HOW EXTINCTION REBELLION SHIFTED THE OVERTON WINDOW
by contemplativeinquiry
The Overton Window, as you may remember, is a way of understanding which ideas are politically viable and which are considered impossible or radical. If an idea is within the window, it can be discussed and will be taken seriously. If it lies outside of it, a politician will be risking their career and credibility if they support it.
According to its originator, ideas move through a spectrum towards official acceptance. They start out unthinkable, and move to radical, acceptable, sensible, popular, and finally they get adopted as policy.
Robust action on climate change had a moment ten years ago when the Climate Change Act was passed with cross-party support. The failure of the Copenhagen talks took the wind out of its sails, and the financial crisis overwhelmed it with other priorities. A decade of Conservative government has pushed climate change into the margins, with some in the party…
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contemplativeinquiry 
The case against anthropogenic climate change doesn’t seem to be Overton’s Window at the moment. In fact it seems to be presented as Gospel Truth throughout the media.
I used to believe it, but I’m not so sure now. It’s not just denied by neo-cons and fossil fuel companies, who want to maintain business as usual, but many scientists and enviromentalists too.
It seems climate is always changing, it is driven by solar activity ( surprise, surprise!). That is why other planets in The Solar System are also warming. Warming causes CO2 to leave the ocean and enter the atmosphere, although there is a very long time delay. It’s like warming up a fizzy drink, the CO2 leaves the fluid.
Many people confuse pollution with CO2. Pollution together with plastic remain a serious concern.
The XR movement is also open to question, regarding it’s grass roots origins.
Thanks for this comment Keith. I’ll follow up your links tomorrow.
Thanks Keith, for taking the trouble to provide these links. The second one received a good deal of attention when it was made in 2007 and there’s an interesting wikipedia article about it on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the-great-global-warming-swindle/
I’m not close enough to XR to comment on its overall leadership style or sources of support. I do know that it is strong in my local area and seems pretty on the level to me.
Thanks again for following my blog and commenting on posts from time to time. I imagine we can both remain unphased by occasional differences of view!