How Change Happens - Katherine Hayhoe
How To Make People Care
About Big Things
Climate Scientist and TED Talker Katharine Hayhoe is equally interested in the obvious ecological collapse as she is in how to talk so people will listen. She and Kelly break down the moves and messages that do and don't work when trying to change global attitudes and save our planet.
Kelly's 17-year-old Claire jumps in to talk about the power of Planet Earth and protests and stories of extinction.
Show Notes
Katharine Hayhoe is an award-winning climate scientist and leading researcher based out of Texas Tech University. She's a data cruncher who is very clear on how humans are causing the earth to warm, yet also convinced we can do something about it together.
Claire Licthy is Kelly's 17-year-old daughter.
References
Books and documentaries referenced included:
An Inconvenient Truth - Al Gore and David Guggenheim's film about climate change.
Global Weirding - Katharine's awesome YouTube educational series for kids and families
Kelly’s Takeaways
1. The biggest problem we have around climate change is psychological distance.
2. Even though nature seems so vast, climate's resources are not infinite.
3. Picture the trash.
4. Language, in particular metaphor, is how we make the abstract concrete.
5. Scientists don't have a spotless record.
6. 100 companies are responsible for 70% of the heat trapping gas emissions since the dawn of the Industrial Era.
7. Beware of people who swear there are two sides to every issue, sowing doubt in circumstances where the knowledge is unanimous, is an act of war.
8. As with most things, the problem is educating and the answer is education.
9. Let us never forget we are all on the same ship. The most important thing an individual can do now is be less of an individual.