I think there is a similar debate occurring in regards to the safety of GMO crops. In fact, there are several topics of similar importance that many of you might be involved in or know about outside of ecology and could have some useful parallels. It might be worthwhile to include those here. Just a thought.......
Steve Young Weed Ecologist University of Nebraska-Lincoln From: Jeanne Coffin <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Date: 12/09/2011 07:07 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] What Can I DO?? Re: [ECOLOG-L] Message from Paul Ehrlich Greetings Ecologgers, I'm a masters student at Tufts University, and we (my classmates and me) have recently been discussing just this topic (what are the problems behind the climate change debate and what are the solutions that we can actually work on) in class. We had some thoughts (some of which have already been eloquently expressed here) that seemed worth sharing with the general listserv. What's the problem, why can't we get the data to motivate change??? -It's too abstract and not immediate enough. -It's too scary, so people resort to denial. -The culture science and the culture of the general public don't communicate well with each other, leading to room for misunderstanding and misapprehension. -Our brains pay attention to extremes, and encourage us to take sides in moral debates (like climate change is often seen to be). -The single solution bias. -Not everyone is in a secure enough livelihood to have motivation to spare for this. When it comes to motivating change, what can we do? -Make sure climate events are correctly attributed to global warming. -Communicate clearly and respectfully to the general public--I've seen this in discussion here many times. -Make it about empathy for the next generation who will have to deal with not just climate change but resource shortages as well, instead of about whether or not CO2 from humans is or isn't the source of our problems--this is essentially Barnett's point from before. -Operationalize that empathy. -Empower people to participate in specific (ideally tangible) positive action, instead of discouraging/depressing them with terrifying predictions. -Identify key players and work together with them (politicians, religious leaders, community leaders, etc.) -Focus on places where local action can actually make a significant difference (like coal-mining country or states with a large electoral presence). There's more, but having a list of ideas can be a good place to start when a large issue like climate change seems so out of control. I've found the much of the Ecolog discussion thought-provoking and helpful--I can only hope our thoughts are more of the same. Best, Jeanne Coffin Student Masters of Conservation Medicine Tufts University cell: 608.770.9686 On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Abdel Halloway <[email protected]>wrote: > Dr. Hamilton, > > The problems of global warming are not anything to do with specific heat > but absorption of infrared radiation. > > I would suggest watching the Potholer54 Climate Change videos, especially > from the beginning. > > Video#1: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52KLGqDSAjo > > Video#2: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoSVoxwYrKI > -- Jeanne Coffin Canidate Masters of Conservation Medicine Tufts University 35 Langley Rd. Apt.1 Brighton, MA 02135 cell: 608.770.9686
