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It was my first year as
an atmospheric science professor

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at Texas Tech University.

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We had just moves to Lubbock, Texas,

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which had recently been named
the second most conservative city

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in the entire United States.

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A colleague asked me to guest teach
his undergraduate geology class,

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I said, "Sure."

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But when I showed up,
the lecture hall was cavernous and dark.

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As I tracked the history
of the carbon cycle

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through geologic time to present day,

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most of the students
were slumped over, dozing

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or looking at their phones.

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I ended my talk with a hopeful request
for any questions.

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And one hand shot up right away.

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I looked encouraging, he stood up,
and in a loud voice, he said,

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"You're a democrat, aren't you?"

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(Laughter)

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"No," I said, "I'm Canadian."

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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That was my baptism by fire

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into what has now become a sad
fact of life here in the United States,

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and increasingly across Canada, as well.

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The fact that the number one predictor

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of whether we agree
that climate is changing,

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humans are responsible,

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and the impacts are increasingly
serious and even dangerous,

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has nothing to do with how much we know
about science or even how smart we are.

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But simply where we fall
on the political spectrum.

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Does the thermometer give us
a different answer

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depending on if we're liberal
or conservative?

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Of course not.

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But if that thermometer tells us
that the planet is warming,

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that humans are responsible,

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and that to fix this thing

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we have to wean ourselves
off fossil fuels as soon as possible.

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Well, some people would rather
cut off their arm

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than give the government
any further excuse

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to disrupt their comfortable lives
and tell them what to do.

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But saying, "Yes, its a real problem
but I don't want to fix it,"

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that makes us the bad guy
and nobody want to be the bad guy.

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So instead, we use arguments like,
"It's just a natural cycle."

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"It's the sun."

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Or my favorite,

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"Those climate scientists
are just in it for the money."

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(Laughter)

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I get that at least once a week.

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But these are just
sciency-sounding smoke screens,

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that are designed to hide
the real reason for our objections,

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which have nothing to do with the science.

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And everything to do
with our ideology and our identity.

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So, when we turn on the TV these days,

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it seems like pundit X is saying,

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"It's cold outside,
where is global warming now?"

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And politician Y is saying,

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"For every scientist
who says this thing is real,

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I can find one who says it isn't."

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So it's no surprise that sometimes we feel
like everybody is saying these myths.

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But when we look at the data,

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and the Yale program
on climate communication

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has done public opinion polling across
the country now for a number of years,

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the data shows that actually 70 percent
of people in the United States

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agree that climate is changing.

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And 70 percent also agree
that it will harm plants and animals

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and it will harm future generations.

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But then when we dig down a bit deeper,
the rubber starts to hit the road.

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Only about 60 percent of people think

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that it will affect people
in the United States.

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Only 40 percent of people
think it will affect us personally.

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And then when you ask people,
"Do you ever talk about this?"

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Two thirds of people in the entire
United States say, "Never."

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And even worse, when you say,
"Do you hear the media talk about this?"

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Over three quarters of people say no.

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So, it's a viscous cycle.

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The planet warms.

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Heat waves get stronger.

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Heavy precipitation gets more frequent.

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Hurricanes get more intense.

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Scientists release yet another
doom-filled report.

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Politicians push back even more strongly,
repeating the same sciency-sounding myths.

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What can we do to break
this viscous cycle?

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The number one thing we can do
is the exact thing that we're not doing.

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Talk about it.

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But you might say, "I'm not a scientist,

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how am I supposed to talk
about radiative forcing

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or cloud parametrization
and climate models?"

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We don't need to be talking
about more science,

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we've been talking about
the science for over 150 years.

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Did you know that it's been
150 years or more since the 1850s,

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when climate scientists first discovered

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that digging up and burning
coal and gas and oil

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is producing heat-trapping gases

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that is wrapping an extra blanket
around the planet?

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That's how long we've known.

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It's been 50 years since scientists
first formally warned a US president

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of the dangers of a changing climate,

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and that president was Lyndon B. Johnson.

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And what's more,
the social science has taught us

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that if people have built their identity
on rejecting a certain set of facts,

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then arguing over those facts
is a personal attack.

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It causes them to dig in deeper

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and it digs a trench,
rather than building a bridge.

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So, if we aren't supposed to talk
about more science,

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if we don't need to talk
about more science,

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what should we be talking about?

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The most important thing to do,
is instead of starting up with your head,

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with all the data and facts in our head,

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to start from the heart.

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To start by talking
about why it matters to us.

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To begin with genuinely shared values.

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Are we both parents?

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Do we live in the same community?

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Do we enjoy the same outdoor activities,
hiking, biking, fishing, even hunting?

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Do we care about the economy
or national security?

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For me, one of the most foundational ways
I found to connect with people

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is through my faith.

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As a Christian, I believe that God created
this incredible planet that we live on,

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and gave us responsibility
over every living thing on it.

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And I furthermore believe
that we are to care for and love

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the least fortunate among us.

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Those who are already suffering
the impacts of poverty,

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hunger, disease and more.

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If you don't know what
the values are that someone has,

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have a conversation, get to know them,
figure out what makes them tick.

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And then once we have,

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all we have to do is connect the dots
between the values they already have,

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and why they would care
about a changing climate.

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I truly believe, after
thousands of conversations

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that I've had over the past
decade and more,

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that just about every single
person in the world

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already has the values they need
to care about a changing climate,

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they just haven't connected the dots.

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And that's what we can do
through our conversation with them.

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The only reason why I care
about a changing climate,

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is because of who I already am.

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I'm a mother, so I care
about the future of my child.

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I live in west Texas
where water is already scarce,

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and climate change is impacting
the availability of that water.

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I'm a Christian, I care
about a changing climate

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because it is, as the military calls it,
a threat multiplier.

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It takes those issues,

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like poverty and hunger and disease
and lack of access to clean water,

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and even political crises
that lead to refugee crises.

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It takes all of these issues
and it exacerbates them,

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it makes them worse.

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I'm not a Rotarian.

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But when I gave my first talk
at a Rotary club,

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I walked in and they had this giant banner
that had the Four-Way Test on it.

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Is it the truth?

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Absolutely.

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Is it fair?

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Heck, no, that's why I care
most about climate change,

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because it is absolutely unfair.

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Those who have contributed
the least to the problem

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are bearing the grunt of the impacts.

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It went on to ask,

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"Would it be beneficial to all,
would it build good will?"

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Well, to fix it, certainly would.

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So I took my talk and I reorganized it

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into the Four-Way Test

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and then I gave it to this group
of conservative business people

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in West Texas.

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And I will never forget at the end,

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a local bank owner came up to me
with the most bemused look on his face.

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And he said, "You know, I wasn't sure
about this whole global warming thing,

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but it passed the Four-Way Test."

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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These values, though,
they have to be genuine.

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I was giving a talk at a Christian college
a number of years ago,

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and after my talk, a fellow scientist
came up and he said,

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"I need some help.

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I've been really trying hard

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to get my foot in the door
with our local churches.

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But I can't seem to get any traction,

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I want to talk to them
about why climate change matters."

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So I said, "Well, the best thing to do

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is to start with the denomination
that you're part of,

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because you share the most values
with those people.

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What type of church do you attend?"

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"Oh, I don't attend any church,
I'm an atheist," he said.

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(Laughter)

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I said, "Well, in that case,
starting with the faith community

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is probably not the best idea.

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Let's talk about what you do enjoy doing,
what you are involved in,"

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and we were able to identify
a community group

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that he was part of,
that he could start with.

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The bottom line is, we don't have to be
a liberal tree-hugger

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to care about a changing climate.

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All we have to be is a human,
living on this planet.

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Because no matter where we live,

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climate change is already
affecting us today.

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If we live along the coasts,

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in many places we're already seeing
sunny day flooding.

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If we live in the western North America,

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we're seeing much greater area
being burned by wildfires.

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If we live in many coastal locations,

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from the Gulf of Mexico
to the south Pacific,

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we are seeing stronger hurricanes,
typhoons and cyclones,

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powered by a warming ocean.

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If we live in Texas
or if we live in Syria,

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we're seeing climate change
super-size our droughts,

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making them more frequent and more severe.

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Wherever we live, we're already
being affected by a changing climate

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So you might say, "OK, that's good,
we can talk impacts,

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we can scare the pants off people.

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Because this thing is serious."

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And it is, believe me,
I'm a scientist, I know.

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(Laughter)

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But fear is not
what is going to motivate us

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for the long-term, sustained change
we need to fix this thing.

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Fear is designed to help us
run away from the bear.

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Or just ran faster
than the person beside us.

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(Laughter)

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What we need to fix this thing
is rational hope.

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Yes, we absolutely do need
to recognize what's at stake.

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Of course we do.

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But we need a vision of a better future.

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A future with abundant energy.

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With a stable economy.

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With resources available to all.

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Where our lives are not worse
but better than they are today.

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There are solutions.

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And that's why the second important
thing that we have to talk about

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is solutions.

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Practical, viable, accessible,
attractive solutions.

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Like what?

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Well, there's no
silver bullet as they say,

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but there's plenty of silver buckshot.

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(Laughter)

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There are simple solutions
that save us money

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and reduce our carbon footprint
at the same time.

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Yes, light bulbs.

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I love my plug-in car.

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I'd like some solar shingles.

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But imagine if every home

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came with a switch beside the front door,

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that when you left the house,

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you could turn off everything
except your fridge, and maybe the DVR.

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(Laughter)

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Lifestyle choices.

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Eating local, eating lower
down the food chain,

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and reducing food waste,

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which at the global scale

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is one of the most important things
that we can do to fix this problem.

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I'm a climate scientist,

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so the irony of traveling around
to talk to people about a changing climate

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is not lost on me.

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(Laughter)

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The biggest part of my personal
carbon footprint is my travel.

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And that's why I carefully
collect my invitations,

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I usually don't go anywhere
unless I have a critical mass

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of invitations in one place,

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anywhere from three to four,

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to sometimes even as many as
10 or 15 talks in a given place.

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So I can minimize the impact
of my carbon footprint

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as much as possible.

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And I've transitioned nearly
three quarters of the talks I give

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to video.

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Often, people will say,
"Well, we've never done that before."

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But I say, "Well, let's give it a try,
I think it could work."

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Most of all, though,

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we need to talk about what's already
happening today around the world

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and what could happen in the future.

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Now, I live in Texas.

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And Texas has the highest carbon emissions
of any state in the United States.

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You might say, "Well,
what can you talk about in Texas?"

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The answer is, a lot.

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Did you know that in Texas

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there's over 25,000 jobs
in the wind energy industry?

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We are almost up to 20 percent
of our electricity

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from clean, renewable sources,
most of that wind,

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though solar is growing quickly.

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The largest army base
in the United States,

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Fort Hood, is, of course, in Texas.

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And they've been powered
by wind and solar energy now

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because it's saving tax payers
over 150 million dollars.

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Yes.

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(Applause)

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What about those who don't have
the resources that we have?

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In sub-Saharan Africa,
there are hundreds of millions of people

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who don't have access
to any type of energy,

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except kerosine, and it's very expensive.

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Around the entire world,

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the fastest growing type
of new energy today is solar.

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And they have plenty of solar.

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So, social impact investors,
nonprofits, even corporations

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are going in and using innovative
new micro financing schemes

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like, pay-as-you-go solar.

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So that people can buy
the power they need in increments,

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sometimes even on their cell phone.

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One company, Azuri, has distributed
tens of thousands of units

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across 11 countries,
from Rwanda to Uganda.

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They estimate that they've powered
over 30 million hours of electricity

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and over 10 million hours
of cell phone charging.

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What about the giant growing
economies of China and India?

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Well, climate impacts might seem
a little further down the road,

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but air quality impacts
are right here today.

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And they know that clean energy
is essential to powering their future.

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So China is investing hundreds
of billions of dollars in clean energy.

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They're flooding coal mines

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and they're putting floating
solar panels on the surface.

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They also have a panda-shaped solar farm.

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(Applause)

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(Laughter)

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Yes, they're still burning coal.

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But they've shut down
all the coal plants around Beijing.

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And in India, they're looking to replace

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a quarter of a billion
incandescent light bulbs with LEDs,

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which will save them
seven billion dollars in energy costs.

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They're investing in green jobs,

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and they're looking to decarbonize
their entire vehicle fleet.

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India may be the first country
to industrialize

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without relying primarily on fossil fuels.

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The world is changing.

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But it just isn't changing fast enough.

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Too often, we picture this problem
as a giant boulder,

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sitting at the bottom of a hill,

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with only a few hands on it,
trying to roll it up the hill.

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But in reality, that boulder
is already at the top of the hill.

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And it's got hundreds
of millions of hands,

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maybe even billions on it,
pushing it down.

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It just isn't going fast enough.

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So how do we speed up that giant boulder
so we can fix climate change in time?

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You guessed it.

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The number one way is by talking about it.

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The bottom line is this.

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Climate change is affecting you and me

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right here, right now,
in the places where we live.

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But by working together, we can fix it.

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Sure it's a daunting problem.

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Nobody knows that
more than us, climate scientists.

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But we can't give in to despair.

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We have to go out and actively look
for the hope that we need,

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that will inspire us to act.

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And that hope begins
with the conversation today.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)