The recent extreme heat spell across Europe and especially in the UK had brought climate change back to the front and centre of the news agenda and temporarily even displaced both the Russo-Ukrainian War and Covid.

People in Britain were shocked that temperatures exceeded 40c for the first time since records begun. Runways melted. schools closed and trains operations became even more unreliable (yes they became even worse).

It’s Global Warming Climate scientists say, and many of us are onboard with that even If we feel overwhelmed and as if our tiny individual contributions to sustainable living make little or no difference. Greta Thunberg’s 12 year timebomb is ticking and has run down its first three years. According to Local BBC Weather reporter Climate Scientists are facing criticism for not warning the public about the severity of such weather events. He admitted that most climate scientists expected such extremes to start appearing in the 2050s.

So climate scientists get criticism for unintentionally understating the threat on one hand and not being believed on the other hand.

And it is the latter that I want to address today – those who don’t believe in climate science – so Donald Trump open your ears and listen for a change. Here is the Newsflash:

You don’t need to believe the climate science to take the climate seriously.

When it comes to polarising arguments people tend to become entrenched and stubborn in their beliefs. Richard Dawkins will never convert to a religious faith and the Pope will never become an atheist. So argument is pointless as a tool of persuasion.

A better approach is to take a non-confrontational logic based perspective and avoid the non-argument that contributes nothing.

Let me use an example of a non-argument. Please forgive the religious nature of this.

One of the areas of disagreement between Jehovah’s Witnesses and mainstream Christians is the nature of the crucifixion. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Christ was crucified on an upright stake with his hands nailed above his head and mainstream Christians believe it was on a cross. You can match what the historical records say about crucifixion, invented by the Phoenicians who used a T-shaped bar and finessed by the Romans on a cross it was an ancient method of crucifixion adopted by several Mediterranean cultures.

All true but pointless to discuss.

We can look at the Biblical (Ancient Greek) word for cross which is stauros which denotes an upright post that may or many not have something else attached to it. Think of the modern English word Pole  or Post. It may just be freestanding or just maybe it will have a sign on it we still call the upright a post. So the argument is ambiguous at best.

But it all pointless because to argue over the exact method of crucifixion is to miss the main point which is that at the centre of any Christ based faith is the crucifixion, the fact that Christ died and what that represents to the believer.

Stop wasting time with pointless arguments.

Of course there are other areas of disagreement between the theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses based roughly on the commentaries of Charles Taze Russel and mainstream Christianity that are not so easily reconciled.

So let me now bring us back to Climate science

Instead of thinking about the planet think about your own home. Do you allow it to clutter up with rubbish and allow food waste to rot in the kitchen, no you clear it out. In other words you look after your environment even if it is just to keep it looking nice.

In other words we behave responsibly to look after our space.

Second newsflash – our planet is our space and just an expansion of the idea of home. We just need to increase our vision.

Or if we put it another way I want you to imagine you stand in some dog mess and as you are walking you leave little dog mess footprints everywhere you go. You definitely try to clean it up before you go home so you do not tread footprints all over your home. This is an almost perfect analogy of the carbon footprint. When we go home, or pass away, we don’t want to leave little sh**y footprints for others to deal with and let’s stretch it just a bit further. We get angry when people leave their dog’s mess where we can stand in it and argue that they should clean up after themselves. By extension this means not leaving dirty nappies and beer bottles on the beach or in the forest. It means taking personal responsibility and treading lightly so not leave our dirty footprints all over the house.

Of course another part of the discussion is corporate responsibility and how they need to step up. This can best be illustrated by the individually plastic-wrapped cucumbers readily available in most supermarkets, but that is another article for another day.

So to summarise don’t try to convince the unbelieving with the very science they reject, rather look for the non-argument approach that uses logic.

I’m fairly sure that Donald Trump doesn’t live in his own mess – even if as an insurrectionist he probably belongs behind prison bars – but again that is another article for another day.

Stay well and stay safe.

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