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Two suggested rules:

1) Don’t be afraid to bring it up
2) Keep it on the big picture

Don’t be afraid to bring it up

It’s stunning how effective the DIC has been at creating a social climate where climate change does not even get mentioned.  In certain environments, people know they are going to get absolutely blasted and abused for even bringing up climate change.  This has the effect of creating more and more echo chambers of climate change denial.  This is occurring in many newspaper comments sections and discussion boards.

For a local example here in western WA, we have the proposal for the SSA Marine Coal Export Terminal in Cherry Point, WA.  This proposed terminal is one of the most stunningly bad ideas ever. To recap:

1) Dig up 50 million tons of coal rocks in Montana, per year
2) Ship the rocks by rail and ship for 6,000 miles to China
3) There they burn the rocks, causing massive pollution including climate change
4) They ship back some of the things they made and we owe them even more money

Here in the US, we can work to reduce carbon emissions but it won’t make any difference at all if we instead ship lots of carbon to China so they can burn it there.  Exporting carbon is every bit as bad for the climate as burning it locally.

But what’s amazing is just how little the topic of climate change has entered the discussion of the export terminal.  Even local activitists have mostly shaped their arguments in terms of the (very considerable) local impacts.  The excellent site Coal Train Facts has loads of information about just how bad an idea this terminal is.  But what’s missing from their front page?

The diverse concerns about the proposed coal port and train include increased traffic and wait times at rail crossings, inhibited economic growth in other sectors of our economy, decreased property values, health concerns due to pollution, and damage to fisheries and other marine ecosystems. Many local jurisdictions are objecting to the low profile permitting process conducted so far, particularly at the state level.

There’s something missing.  What could it be?

The issue of the coal terminal is big in the local paper.  Here’s one of the most recent articles.  What’s missing from the 186 comments?  [Mea culpa, I commented but only about local impacts.]

It’s very tempting to argue against expanding combusion energy sources based on non-climate arguments.  After all, new combustion sources of energy have other very harmful health effects, and they are no longer economic when you consider those effects.  Why not just stick with that?

Here’s why: Because the absence of climate discussion is in effect ceding the entire topic and makes it progressively harder to raise the topic even where there’s no question that it’s on point.

Keep it on the big picture

The Denier Industrial Complex (DIC) is well trained in the use of obfuscation to drag anyone down a rabbit hole of confusion, avoiding the larger and unmistakeable picture.  These diversions include:

– Personal attacks on climate scientists and climate activitist
– Conspiracy theories about obscure “missing” or “fixed” data
– Scientific-sounding theories that are completely off topic

To which the answer has to be: Don’t go down that rabbit hole!  Pivot to reality!

Denier: Al Gore’s electric bill,=, blah blah blah
You: Well, that doesn’t explain why the Arctic is melted out far more than any time in history
Denier: But, the missing 19 met station data in Poland from the 1980s!  You have to explain them!
You: I don’t that moves the needle on the fact the global temperatures have been recording top ten hottest years ever, year after year.

Simple.  Reality-based.  This excellent recent Climate Progress column identifies 8 basic facts about climate change.  In a low-information environment, it’s key to stick to these, or even simpler.  The simplest possible list:

1) GHGs, especially CO2, are present in the atmosphere at the greatest levels ever measured
2) The global temperature is the highest ever measured
3) Rapid changes in climate are a bad thing for people
4) A high-school level science experiment can show the connection between 1 and 2

Part of keeping it simple for a low-information environment is not to get sucked into thinking you are in a real scientific discussion.  When someone provides what appears to be a narrow scientific counter-argument, usually it is just a rabbit hole, a diversion to get away from the core facts.  Sometimes it’s useful to respond to the exact point of an argument, but this should only be done with an awareness that it’s most likely going to be important to pivot back to the realities quickly.

The larger picture is so compelling, don’t waste it:

– Large scale warming, such as massively melting arctic seas, is indisputable
– Environmental change such as the Texas drought and pine beetles ranging north is harming us right now in the US
– If you put gigatons of pollutants into the air, each year, what do you expect to happen?