In an effort to break through climate silence, I seek opportunities to talk to strangers about climate change. For instance, often strangers ask me how tall I am. I politely answer that I am 6 foot 7 (2 meters), and then I say: may I ask you a question too? If I get permission, my question is: "what do you think about global warming?" In this situation it is necessary to pronounce the word "global warming" clearly and slowly, because people at first don't understand me, or they don't expect me to say this and are unsure if I actually said it. An old man in his eighties repeated back to me "global warming" in a tone as if it was a joke. I don't smile, I say: "yes, global warming, climate change." Now it takes him almost half a minute to think what to say, it seems as if he does not know himself what he actually thinks about it if it is not a joke. Then he gives the stunningly frank answer: "We can't do anything about it anyway, therefore it is ok to continue ignoring it." In response, I enumerate some of the most obvious and uncontroversial things one can do: "actually we can do a lot, we can switch to renewable energy, we can use more mass transportation, we can have better building codes." His answer: "Are you really 6 foot 7? You look taller than that."
Hans G Ehrbar _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
