Posts
Having followed and written about climate change and the science behind it for decades, I've also had to think a lot about climate-change denial. I've come to realize, ruefully, that science, starting with the most basic physics and including the most powerful supercomputer based climate models, has failed to convince many people who, for one reason or another, are wedded to climate-change denial. Neither have appeals to the health and safety of future generations, nor to the plight of the increasing millions of people whose lives are currently being disrupted by climate change (many of whom become the refugees and migrants whom many climate-change deniers fear).
Through all that I've clung to the idea that when climate change comes home, as it inevitably will, when residents of Florida find their homes flooded because of rising sea levels, when Midwest corn farmers lose ten percent of their crop to extreme heat, when Texas see-saws between drought and floods, or when, as happened to my home town of Santa Rosa, California last year, wildfire sweeps through like a blowtorch, it can no longer be denied. Surely, I've thought, first-hand, life-changing personal experience will break through those layers of denial.
But I'm starting to realize that my faith in personal experience to slap people awake, like my earlier faith in the persuasive effect of science and empathy, is simply naive.
What brought this home to me was an article in the Guardian based on interviews with people who have been impacted by the deadly Northern California Carr fire, which happened to hit a staunchly conservative, Republican, Trump-supporting and climate-change-denying area. The Guardian reporter had no trouble finding people, from politicians to men and women on the street, whose ideas were unchanged even in the midst of the smoke and embers of this deadly fire. "It's bull," said one respondent. And even the one respondent who accepted that climate change was real clung to the meme that we humans are too puny to deal with it, leaving how to fix the problem in the hands of "the good Lord."
There's more evidence in a Guardian story speaking to residents of North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which climate scientists tell us was 50 miles wider and dropped 50 percent more rain than it would have under pre-industrial conditions. Once again, the reporter found plenty of people still in full climate-change-denial mode.
Scholars who study the history of science often point out that for a new paradigm such as plate tectonics or quantum dynamics to replace an older set of ideas, the old guard simply have to be replaced by a new generation. If scientists, who after all are committed to experiment, hard data and putting every idea to the test, are unwilling or unable to let go of outmoded ways of thinking, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if everyday people also refuse to learn, even if the lesson is right in front of their eyes.
There's still room for hope, if younger generations realize that climate change is real, dangerous, and, can only be dealt with through concerted action. Perhaps Greta Thunberg can be the role model. She's a 15-year-old Swedish girl who is staying out of school and sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament to bring the urgency of the climate crisis home to her elders. Given the feeble steps we've managed to take to date, young people like her may be our last, best hope.
REA
-------------
Here's a related story involving people who have become committed to the idea that vaccination is some kind of dangerous, evil-minded plot. This couple almost lost their six-year-old son to tetanus, a terrible and potentially deadly disease to which most of us are immune because we've been inoculated against it. Doctors were able to save the boy's life, but only through radical interventions and weeks of intensive care, which racked up a bill of over $800,000. Despite this horrifying experience, the parents refused further vaccinations. It used to be said that there's no force on Earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Maybe we need to modify that to reflect that, for many people, there's no force on Earth more powerful than an idea that perfectly matches their preconceived view of the world.
-----
If you enjoyed this post, please sign up to follow or receive email alerts from zerospinzone.
-----
Credit: INICIWEB
Through all that I've clung to the idea that when climate change comes home, as it inevitably will, when residents of Florida find their homes flooded because of rising sea levels, when Midwest corn farmers lose ten percent of their crop to extreme heat, when Texas see-saws between drought and floods, or when, as happened to my home town of Santa Rosa, California last year, wildfire sweeps through like a blowtorch, it can no longer be denied. Surely, I've thought, first-hand, life-changing personal experience will break through those layers of denial.
But I'm starting to realize that my faith in personal experience to slap people awake, like my earlier faith in the persuasive effect of science and empathy, is simply naive.
What brought this home to me was an article in the Guardian based on interviews with people who have been impacted by the deadly Northern California Carr fire, which happened to hit a staunchly conservative, Republican, Trump-supporting and climate-change-denying area. The Guardian reporter had no trouble finding people, from politicians to men and women on the street, whose ideas were unchanged even in the midst of the smoke and embers of this deadly fire. "It's bull," said one respondent. And even the one respondent who accepted that climate change was real clung to the meme that we humans are too puny to deal with it, leaving how to fix the problem in the hands of "the good Lord."
There's more evidence in a Guardian story speaking to residents of North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which climate scientists tell us was 50 miles wider and dropped 50 percent more rain than it would have under pre-industrial conditions. Once again, the reporter found plenty of people still in full climate-change-denial mode.
Scholars who study the history of science often point out that for a new paradigm such as plate tectonics or quantum dynamics to replace an older set of ideas, the old guard simply have to be replaced by a new generation. If scientists, who after all are committed to experiment, hard data and putting every idea to the test, are unwilling or unable to let go of outmoded ways of thinking, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if everyday people also refuse to learn, even if the lesson is right in front of their eyes.
Perhaps young people will see more clearly than their elders
Credit: TAKVER
There's still room for hope, if younger generations realize that climate change is real, dangerous, and, can only be dealt with through concerted action. Perhaps Greta Thunberg can be the role model. She's a 15-year-old Swedish girl who is staying out of school and sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament to bring the urgency of the climate crisis home to her elders. Given the feeble steps we've managed to take to date, young people like her may be our last, best hope.
REA
-------------
Here's a related story involving people who have become committed to the idea that vaccination is some kind of dangerous, evil-minded plot. This couple almost lost their six-year-old son to tetanus, a terrible and potentially deadly disease to which most of us are immune because we've been inoculated against it. Doctors were able to save the boy's life, but only through radical interventions and weeks of intensive care, which racked up a bill of over $800,000. Despite this horrifying experience, the parents refused further vaccinations. It used to be said that there's no force on Earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Maybe we need to modify that to reflect that, for many people, there's no force on Earth more powerful than an idea that perfectly matches their preconceived view of the world.
-----
If you enjoyed this post, please sign up to follow or receive email alerts from zerospinzone.
-----
No comments:
Post a Comment