Social Change Institute 2012

June 6-10, 2012, Hollyhock – Cortes Island, BC

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Will better science education lead to meaningful policy?

posted Nov 17, 2010 11:02 AM by Meredith Herr   [ updated Nov 17, 2010 11:06 AM ]

In the November 14, 2010 Washington Post op-ed, "How to stop global warming - even if you don't believe in it," Meg Bostrom (co-founder of the Topos Partnership) asserts that we should "stop assuming that we must first achieve unanimity on global warming science" and instead focus on "building support for specific solutions that all sides can agree on." Bostrom outlines three challenges to building support for strong climate policies; a focus on scientific consensus is confusing to the public, global warming can't compete with crises that seem more immediate to Americans, and party identify has been more powerful than scientific fact in determining one's opinion on the issue. It turns out, however, that even climate skeptics will support a "carbon-free energy future" because such approaches "are good for the planet, for human health, for energy independence and for our economy."  Read more.