How to change minds about climate

Let’s stop scaring people and examine the bright future that awaits us.

Scaring people is a good way to get them to dig in their heels. It’s human nature. Fear primes us for a fight or flight response and neither of these requires a good deal of higher-level thinking. Changing minds requires open minds and minds open when people are not fearful but relaxed. So the approach so far to dealing with climate change, for instance, would be comical if there wasn’t so much riding on it.

Around the world there’s a singular focus on emissions that borders on magical thinking. One side disbelieves the science because, hey, what are we going to drive with once we make that admission? And like a bad movie, the other side keeps pursuing the same stale argument.

Let’s start with a premise that’s as neutral as I know how to make it. Emissions are the primary and proximate reason for climate change, let’s discuss how we might fix the problem. The discussion might start like this,

We humans did a smart thing about 250 years ago. We learned how to access the energy stored in fossil fuels to power machines, factories and transportation. It gave us the world we have today, admittedly it’s not a perfect world, but human living standards have improved by leaps and bounds nevertheless. But now, those fossil fuels are running out and…