Commentary on How to talk climate change with a skeptic: 5 critical tips by Sam Parry.
The five tips are:
- First of all: Don’t get angry.
- Leave apocalypse to the movies.
- Seek common ground.
- Tell your own stories.
- Stick to the facts.
We’ll start with the first tip and Parry’s elaboration.
"First of all: Don’t get angry."
“If you begin a sentence with, “That’s really stupid,” the conversation might as well end there. Above all, show respect for the other person’s position. The goal is to build trust – not to prove a point.”
This tip is contradicted by later tips, which do not include “respectfully solicit the other person’s reasons for being skeptical”. In other words, hear them out, ask follow-up questions, and avoid knee-jerk rebuttals of their points. If you want to show respect for a person’s position, you ask them what exactly that position is and how they have arrived at it. If you talk to enough skeptics, you would find out they are quite a diverse group.
Some skeptics doubt the climate is actually changing. Some accept the climate is warming but attribute it to natural causes. Some accept that human factors play a role in climate change but think they’re a small part of the equation. Some say the climate isn’t changing all that much. Some doubt that fossil fuels are largely responsible for climate change. Some stress the uncertainty of predicting global climate. Some question the climate change models or the inputs to the models. Some emphasize the wide range of scientific opinion on the extent and effects of climate change.
Many skeptics point out prior doomsday predictions that turned out to be bogus (e.g., runaway population growth, the coming ice age). Many emphasize that climate change cannot explain current weather patterns. Many point out that skepticism is more in keeping with the spirit of science than arguments based on authority (the “consensus”). Many note that climate change discourse is full of exaggeration and distortions of the evidence. Many are simply not catastrophists and think however much the climate is changing, we will be able to manage it. Many have clearly studied the issue and have sophisticated arguments. This doesn’t mean they’re right (or wrong).
A few links links for illustration:
Why I Stopped Believing in Man-made Global Warming and Became a Climate Skeptic
A Skeptic's View on Climate Models
Why I’m a global warming skeptic
New climate skeptic book will set the record straight
Next: Tip#2: “Leave apocalypse to the movies.”