🐸 How to Boil a Frog—and what it teaches us about climate change (hint: it’s not about the frog)

How to Boil a Frog 

Step one: Fill a pot with lukewarm water.Step two: Add frog.Step three: Slowly turn up the heat.

Classic metaphor, right? Except—plot twist!—it’s scientifically bogus. Frogs actually do jump out when it gets toasty; turns out, we humans are the ones marinating in denial with a sprig of rosemary and a side of cognitive dissonance.

Right now, our planet’s starting to simmer. Storms are stronger, glaciers are ghosting us, and species are vanishing almost as fast as environmental protections at the EPA. And what are the humans doing? Just chillin’ in the climate Crock-Pot, watching Netflix and hoping someone brings wine.

Why? It’s a 4-D problem with a 1-D solution.

Distraction. Sure, the water’s warming, but so is the drama. Look! The stock market just nosedived! Wait—never mind—it rebounded. What’s that? Tariffs are 137%. They’re 10%. They’re on. They’re off. Did you see? Whatever Trump just posted/screamed/executive ordered in the past ten minutes? We. Are. Tired.

Deny & Defer. The thinking(?) goes something like this: climate change isn’t real, but even if it was real (it’s not), we can’t deal with it right now because we’ve declared a “national energy emergency.” Therefore, in order to meet rising electricity demand from Artificial Intelligence and more air conditioning (but not because it’s hotter), we’re going to extract and burn even more oil and gas, with coal riding shotgun like it’s riding to prom in a Trans Am with a T-top. Even if we wanted to (we don’t), we can’t transition to renewable energy because, um, it’s a national security issue. (Are we importing sunbeams and breezes now? Are they tariffed?)

Flawed logic aside, renewable energy is a far more efficient and promising solution for meeting our future electricity needs than burning fossil fuels and must be part of the solution. Renewables generate electricity directly, unlike fossil fuels, which burn stuff to make heat to make steam to spin a turbine—losing over half the energy in the process. It’s like heating your house by setting your couch on fire. The bottom line is that renewable energy can generate two to three times the electricity per unit than fossil fuels! More good news: despite the disappearing support for renewables, clean energy production is predicted to increase. 

Deflect. Sure, the administration is throwing more roadblocks at renewable energy than tanks in his dream military parade. True, billionaires have a higher carbon footprint than you. Yes, the politicians and businesses and other countries need to do more. You didn’t start the fire (thanks, Billy Joel), and no, it’s not fair that you’re stuck fighting an inferno with a water pistol. But if enough of us show up—armed with buckets, hoses, and maybe a few squirt guns—we just stop the spread.

Dream. The only way we can make our way out of the climate catastrophe doom spiral is to believe it’s possible to change the trajectory. Let’s remember what dreams have built: a moon rocket in 8 years, a transcontinental railway in 6, an atomic bomb in 5, and TikTok filters that can turn you into a Disney princess after six Red Bulls. 

The science confirming the catastrophic consequences of a warming Earth isn’t just settled—it’s retired and playing shuffleboard in Boca. A hotter Earth is a recipe for disaster, and every degree of warming compounds the suffering. Most of us understand this, but if we can’t dream up a cooler, sustainable future, we’ll be cooked. 

Perhaps we can use some inspiration from our favorite green pal, Kermit the Frog, who sang his little heart out from his swamp log: someday we’ll find it / the rainbow connection / the lovers, the dreamers and me. 

The heat is rising. The water’s bubbling.

Let’s stop soaking.

It’s time to leap.