Saturday, July 16, 2011

Dig in

Climate change is a complicated issue, primarily because of the enormous amount of scientific fact collecting and analysis from every corner of the globe. Add in politics and hidden agendas, and we have a serious mess.

The fact that we originally labeled this problem "global warming" was a huge marketing mistake. Yes, the average global temperature is increasing, but this gives deniers the opportunity to artificially dispute "global warming" every time we experience cold temperatures and a Snowmageddon. If they were actually familiar with the predictions associated with climate change, they would realize that such Snowmageddon was actually probably evidence for climate change. (Though please do me a favor and NEVER use one Snowmageddon, one data point, as proof of anything. You don't want to shame your science teachers and statistics professors.)

Recently NPR posted "Global Warming: A Guide for the Perplexed" as a "simple" explanation of the facts. Honestly, I don't find this to be a very simple guide at all, but perhaps this is as basic as it gets while staying true to the subject matter.

It's no wonder then why so many people, educated or not, shy away from this. It is complicated. It is outside of their realm of knowledge. And worst of all, the solution to such a problem is so enormous that to many the best solution is...denial. In Rolling Stone issue 1134/1135, Al Gore put it best:

"Since this new reality is painful to contemplate, and requires big changes in policy and behavior that are at the outer limit of our ability, it is all too easy to fall into the psychological state of denial. As with financial issues like subprime mortgages and credit default swaps, the climate crisis can seem too complex to worry about, especially when the shills for the polluters constantly claim it's all a hoax anyway. And since the early impacts of climatic disruption are distributed globally, they masquerade as an abstraction that is safe to ignore."

As liberals, we get the satisfaction of digging in deeper, taking in all the information (except perhaps Fox News programming) in an attempt to understand the issue. It is OK to not understand every detail of climate change. It is not OK to deny that climate change is happening simply because it is complicated.

The extra challenge we face is spreading the message. I am as guilty as anyone in shying away from this conversation when I am in mixed political company. The whole point of the Rolling Stone article mentioned above is that while Republicans may be spreading untruths, many Democrats are acting as accomplices by not defending the science behind climate change. So, we're letting people who are partially funded by the "polluters" stomp all over scientific evidence (and our environment, and new technology, and small businesses promoting this new technology...)? What is wrong with us?

From the same Rolling Stone article "Climate of Denial," a quote from Yeats: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."  Let's all dig in a little more.

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