Learning together out of climate change denial

Abstract

Climate change denial is often rooted in an array of conspiracy theories with climate change itself viewed by some as the real conspiracy. While not all of us are climate change conspiracy theorists, it is upsetting for most of us to learn and accept that our climate is changing, that it is primarily human‐caused, and that it is harming people, animals, and other living organisms. It is even harder to accept this new reality when it goes against our core and fundamental beliefs, and against the professed beliefs and positions of those groups with which we identify. The media—whether old or new—has not really helped educate, and has tended to reinforce what is termed ‘myside’ bias. Those of us in adult education know that presenting the correct information or facts is not enough to really teach people. Instead, I sense that learning to live together, to accept the painfulness of learning, and connecting in a shared concern for our fragile blue planet and what we have managed to create, needs to be part of the answer—as complex as this topic is.