Loving The Enemy

Crossposted from the Futerra blog.

The world is always easier when there is a binary choice. ‘You’re either with us, or your against us.’ It’s the same with climate change, where we often look for the simple division between believers and deniers.

I’ve spent the last couple of hours reading a series of climate-sceptic blogs, and it’s been quite insightful. Perhaps unlike most environmentally conscious individuals, I am confident in my own knowledge of climate systems, feedback effects, and the science of climate-hotspots like the Arctic. I know how difficult it is to predict the effects of scientific findings fifty years into the future, and I accept that the IPCC made some stupid mistakes this last year. But I went into my blog exploration full in the confidence that these people were nuts.

Naturally, most of what I read I disagreed with. I found it factually incorrect, full of bias, and some smatterings of personality-driven nastiness. But I didn’t expect that I would end up liking most of the authors.

Seriously, I’m not kidding.

The people who dedicate their time to advocate for something they passionately believe in are interesting – and interested. They’re funny, articulate, and will sometimes have a really sensible point. (How about this one for starters – want to have a look at who took more money from BP over the last 5 years, environmental organisations and projects, or pro-oil lobbyists..?)

Sure, the design is often lacking some clarity, and there’s a lot of ‘the whole world is against us’, but there’s plenty of that amongst environmental advocates too! (Not looking at anyone in particular.)

I know I’m not going to convince these people that building a clean energy economy will be good for us all in the end, and I’m perfectly fine for them to think of me as some crazed hippie, but I feel I’ve got a little closer to understanding why some people in my life struggle to embrace our climate message. And that can only be a good thing.

Go on, have a read of No Frakking Consensus, Watts Up With That and Climate Depot. I challenge you to see if you don’t end up wanting to invite them round for a cup of tea.