Is Climate Change an 'Existential Threat'?

Written By Teacher: Teresa Pettitt-Kenney

Hi there! My name is Teresa and I just finished my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and am excited to pursue environmental education in the future! I am extremely passionate about climate change, equitable climate action, and how education can work to address these issues. 

What does it mean when world leaders label climate change an ‘existential threat’? Understanding the answer to this question can enable us to unpack this label with our students who are trying to cope with an uncertain future. Dive into the article below to learn about worst-case climate scenarios that have lead to the ‘existential threat’ rhetoric. In your classroom, lean on SEL Resources to guide discussions surrounding real-world consequences. Remind students about the importance of exploring their difficult emotions and remaining vigilant when it comes to the information they take in by utilizing lesson plans like, Our Changing Planet: Climate, SEL, and Media Literacy for Our Youngest Students. 

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

In recent years, not only climate scientists but also major world leaders—including the U.S. Secretary of Defense, major American presidential candidates, and the United Nations secretary general—have labeled climate change an “existential threat.” But what does an “existential threat” really mean, and why are so many people in positions of responsibility now echoing this phrase? 

Kieran Setiya, an MIT professor of philosophy who co-teaches a course on the ethics of climate change, offers a basic and a more nuanced definition. First: In the worst-case scenarios in scientists’ climate models, human-caused climate change is a threat to the continued existence of many species and to human society as we know it. If humans do nothing to slow climate change, then global temperatures may increase by 4.5 degrees Celsius or more by the year 2100. This may not sound like much, Setiya says, but “it is quite cataclysmic.” Earth has not been that warm in millions of years, and such temperature spikes in our planet’s history are connected to mass extinction events that killed off a large percentage of species that existed at the time.