You are very right that climate change is an effect and if we want to actually address it, we need to focus on the cause, human beliefs driving our behaviors.

I think there are some basic conceptual issues about how our perception is biased, that can be pointed out clinically. Rather than give a short form, here is a essay I wrote, trying to address some of these issues:

https://medium.com/@johnbrodixmerrymanjr/peeling-paradigms-d6168f007794