We don't undertsand how it affects us': Chief Scientist on climate change
In an interview with Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman, Katharine Hayhoe The Nature Conservancy Chief Scientist explains how climate change could be better understood by the public.
Video transcript
RICK NEWMAN: So, Katharine Hayhoe, I'd like to start with you. In your new book, you say that only 7% of people are what you call dismissives, people who will never be persuaded that we need to act on climate change and on global warming, which suggests 93% of everybody is willing to hear out what we ought to be doing about this.
And yet, that's obviously not the case. I mean, we're massively divided on whether there's a crisis, if there is a crisis, what should we do. So, you delved into this in your book. Can you just tell us your views on how do we get more people to understand what's going on and do something about it?
KATHARINE HAYHOE: Well, you answered your question yourself, I think, because the biggest problem we have is not lack of facts. We have known since the 1800s that digging up coal back then and oil and gas today are producing heat trapping gases that are wrapping an extra blanket around the planet, causing it to warm. What are we missing? We don't understand how it affects us, why it matters to us here and now today, in ways that are relevant to each one of us. And we don't know what to do about it.
So that's why when we have these conversations, it's so important to talk about how climate change is affecting us here and now in ways that matter. And there are real solutions that are good for us. Clean up the air, grow jobs, provide food and clean water. Oh, and fix climate change along the way.
