JC and Ecolog:
Coffin et al make some good points; it remains to be seen whether or not
replies will be responsive to them.
I'm a bit rushed this morning, so will have to be brief (thank your lucky
stars!). With respect to scary, maybe it should be, maybe not. It all
depends upon where the science actually is with respect to reality.
First, the relevant phenomena are certainly worthy of careful study, but
scientists should not go off half-cocked. There seems to be a lot of
cocksureness in the rhetoric, usually without solid logic and data being
presented in favor of citing authority. On the denial side, true, there is a
lot of comparably cocksureness there too. It seems that the second one
touches on something beyond the level of propaganda, the prates clam up,
hide out, refuse to respond on point. So what's a poor skeptic to do?
It would seem that the spokespersons for the "sides" could gain some respect
by, as Coffin points out, by giving some respect. People tend to be
suspicious of others who take the shrill index beyond human hearing. And, it
might help to lower the preening of egos and stick to the points of greatest
relevance.
Let's see if we can start a sub-thread that sticks to the science, and see
if we can get somewhere with the facts.
Talk about SCARY!
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeanne Coffin" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 6:53 PM
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
-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1415 / Virus Database: 2102/4067 - Release Date: 12/08/11
