Explain about the future

Populism is a proof of how effective storytelling can be
It might even explain the rise of populism, with its alluring promise of making the future like the past allegedly was. At its core it’s little but fast food politics, offering quick satisfaction with little substance.
The political products of the past were solutions to problems of a different era, where solutions were analogue and fossil fuelled, where the state played a prominent role and markets were predominantly national. Despite the conspicuous lack of detailed plans, people vote for them because it’s always easier to vote No to change than to vote Yes, as an attempt to keep control.
As soon as a populist party has enough influence in politics of a country, other parties in that country are easily corrupted into becoming populists of sorts, hoping to gain power or retain power. And in the absence of parties talking about plans for how to change the country for a better future, cynism and pessimism starts to spread among the public.
If the task ahead seem too daunting, that might be a cause of pessimism too. What point is there in me changing my behaviour to combat climate change if no one else seem to be doing it?
 We might as well be stop pretending to be able to do something about it, some people say, pointing to what they see as the inevitable climate apocalypse. But there is a fair share of climate de-nihilists, to use Mary Annaïse Heglar term, echoing this pessimism in media. They claim it’s too late to do anything, claiming the world once was perfect, and that therefore, an imperfect version of it is somehow not worth saving, or fighting for. It might be intellectual click-bait, but it’s factually not true.
Still, it makes for a depressing read. In April, researchers from the renowned Allensbach Institute published a report showing that the percentage of Germans who believe in progress has reached a five-decade low. Asked if they thought that “humanity is headed toward a better future,” only 32 percent responded that yes, they believed in progress. (And then, on top of everything else, new research found that pessimism lower your odds of living a long, healthy life.)

Image: Getty Images via BBC Newsround

Of course, optimism isn’t entirely out of fashion and especially not among the young. People like Greta Thunberg is an example of the increasing willingness to both take a stand for the climate and to act in accordance to science to combat climate change.
There are also many courageous politicians, members of parliaments and mayors who all encourage hope and action, who have detailed plans and based their actions on facts. And even if there are millions of them, there are not as many as there should be and their movement not as evenly distributed around the world as one would wish for. At least not yet.