How to resolve climate change in the culture wars

It used to be that home appliances were a safe, if boring, topic of conversation. However, these days, many Republican politicians view gas ranges, refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines as symbols of government interference in people’s lives. Earlier this year, passed by the House of Representatives The “Hands Off Appliances Act,” which would make it more difficult for the Energy Department to enact new energy-saving standards, has stalled in the Senate. different Bills related to home appliances Bills proposed this year included the ‘Refrigerator Freedom Act’ and the ‘Laundry Freedom Act’.

The clamor for efficient appliances is just one of the ways growing polarization threatens efforts to reduce carbon emissions. On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump revived long-standing complaints about energy-efficient dishwashers and showerheads and railed against clean technology. false claim Wind turbines break down when exposed to seawater. Hydrogen electric vehicles are prone to explosion. Like a bomb.

A growing segment of the public appears to share some of Trump’s reservations. Four years ago, 84% of Republicans supported new solar farms. By this spring, that number had fallen to 64%. Pew Research Center opinion poll. Wind power also saw a similar decline in support, with the percentage of Americans saying they would consider an electric vehicle for their next purchase falling from 38% in 2023 to 29% this year.

Removing climate change from the culture wars can feel nearly impossible. But by taking a “just the facts” approach, scientists have found a way to talk about the changing weather that resonates with Fox News fans, a demographic that many climate advocates consider a lost cause.

“If you’re just talking about pure observation, there’s nothing political about it,” said Keith Sietter, a lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross and director emeritus of the American Meteorological Society. For example, if you tell people that hurricanes are strengthening faster because they’re over record-warm ocean waters, they can draw their own conclusions about how the world is changing.

Climate Central is a non-profit organization that aims to:Strongly advocated and non-partisan,” provides localized data and graphics that help newspapers, online news sites, meteorologists, and TV and radio programs explain the science behind our increasingly strange weather. warm winter to Allergy season gets longer. According to Peter Girard, Climate Central’s vice president of external communications, the organization has found success working with right-wing media outlets, such as Fox affiliates, because of its apolitical approach.

“Audiences, regardless of their political leanings, want to know what the science is saying about the weather and climatological experiences they are experiencing in their own backyard,” Girard said.

But even as fires, floods, and heatwaves get noticeably worse, Democrats and Republicans It is even more separate from the science behind human-caused global warming. More than almost any other problem. Some observers have noted that resistance to accepting climate science may not be about science at all, but may involve attempts to solve the problem. not 2014 experiment Republicans who read speeches about America using green technologies to stimulate the economy and Republicans who read speeches about enacting strict environmental regulations and pollution taxes were twice as likely as other Republicans to agree with mainstream climate science. That said, if you don’t like the proposed solution, it may be easier to ignore the problem.

This concept of “solution aversion” may help explain how the culture war over climate solutions began. In the early 1990s, a novel approach to the public Scientists warn that global warming has already begun.Momentum for global action is starting to build as countries consider mandatory requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Companies with a stake in continuing to burn fossil fuels, including oil companies, electric power companies, automobile companies, railroad companies, and steel companies, saw this as an imminent disaster and launched a counterattack. Conservatives have begun to question climate science and argue that moving away from fossil fuels threatens the economy and the American way of life. The gap between Republicans and Democrats on topics they largely agreed on grew, and there were more and more Republicans in Congress. vote against environmental measures.

“Climate change has become a mouthpiece for all government issues,” said Aaron McCright, a sociologist at Michigan State University. In an interview with CNN last year. “‘You cannot tell me what I can and cannot do on my land. The federal government — stay away from me.’” Between 1992 and 2012, the gap in support for environmental action between Democrats and Republicans widened. Increased from 5% to 39%According to a Pew poll.

The fault lines have deepened in recent years. When progressives promoted the Green New Deal in 2019, Republicans falsely claimed:They want to take your burger away.” It became a refrain, with the right warning that the Democrats would come for your car. your gas stove. “This is all part of an agenda to control you and control your behavior.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a speech last year in front of an oil rig in West Texas. “They are trying to limit your choices as Americans.”

There have been efforts to position climate action in a way that appeals to conservative values, linking it to patriotism, innovation and competition with China. But Kenneth Barish, a psychologist and author of a forthcoming book, Bridging the Political Gap: How Liberals and Conservatives Understand Each Other and Find Common GroundIn fact, he says, conservatives may reject this kind of framing entirely because they feel like their opinions haven’t been heard. His depolarization formula begins with a one-on-one conversation between two people who disagree. The goal is to figure out why your discussion partner feels that way and then work together to find a solution that addresses both concerns.

These kinds of conversations create opportunities for creative and practical solutions: ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while limiting government power over household decisions. Matthew Burgess, an environmental economist at the University of Wyoming, says simply making electric stoves more responsive to temperature control, or making electric cars cheaper and charging stations more accessible can reduce resistance to these technologies. He said some of it could be resolved.

“When you shift from having an opinion to understanding the concerns that underlie that opinion, it really becomes a different kind of conversation,” Barish said.

The approach is as follows:in-depth investigation,” is an outreach method developed by LGBTQ+ advocates that listens to people’s concerns without judgment and helps them overcome conflict. Personal conversations like these have been shown to change people’s minds and have a lasting impact.

In one experiment in British Columbia, volunteers hoped to convince the provincial government to switch to 100% renewable energy. hit an obstacle It’s located in Trail, a rural town home to one of the world’s largest lead and zinc smelting plants. They spoke with hundreds of residents, listening to their concerns about job loss and trying to find common ground. at last, 40 percent of residents changed their beliefs and Trail City Council voted in 2022 to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Not only is this proof that groundbreaking change can happen, but it also suggests that climate advocates have a lot of work ahead of them. The knee jerk reaction is quick and easy. Engaging in meaningful conversation is slow and difficult. Barish said better dialogue requires acknowledging that complex issues like climate change need to be viewed from different perspectives. “If we go to someone who is opposed to a particular intervention and try to convince them why we are right and they are wrong, we will probably get nowhere.”