The problem with ignoring people's emotions about climate change

About 20 years ago, while presenting the science of climate change to a large public group, I stopped in the middle of my talk. Up until this time, my presentations had been filled with 50 minutes of scientific information. However, during my graduate work in psychology, I had become more attuned to the importance of affect in how we engage with our environment.

Edvard Munch’s iconic ‘The Scream’ captures how
some might feel upon hearing about climate change risks. 

By psychological “affect,” I’m talking here about how we as humans respond – how our feelings and emotions respond – to various stimuli, in this case learning about the risks we face in a warming climate.

So I decided to change how I was presenting the material. I asked the audience how they were feeling after listening to what I had just said. What followed dramatically changed the way I’ve since worked with communicating climate change. There was complete silence in the very large auditorium, and then a woman way in the back of the room slowly raised her hand and said, “I feel completely helpless!”

Read the story from Yale Climate Connections by Jeffery T. Kiehl - “The problem with ignoring people's emotions about climate change.”

A Parable From Down Under for U.S. Climate Scientists

HOBART, TASMANIA — John A. Church, a climate scientist, did not look or sound like a man who had recently been shoved out of a job.

John Church in Hobart in September 2010.
He is known internationally for helping to
bring statistical and analytical rigor to
 longstanding questions about sea level rise.

Speaking softly and downing coffee at an outdoor cafe in this old port city, he sounded more like a fellow fresh off a jousting match. “I think we had a win — a bigger win than I ever anticipated,” Dr. Church said in an interview last month.

Australian climate science went through an upheaval last year, one that engaged the press and the public in defending the importance of basic research. In the end, Dr. Church did indeed lose his job, but scores of his colleagues who had been marked for layoffs did not. Some of them view him as having sacrificed his career to save theirs.

What happened in Australia shows the power of an informed citizenry keeping watch on its government. And it may turn out to be a precursor to an attack on fundamental climate research in the United States.

Read the story by Justin Gillis in The New York Times - “A Parable From Down Under for U.S. Climate Scientists.”