Thursday, August 25, 2011

How To Talk To Climate Skeptics (and maybe get somewhere)

This is an outstanding interview by the British newspaper the Guardian, with Texas Tech University climate researcher Katharine Hayhoe. Dr. Hayhoe is not only a respected climate scientist who studies and frequently speaks out on global warming, but is also a member of the evangelical Christian community, a community that has unfortunately not been won over to the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Dr. Hayhoe has worked both to spread the word on the necessity of dealing with the causes of global warming, and to bridge the gap between the evangelical community and climate science. One notable quote from this interview:
The reason I do climate science is because it has a very practical application: We have a very narrow window of time to do something meaningful about this issue, and that window is closing. Every year we go without a binding climate policy to reduce our emissions shrinks the chance we have of hitting lower emissions targets. So we're taking away our choices. By not making a choice, we're forcing ourselves into the higher scenarios.
If there were more scientists like Dr. Hayhoe, who recognize the necessity of meeting with evangelicals on their terms and working to educate them on the reality of climate change, this could go a long way toward  building a real and necessary consensus on the issue.

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