Sometimes It Really Feels Like This

While I try and keep the videos I find and post here purely educational, I just find this one too entertaining and the content all too common to pass up. Neil deGrasse Tyson is on the Bill Maher show, and he has to educate a obstinate skeptic - a former GM executive  - on the realities of global warming and climate change. The executive spouts the same old rhetoric used by denialists, and, despite being told the facts, insists that it is all made up, scientists are wrong, or that the green movement is going to fade away because it is all based on lies. Dr. Tyson, a highly respected astrophysicist, works hard to identify with this car exec to get him to understand that global warming is real, but in the end, the man refuses to change his mind - or to even admit that he just spoke a falsehood. Bill Maher is visually beside himself as the denialist rattles off falsehood after falsehood and refuses to budge.

Many times our conversations with denialists, skeptics, and even fence-sitters can seem like this. While I advocate educating people by focusing on the facts, producing evidence, and the like, some people will be like the car executive and will refuse to listen, budge, or reconsider even a small facet of their take on the issue. Why do they do this? I have no idea, but in these instances, it is just best to agree to disagree, encourage them to look at the real facts, and go on your merry way. We will never convince everyone. The droughts will get worse, the oceans will rise, biodiversity will falter,  and food and habitat will become scarce, but there will still be those who will deny it has anything to do with climate change and global warming. Our job is not to convince those people, but to convince enough people of the truth so that we can make the needed changes to reduce our impact and prepare for climatic shifts.