Our biggest challenge yet
It’s the nature of the times that the biggest challenge of our lives isn’t the midterm elections or the war in Ukraine or the repeal of Roe. It’s global warming. The Republicans can go ahead and sweep the election, Putin can win Ukraine and MAGAs can “own the libs” at last. None of it will matter if the human species is racing toward its immediate doom anyway. It’s like the joke in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” don’t worry that you can’t swim, it’s the fall that will kill you.
The hope is that the obvious proof of our own eyes will finally convince the last of the global skeptics. Unfortunately, that’s turning out not to be the case. For example, the alarming increase in category 5 hurricanes has had little or no impact. The recent landfall of hurricane Ian is a case in point. Tens of thousands of comments in social media reflect the troubling beliefs of millions of Americans who insist that these alarming trends are nothing new, and that climate change is just nature doing what it always does.
Of course, much of the problem is also caused by a lack of urgency. Millions of people are convinced that climate change is real but they don’t understand how urgent the problem is. This lack of immediate concern translates to the attitudes of politicians. They give as much attention to global warming as they need to in order to get elected and stay in power.
But the larger problem is active pushback against climate science. It’s not about the overwhelming evidence, it’s about core beliefs. One of the tenets of conservatives in general and MAGA conservatives in particular is that climate change is a hoax. Evidence that Donald Trump is a traitorous, murderous criminal has had no effect on them, so why should evidence that climate change is a real problem have any effect either?
All the evidence in the world won’t change them, so what’s the answer? Do we give up trying to convince them? Not necessarily. One approach is to get to know climate science deniers and find common ground.
Climate scientist and activist Professor Katharine Hayhoe puts it this way: “when I encounter someone who’s doubtful about the reality or the relevance of climate change, I don’t start out by talking science. Instead, I get to know them to see if I can identify something we share. If they’re a skier, it’s important to know that the snowpack is shrinking as our winters warm; maybe they’d like to hear more about the work of an organization like Protect Our Winters that advocates for climate action. If they’re a birder, they might have noticed how climate change is altering the migration patterns of birds; the National Audubon Society has mapped future distributions for many native species, showing just how radically different they’ll be from today. If they’re a parent like me, I know how worrying it is that our children are living in a world that is far less stable than the one we grew up in.”
All this may sound like a lot of work. It is. But what choice do we have? These are desperate times so we need to take desperate measures. The fight against global warming needs to be our part time job because, if it isn’t now, it will quickly become our full time job. We need to do everything we can to take care of our planet. Beating people over the head with science will just cause more problems and ossify them in their stubborn denial. We must never lose sight of our main objective. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.