What is your climate story?
No matter where you live, you have a weather story. It may be from Harvey flooding, or on a smaller scale it’s a time you went outside in freezing temperatures without a coat on and got locked out of your house. Brrrr!
But what about your climate story? Ask any farmer how much harder it is to keep their crops healthy compared to just 20 years ago. That is a climate story.
Introducing Dr. Katharine Hayhoe:
I was first made aware of atmospheric scientist, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, from her YouTube videos titled, “Global Weirding.” What impressed me most about her was how simple she made the science of climate change. Her communication skills are incredible. She has a gentle answer for everything anyone asks. And it’s the gentle answer that has made her a standout in her field of atmospheric research. Did I mention she’s a Texan? Hayhoe is a Horn Distinguished Professor and Endowed Professor of Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University. Wreck Em!
Her talk to broadcast meteorologists:
At Operation Sierra Storm, a weather conference in South Lake Tahoe, California, Hayhoe shared keys to communicating climate change effectively. I spent a few minutes interviewing her specifically about Texas which as you know is a huge oil and gas state. Here is our interview:
Besides politics, there may not be a more divisive issue than climate change. What Hayhoe does first when she speaks with people is find common ground. She met with a Texas owned oil and gas company and the first thing she said in her talk was, “thank you.” Thank you for your innovation that allows all of us to live past our 40s. Your work keeps our homes cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Then she gently shares how we can all work together to solve our problem of a warming world.
Dr. Hayhoe’s Message:
If there is one thing I’ve learned in my 20 plus years of being a broadcast meteorologist, it’s people have a hard time distinguishing the difference between weather and climate. Think of it like this. Weather is a tree, climate is the forest. Most people think our climate is stable, it’s not. Our climate is changing faster than any time in the past.
Hayhoe describes climate change as loading the weather dice against us. We are getting:
- More intense drought
- More dangerous heatwaves
- Bigger wildfires
- Stronger and wetter hurricanes
But Hayhoe believes there is hope. Hope begins with how bad it is. We need to talk with each other about it. And this may help. Dr. Hayhoe wrote a book titled, “Saving Us.” It has delightful stories of her conversations with people from all walks of life. If you’d like to hear the facts, the solutions, and how you can talk with anyone about our hope for the future, this is a great book to get.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe:
Atmospheric Scientist, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on understanding the impacts of climate change on people and the planet. She is the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. She has served as a lead author for the Second, Third, and Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessments and her work has resulted in over 125 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, and other publications. She is the author of the best-selling book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. She also hosts the PBS Digital Series Global Weirding and is a co-founder of Science Moms. Hayhoe is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Scientific Affiliation, an Honourary Fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, an Oxfam Sister of the Planet, and the World Evangelical Alliance’s Climate Ambassador. She has been named to lists including the TIME 100 Most Influential People and Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders, received a number of awards including the National Center for Science Education’s Friend of the Planet Award, the American Geophysical Union’s Climate Communication Prize and Ambassador Award, and the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award, and is a United Nations Champion of the Earth in Science and Innovation. https://www.katharinehayhoe.com