We need to talk (more) about climate change
Do you talk about climate change with your friends and family? If you don’t, you’re not alone. Yale’s Program on Climate Communications shows that most of us do not talk about climate change, which is weird since the impact it’s having on our lives is more and more noticeable.
Why it matters? Even though it’s scary and it may seem somewhat awkward, we need to talk about climate change for two major reasons:
We need to prepare for the impacts.
We need to change our behaviors and stop putting carbon into the atmosphere so that we can put the breaks on climate chaos.
Check out this map from Yale’s Program on Climate Communications. It shows that, generally, in any area of the country, less than half of us are discussing climate change, and it’s usually much less than half of us. On average, only 35% of Americans are occasionally discussing climate change.
Heat map of US which shows percentage of adults who discuss global warming at least occasionally, by county.It may be that people don’t discuss climate change with their friends, family, and neighbors because they think climate change is political, and that they risk stirring up trouble if they bring up the topic. But guess what? This map shows that almost three-quarters of us believe that climate change is happening.
Heat map that shows percentage of US adults who think global warming is happening, by countyOr maybe it’s because talking about climate change is just too overwhelming and scary.
I work on climate change for a living, so I talk about it every day. It causes me a lot of anxiety, and there is research that shows that I am not alone. The only thing that helps me manage it is that I can talk about it with the people I work with, and I can work on doing something about it both at work and at home.
Climate change is not an abstraction. It is literally changing the way we live. Use your anxiety to fuel your action!
What I read this week
Below, I’m going to give you links to, and very brief summaries of, some articles on climate change that I read this week. Maybe some of them will be relevant to you and people in your universe. Maybe you can use them to start a conversation.
If these don’t help, what would? Start a convo in the comments and let’s talk about it!
We can’t afford to be climate doomers, by Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit, always a good read, makes the point that, in terms of outcomes, climate doomers are no different than climate deniers. These are the people who believe in climate change, but who are only willing to see obstacles to doing anything about it. On top of that, they feel compelled to tell others that there are only obstacles. She says, “Some days I think that if we lose the climate battle, it’ll be due in no small part to this defeatism among the comfortable in the global north, while people in frontline communities continue to fight like hell for survival.”
Why it matters: This is a very familiar posture for people living comfortably in American suburbia and it has to stop. Recognize it and call it out, and vow not to be a doomer! Your planet and lots of people on this planet need you.
Extreme heat and pollution can double the risk of a fatal heart attack, by Marlene Cimons
A new study found that the combination of extreme heat and air pollution increases the risk of a fatal heart attack more than what can be attributed to adding the risks together. Catharina Giudice says it this way: “Heat makes cardiovascular disease worse. Pollution makes it worse. The two together are worse than each one independently.” Hitinder Germ, a cardiologist at University of Michigan observes, “…we cannot ignore the environment around us…Air pollution and extreme weather are emerging as important cardiac risk factors and require both individual and community level interventions.”
Why it matters: Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the US. Much of the US, including here in Michigan, experienced poor air quality this summer due to wildfire smoke from wildfires in Canada. Climate change makes wildfire season worse and creates a more hazardous environment that will have an impact on our health.
Republicans want to plant a trillion trees, scientists are skeptical, by Maxine Joselow
Tree planting programs seem like a low-hanging fruit that can make a huge difference by pulling carbon from the air and fixing it in trees. But scientists have a lot of reservations about such ‘silver-bullet’ seemingly easy solutions:
Old growth forests store a lot more carbon, and it takes a very long time for trees to get big enough to absorb noticeable amounts of carbon.
Climate and environmental change is moving so quickly that trees are going to have a tough time surviving.
“…planting a trillion trees would require an enormous amount of land — 900 million hectares, or nearly three times the size of India. It would be nearly impossible to acquire that much land without disturbing grasslands or farmland, which already store carbon.”
Why it matters: Easy, apolitical solutions are enticing and can give a false sense of security, but they are not likely going to work. We all need to become attuned to greenwashing and be very intentional about where we spend our time, energy, and money.
