Could you be with a partner who doesn't believe in climate change?

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DH doesn't really think it's all that bad. He thinks we should be recyling more and caring for the planet as makes sense and is just the right thing to do - but that climate change as a disaster is an exaggeration and not based in science. And that people are utilising it for their own agenda, woke brigade & so on.

We have young kids.

AIBU to find this position increasingly problematic?

People are going to say people are allowed different opinions but he seems geniunely unconcerned about future of planet for our kids - and I find that hard to swallow.

Tbf, I think the message there is to find a trolley with four functioning wheels.

So many pointing out lack of IQ yet not reading past title🙈
He is not climate change denier, he does tuff for planet, hejust believes lots of doom mongering is overegged. He is nkt denying climate change

Well
Perhaps she wants to talk about it with her DH so that together they can prioritise sensible actions like better home insulation, less meat and diary , encouraging local politicians that they can gain sone votes with environmental sound policies

And yes that is a subject in which I would find it difficult to have a partner who didn't care - we don't have to agree on everything but there are a few big issues that really matter to me

But OP there is a hard core somewhere , possibly coordinated possibly not, that wants to disrupt any climate discussion with personal attacks , denials and derailing

Caring for the planet is just a little too vague and sounds like a nice to have but I won't inconvenience myself

No, because you think anyone who has a different opinion to you is automatically stupid and wrong with no ability to consider alternative theories. You must be quite fragile.

Denying settled, observable scientific consensus just because it doesn't fit with your opinion is as close as I can think of as a textbook definition of stupid.

"Alternative theories" are fine but there's no getting away from the objective facts of what's happening.

Leave him alone. He is intelligent enough to see past the propaganda machine and those that agree with impoverishment of the general population to try and achieve the unattainable.

Balance is what is needed, but all I can see is polarisation.

Shall we harp back to the ice age, plus all the other eras that followed?

Or are we talking man made climate change? If so, whatever has happened in the last 5 years doesn't follow any pattern.

The OP in her OP says he says its "not based on science". How can scientific consensus, (lead by the IPCC) not be based on science?

Don't know how it became the mark of a good parent to raise your children in futile terror for the future.

This is one of the things which worries me, what a terrible thing to do your children. Set them a good example by consuming less by all means but filling them with fear is pointless. Perhaps OP's husband is trying to counter her approach to climate change for the sake of their children.

Why do adults dump their pessimism on children and then wring their hands over children's mental health?

😂😂😂😂

Yes, I can have different views to my partner and happy to be friends with people with different opinions to me also.

I think this comment wins. I remember when my dad told me about the ozone layer in around 1989 and I was absolutely terrified all night of the blazing fireball that would kill us all imminently. It's one of those memories that you can taste, see, hear, and feel.

Having children is one of the worst things you can do for the climate, yet actively not having them for that reason seems to suggest human extinction is the answer but then rapid climate change will achieve that so why not just turn to accelorationism?

Yes, of course. DP & I don’t agree on everything, and that’s a good thing. I respect his views and he respects mine. It’s called agreeing to differ, and it’s what intelligent, educated adults do. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

No, I couldn't. I would struggle to respect anyone who had this view. Difficult for you now though.

Fair enough. Be aware you’ll be very much inconveniencing your children and grandchildren.

It is unclear how this disagreement affect your everyday life. He does recycling, believe in caring about planet. What else do you expect from him? It’s a genuine question.

Lots of the doom mongering is overegged in news etc.
It's the same like before, and same like it will be next time. Reasonable headlines don't sell, but bleaching food from shops did well few years ago. Some claims people have really are not based on science properly.
He is not denying climate change as whole

A lot of the core climate work is "based on science", like the rate of temperatures increasing and so on.

But "we're all gonna die in 5 years" isn't.

What ARE the objective facts? And what is the evidence that its human behaviour that is leading directly to any climate changes as opposed to the natural weather changes that have occurred since time immemorial?

It certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker for me because DH and I enjoy heated debates at home and can usually come out the other side without wanting a divorce. What would be a dealbreaker for me however is a partner who breaks down in tears about climate change and encourages climate change anxiety in our DC. That extreme reaction to climate change would scare me and I would think twice about living with someone like that. i have a few friends who regularly sob about the state of our planet and I do find it strange.

Nothing like a climate change thread to bring out the denialist idiots in droves. I have no idea if these people are trolls paid to post disinformation or if they are genuinely so stupid that they actually believe the crap they come out with. Probably a mix of both.

"It's a cycle" "the experts are all wrong" "it's a conspiracy to make us pay more tax" "India and China should take action first" "the climate has been changing since time began" "it's media propaganda" "there are no records from the past"... the ignorant nonsense just goes on and on.

And worst of all "I'm sceptical" - you're really not, you're so gullible that you've uncritically lapped up all the disinformation out there.

This is how my partner feels. I am partially with him on this, but do think the climate is changing due to human intervention, I just don't think it is all to do with us. The climate was warmer during the middle ages and medieval period, but yes it is going at a pace now that suggests we are contributing to it too.

I think as science progresses we will see that factors affecting the climate are much more complicated than we understand now. I think people are neglecting this fact right now.

I do agree that asking for us mere mortals to just pay more for something isn't going to change anything, particularly when the people or companies bleating about it and dreaming up these schemes are happy to fly around in private jets and snort cocaine that has a massive carbon footprint. My footprint is heaps lower than theirs, yet its me that gets penalised. If they actually dreamed up better ways of dealing with the crisis other than creating what will probably be a two tier society, it might be more appealing to everyone. We only gave a shit about the planet when it looked like it was going to affect us - prior to that it was the American Dream, want, want, want and consumerism. Why do we still see so many adverts by these companies who bleat about their eco credentials?

I personally wouldn't leave my partner for a differing opinion like this. People change views all of the time. My OH would bever have voted for Brexit in a million years and my children have had vaccinations. I think it's reasonable to question science and maybe not like a government that has been systematically making vast sections of society poorer for the last 15 years. That doesn't make him a conspiracist, just makes you look like you are on the other end of the extreme.

Why are you avoiding answering the question about why you had DC if you are so concerned about climate change?

The problem isn’t that you guys have different philosophical opinions - I can deal with that, eg I believe in reincarnation and DH does not - the problem is that your DH’s opinion is stupid 😬 I would find it difficult to be with a stupid man, yes, but as you’ve had kids it’s a bit late now. I wouldn’t dump the father of my kids for being a bit dim.

My generation (I’m 40) was taught at school that climate change is a an unproven theory and that there are lots of other theories which might also be true. Since I was at school, the climate change ‘theory’ has now been proven correct and no reputable scientists anywhere dispute it. But some people like my brother who never read the news are still stuck on what they learned at school and refuse to update themselves, so sometimes say quite dumb stuff.

I’m sure your DH will notice climate change in due course. Perhaps he’ll read the news sometime.

I do perhaps agree with your DH on the point that there is no use handwringing and saying “isn’t it awful” etc etc. Make your decision about what you personally as a family are going to do, whether that is voting differently, or lobbying, or political activism, or nothing. But don’t expect your DH to join in with long upsetting “isn’t it awful” chat because that isn’t fair.