Conversation

At a classical concert the other day, my dad started talking with the man beside him, who said he was a journalist. When my dad introduced himself, the man said the name “Hayhoe” was familiar to him, because of “the notorious climate activist Katharine Hayhoe.” 😁

My dad, a science educator, then asked, "so what evidence WOULD convince you that climate change is real and serious?" He had no good answer--and I wouldn't expect him to, because climate denial isn't about facts. It's about looking for plausible excuses to stonewall climate solutions.

In my experience, 99.9% of climate denial is solution aversion. But because most of us prefer to perceive ourselves as good people, and saying "sure, this is a real problem that's affecting real people especially the poor and vulnerable but I don't want to fix it" isn't good, we seize on any excuse (it's not real! it's not human-caused! those scientists are cooking the data for profit! CO2 greens the planet! We can adapt! It's too late anyways!) to justify our desire for inaction.

For more, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkMIjbDtdo0