article begins:

Australian psychologist Susie Burke tells the story of a woman who came to her for counseling after having her first child. Not because she was suffering from postpartum depression, but because she was “struggling with the enormity of what she had done.” She felt she had brought her child into a “world she knew was going to be a lot harsher and a lot less safe,” Burke told Deutsche Welle.

The article continues:

“For people who are hearing and paying attention to what is happening to the climate, it is a huge weight and anxiety and fear,” Burke said.

Having worked in the field for the past two decades, the psychologist describes observing people with “anxiety and depression, flat moods, helplessness and hopelessness, and anger,” as well as “guilt and shame.”

Reading the headline of the USA Today article, readers are left with the impression that rising temperatures themselves cause mental health harm. And many people will merely scan the headline and then move on, convinced that here is yet another climate catastrophe harming human health and welfare. However, there is no science cited in the article claiming temperature increase causes mental health harm. It is merely the fear of a climate crisis and feelings of guilt that trigger mental health harm. People are bombarded with propaganda telling them (1) humans are destroying the world through global warming, (2) nearly everybody is to blame through selfish utilization of natural resources, and (3) there is little hope of saving the world from imminent climate catastrophe. Of course this messaging will exacerbate mental health strains for many people.

The best way to alleviate mental health strains tied to global warming is to report truthfully on climate science rather than nefariously exaggerate, embellish, and fear-monger about the earth’s climate future.