What should I say, if anything, to the climate change skeptics in my family?

[majorstress]

My father, I can understand , because he always takes the side he sees as "alternative"! So actually that is a good sign really. And he is over 70.

My uncle, who is 50, though? I thought he would be a bit more informed as a former science student at Uni (thought he did drop out....).

I guess it doesn't matter what they think, but can I do anything better than open and shut my mouth a few times, then give up and change the subject for a quiet life?

Easy - let them watch 'An Inconvenient Truth', Al Gore's film, plus any footage of the New Orleans floods, British floods, European glaciers melting.

Assuming they're aware of this already and give you the old lines of 'well the world has had x ice ages and y hot periods/it's nothing to do with humans/it's sunspots etc' I think perhaps you're up against ingrained prejudice and/or guilt, especially at that age. Tell them they're dinosaurs, that even George Bush is taking it seriously and that they hope they're happy about the world their grandchildren are going to have to live in.

Good luck. I have severe political differences with my inlaws and don't bother confronting them any more. But at least we know where eachother stand.

I loved that film, but I doubt they would watch it. They'll say it's propaganda.

I DID say well why are we paying these eminent climate scientists to study it, then ignoring what they tell us? Sack'em then.

Well my uncle doesn't have any children, maybe that explains it.

Majorstress, if they won't watch Inconvenient Truth, even to rubbish it then maybe it proves that they do not have open minds on this issue and won't listen to reason. Could you tell them you don't wish to hear their opinions until they've watched it like everyone else?

This is from Heat, by George Monbiot.
I keep meaning to put it on a card to pass it to climate sceptic friends with whom I cannae be arsed to argue.

"1. Does the atmosphere contain carbon dioxide?

2. Does atmospheric carbon dioxide raise the average global temperature?

3. Will this influence be enhanced by the addition of more carbon dioxide?

4. Have human activities led to a net emission of carbon dioxide?

If you are able to answer no to any one of these questions, you should put yourself forward for a Nobel prize, because you have turned science on its head."

to be honest i think pollution of water, landfill, and petrol shortages will be more important in the future.

i've watched an inconvient truth and thought it was good accessable film, but it detracts from above issues.

I like it daves!

csabie they are important issues, but the global warming issue at its worst is such that they won't matter anymore. We will be dead.

I'm not convinced about that but it is possible, some reputable scientists say.

personally, it think there is more that can be done with these issues, than with 'climate change', which just is another means for political debate without practical substance.

we need an integrated enviromental solution, just by going 'ooh, look at that climate change' isn't going to change much.

but, by suggesting we lose our reliance on petrol based products and find alternatives, which can help stop climate change from being irreversable, then you might be talking to people in their language - money!

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Casbie I agree, in many ways an Inconvenient Truth was unsophisticated. But climate change denial is contributing to people being complacent about those very 3 issues:

pollution of water (CO2 releasing factories being prime polluters), landfill (plastic manufacture increases climate change and is responsible for much landfill), and petrol shortages (overuse increases climate change)

which you say are more important. I think it's hard to untangle the bundle tbh but by all means I feel we can and should tackle whichever issue is most manageable in our own lives.

I have given up. FIL's answer to anything to do with climate change, recycling is simply

"I don't believe it"
"Doesn't bother me"
"Load of rubbish"
"I don't care"

What can you say to that?

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what i am saying is that 'climate change' and 'global warming' needs to be accessable by the genrl public for people make it real for themselves.

i've heard people taking about it and saying how great it will be to live in a warmer climate.

but most of the evidence suggests that we will have more violent storms, driving rain and then periods of drought, with the med becoming a desert!

i would point out that landfill charges will soon be applied, more rigourously.

water bills (as is insurance for cars/houses) is going to soon be very expensive and for most could be unaffordable..

petrol will soon be a rarity, affecting the daily communte, food imported, the NHS (remember the fuel disputes a few years ago?).

these are practical, daily, life-changing things that could happen unless we do something.

unfortunately, doing something is what most polititians are trying to avoid!!

What about it's going to cost our economy billions if we do nothing ( a la the Nicholas stern report earlier this year)

Easier to rubbish science that you don't understand than straightforward economics perhaps

I struggle with the same issues with my friends/relatives/colleagues

'be prepared'

is all we can do as individuals...

unless waterworld is lekly to be our future, then gills would be the favoured cosmetic surgery!

too right, Pruners

Hmm this is really a more general problem isn't it?

Should I try to talk to people who don;t agree with me (well, yes) and ought I to try however gently, or pointlessly, to change them?

Not so sure.

If I really think this issue matters, maybe more worth a shot?