Why the ‘boiled frog’ metaphor is the perfect description of our climate crisis response

The "boiled frog" metaphor highlights how gradual climate change leads to a lack of urgency in addressing the crisis. A study suggests more direct communication could prompt faster action.

It’s an unsettling image, but one that speaks volumes: the metaphor of the boiled frog, used recently to describe how we, as a society, are reacting—or rather, failing to react—to the climate crisis. The idea is simple yet alarming: we don’t notice the danger until it’s too late.

This metaphor, coined in a recent study, is especially apt when we consider how people are responding to the gradual intensification of climate change. According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, the “boiled frog effect”—a psychological phenomenon where individuals fail to respond to gradual, persistent changes—is at play. This is making the population increasingly insensitive to the climate emergency.

The essence of the issue? The slower the change, the less we tend to notice it, almost as if it’s the new normal. Because of this, we don’t become alarmed, we don’t take action, and we don’t demand solutions.

The study: how we react to gradual change

The researchers behind the study discovered that people tend to react more strongly when climate crisis data is presented in a clear-cut, binary format—such as “the Arctic has lost 70% of its summer ice.” This direct approach has a far greater impact than a series of graphs showing a slow decline year after year. In other words, the more dramatic and straightforward the presentation, the more likely it is to drive action.

The problem with gradual messaging

One of the key errors in climate communication, according to the study, is the overemphasis on gradualness. While charts, technical data, and long-term projections are often used to explain the crisis, they can inadvertently reduce the perceived urgency. Our brains simply aren’t wired to react to threats that develop slowly over time.

In contrast, when we are faced with an immediate threat, such as an earthquake or a flood, we tend to act quickly and decisively. This is because such events are sudden, shocking, and clear, triggering an urgent response.

Ignoring the warning signs

We see the warning signs of the climate crisis all around us—record temperatures, wildfires, droughts, extreme weather events—yet all too often, we brush them off as “anomalies” or temporary occurrences. This, again, is the boiled frog effect in action, and it’s paralyzing us.

The solution: treating climate change as the emergency it is

The solution, the study suggests, lies in rethinking how we communicate the climate crisis. Instead of portraying it as a slow-motion disaster, we need to frame it as the global emergency it truly is, one that demands immediate action from all of us, with awareness and courage.

Source: Nature Human Behaviour