The Importance of Understanding Climate Change

The term “Climate Change” has been one of the most controversial political terms in recent history. It is an issue that has long a ffected international diplomacy, national elections, and hometown school board races. Today, it sparks at every level of political engagement.

For some individuals, climate change is an abstract idea that is difficult to understand on a practical level. When the topic of climate change isn’t properly understood, it is far too easy to caricaturize dissenting perspectives in unserious ways: “you hate the environment” or “you hug trees.” It is likely that neither of these stereotypes truly exist in either of these ways, yet we see ridiculous insults hurled anyway.

We can all do better to contribute to the climate change conversation more meaningfully. For those who have been educated in the hard sciences and who champion the climate change cause, it is important for their messaging to include the “how” in addition to the “what”. If the “how” isn’t shared, the “what” is harder to understand and less likely to be taken seriously.

Speaking from my own personal experience, the climate change conversation wasn’t always one that I understood or took seriously. It wasn’t until my college professors explained the butterfly affect (the how) that leads to climate change challenges (the what), that I started to understand the issue more meaningfully. It was then that I got the opportunity to engage thoughtfully by listening and asking follow up questions.

The conversational process that leads towards an understanding of Arctic climate change looks something like this: people can’t just hear that polar bears struggle without sea ice, people need to know what the polar bears’ struggle is. Put simply, polar bears need sea ice in order to hunt seals, and without sea ice, seals become more elusive. Additionally, with less ice in the Arctic, orcas become competition for polar bears and hunt the same seals that were previously hunted almost exclusively by polar bears.

Until Arctic challenges are properly articulated and understood, we will continue to see a caricature-like discourse that will only delay the meaningful progress necessary for the preservation of the Arctic and its inhabitants. By communicating in good faith, we can eliminate the prevalent degradation of one another that so often occupies the space surrounding the conversation of climate change. Progress does take all of us, but progress always starts with our individual self. We cant change the world unless we change ourselves first. If we all put more effort into building conversational bridges, we can restore political decorum and preserve life in the Arctic.

Further Reading:

https://polarbearsinternational.org/news-media/articles/math-in-polar-bear-science

https://www.arcticwwf.org/the-circle/stories/shrinking-sea-ice-may-mean-new-opportunities-for-killer-whales-in-the-arctic/