Christian Science Monitor features Gill in article about link between mass shootings and climate change
Jacquelyn Gill, associate professor of paleoecology and plant ecology at the University of Maine, spoke to the Christian Science Monitor for an article about how climate “doomism” fuels extremist violence. Gill said that while most mainstream environmental organizations have backed away from, and even apologized for, their focus on overpopulation during the ’60s and ’70s, the rhetoric still comes up regularly in conversations about climate change. “It’s really hard to get people to accept that consumption is the problem, not how many people there are. And that when we talk about overpopulation, there’s a dog whistle there that a lot of people don’t even realize that they’re blowing,” Gill said. Gill added that so-called “eco-fascists” tend to blame environmental problems on people who have done the least to create climate change, and are already suffering most from its impacts, like immigrants, residents of developing countries and people of color.