Maybe the decline of religion is one reason why we've done such a bad job with climate change. If there's no life after death then you have far less reason to care what the world will look like 100 years from now.
From what I can tell the dominant christian religions in the US have turned into death cults seeking to accelerate suffering and death. I don’t think there is any salvation to be had there.
Yes, it occurred to me after I wrote my comment that religious belief, in the US at least, correlates with the same side of the political spectrum that cares the least about climate change. So something must be off in my analysis.
If there is a life after death, then why would you care about the world? Wouldn't it make more sense to care for the one world that exists?
And on a less hypothetical note, I'll point out that in the US at least, the Republican party is both the party of Christianity and global warming denial, so it seems like those two go together just fine.
This is probably accurate. Everything seems about the individual nowadays. Lot's of people aren't even having children anymore, preferring instead "travel" and "fun". Why would they give a shit about what will happen in 100 years?