Independents and climate form perfect storm for the good ship Coalition

The Perfect Storm is the true story of a fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, that headed out for tuna off Massachusetts and was hit by a violent natural event caused by the combination of two massive weather fronts.

The perfect storm appears to be an apt metaphor
to describe the conditions facing Scott Morrison
and his government at the coming federal election.

The perfect storm is also the metaphor most often used to describe the conditions facing Scott Morrison and his government at the coming federal election.

Dr Jill Sheppard is an investigator for the Australian National University’s Australian Electoral Study (AES), a major post-election review that has been tracking voter sentiment since 1987. She is also author of the ANU poll and focuses on why people participate in politics and the opinions they hold.

Read the story from The Guardian by Gabrielle Chan - “Independents and climate form perfect storm for the good ship Coalition.”

(Gabrielle Chan was interviewed by Climate Conversations for her book “Rusted Off”.)

Globe keeps warming, but public perception is cooling

Nature is doing a pretty good job all on its own, or at least with decided help from humans, but despite that the public perception of global warming is cooling.

Frankl Luntz.

A recent story published in Britain’s “The Independent” newspaper headed: “World cools on global warming as green fatigue sets in” explains how worldwide concerns about climate change have dropped dramatically since 2009.

Climate change, on a human time scale, is a long range affair and most people, conditioned by our instant world in which gratification needs to be immediate to be of any consequence, seem unable to equate personally, or in any other way, with something that is not concrete or maybe several years off.

Climate change, despite what the vocal skeptics or doubters tell us, is here now and to see it were simply need to open our eyes and beyond that, allow the scientists of the world, who are traditionally poor at using metaphor to help us understand the apocalyptic shape the world is taking on.

Those of us convinced of the reality of climate change should take advice from the American Republican Party’s master wordmeister, Frank Luntz, who said: "There’s a simple rule: You say it again, and you say it again, and you say it again, and you say it again, and you say it again, and then again and again and again and again, and about the time that you absolutely sick of saying it is about the that time your target audience has heard it for the first time.”

People will not be convinced by scientific facts that explain and detail the realities of climate change, rather the persuasive use of the language using metaphor and simile to illustrate the implications of the damage humans have done to the atmosphere.