The latest heatwave that hit Europe has left a few people puzzled about the current state of the planet and our climate. I think that for the first time, the most preserved and richest people (Westerners) got a tiny taste of what climate change is, and a little glimpse of what it is going to be in the near future. People are definitely not as scared as they should be (don't freak out, just keep reading), but the fact that climate change is now obvious to the insofar preserved populations is, I guess, a little step toward action (or at least I hope so). Despite this, I still know people (of different generations, old and new) who don’t believe in climate change - and that means a lot, as working in sustainable development myself, I am usually surrounded by people who are aware of its dramatic effects.
I used to be quite emotional about the topic and ended up teary and/or shouting at the end of an argument (or in the middle), whether with complete strangers or my own family, not understanding how it was even possible to deny scientific facts and data, as well as obvious events (droughts, prolonged fires, melting ice… all this nice stuff you know) that are happening throughout the world.
I have come a long way, and I do not end up in tears anymore. I remain calm (most of the time) and don’t throw my arguments at people, but try to engage with them and have a sensible conversation.
My tactic also depends on why the person doesn’t believe in climate change. If, like a lot of Republicans in America, they just think climate change is a conspiracy by the left to prevent economic development, I have to admit that the debate is going to be heated (which is not a bad thing from a French perspective). I am always quite shocked by the ease of how these people just deny science with the lamest argumentation ever – doubt. Just watch, they have absolutely no scientific facts or data of their own, but to inject doubt in everything you're saying is their best ally.
However, if the person is just lost and perplexed, or often, overwhelmed, I am then quite content to show them what I know. In this spirit, let me give you four irrefutable (science-based) arguments to have up your sleeve, so you can never feel beaten next time you have a conversation/debate/argument, with somebody who questions the reality of a anthropogenic (human-induced) fast-changing climate.
1) No, climate change is not only about of the world getting warmer: it’s also dryer (droughts), wetter (floods), sometimes colder in parts of the world. Overall however, it is getting hotter (+0.8 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times– that means pre fossil fuel and industrial revolution, so about 1800’s. It is indeed getting warmer too fast for nature, ecosystems (and eventually ourselves) to adapt.
2) Yes, there is more pollution in the atmosphere: we’re now at an average of 440ppm (parts per million) which also spiked since 1800’s. We know this because we measure the levels by taking samples in the Arctic.
3) Yes, climate change is a natural occurrence. But its current rate has absolutely nothing to do with the natural cycles of the earth, and the one we are experiencing right now is stronger and faster than all previous climate changes we know of. And yes, this is a scientific consensus.
4) Ask them why they think climate change is not real. Often, I realised that people gave quite paradoxical answers, but mostly, it is about fear. Fear that we did everything wrong (we did a lot of things wrong by the way, but better to know now than later); the fact that the issue of climate change is so overwhelming that it is useless to do anything anyway, and it’s better to focus on getting people’s jobs and lifting others out of poverty. Issues, that are not exclusive by the way: have you heard of climate justice?
Anyway, this short post was to tell you that it is always hard to have debates about climate change, as it touches upon something deeply emotional, a fear that our whole society is wobbly and that us, as individuals, do not have much power to do this anything (I suggest you read my previous post about that). However, I think that the fact that climate is terrifying needs to be accepted. There is nothing I can say to contradict this: climate change is scary (which is why Exxon Mobil hid the facts since the 1970s), and you should be scared about what’s going to happen – but you should also act.
We often forget that fear, and awareness should and must be a motivation rather than a paralysis.
