How to cope with Climate Change Deniers and not go to Jail and/or Hospital
Out on my morning walk I came to realisation that really, there are no `Climate Sceptics'. Just very scared people. Here's why I reckon this is so.
Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800's we've been pumping pollution into the atmosphere in a big way. Factories have been building in number and for a long time and for the most part, increasing toxicity. Then the car was invented and there were more factories and people and cars. Just being stuck in peak hour traffic for a couple of hours in Sydney last week made me think exponentially how this is replicated every day and in even bigger numbers around the world. Just think of the huge populations of our city's around the world and the movement of those populations in cars and planes pumping Carbon Dioxide and other noxious gasses into the atmosphere. Now think of the decimation of forests that before industrialisation, soaked up our carbon dioxide and converted it to oxygen for us and our animal chums to breathe.
You can't ignore that over the last hundred or so years, thinking of this reality, that we can't possibly NOT have had an impact on the atmosphere, oceans and integrated environment. And the deniers, deep in the pits of their guts know this. But the scenario's predicted by scientist's, who they trust on most everything else that impacts on their lives, terrifies them. They are reacting in a similar way to someone who blocks a traumatic experience from being faced. They react by laughing or coming up with distractions. Anything to not face the truth, because to them, their particular mindset, which through no fault of their own is usually tied up with issues of low self esteem and thinking of themselves as ordinary, `what can I do?' folk, it's easier than acting upon the problem.
To my mind a lot of it comes down to how many of us believe in God. A particular group of humans invented a god who they could credit or blame for everything that happened in their lives. I'm not saying that Christians, Jews and Muslims are to blame as Climate Sceptics and deniers, but the culture that we've grown up in for a couple of thousands of years is, I think, responsible for a mindset of complacency and submission of thinking in larger terms of population and culture for how we react to a crisis. Especially one that is multi-generational and world wide. The Religious folk who do accept the science of Climate Change I would argue, are also those who've accepted that their god made man a steward of the planet and feel it is their duty to at least try to do something.
I'm coping with a few sceptics in my family and whatever logical argument or fact I quote from NASA or the Intergovernmental Panel set up by the UN is brushed off or laughed at and at worst, flat out denied. It's...frustrating. And it makes me sad, because I love these people and it causes me to think less of them which makes me feel bad for doing so. In my own way I guess they could argue that I'm coming up with a denial coping mechanism to deal with their denial coping mechanism and I would find that hard to deny.
So I guess what I'm saying is. Don't get angry or sanctimonious and sarcastic with those who are sceptical or deny the science that 97 or so percent of the worlds scientists who are professionally engaged in this area agree on. Be patient and educate. And push the anger and frustration into whatever small, cancerous ball you may nurture within yourself.
