How to Talk With a Conservative About Climate Change

We all know them. They are in our families and at our workplaces. They are the people who deny that climate change is manmade, or who claim that some scientist has proved it’s all a hoax. Sometimes it’s a matter of choosing teams. Concern about climate change is broadly shared on the blue team, so members of the red team can be comfortable denying it without much analysis.

But, for the most part, we love these people and want to keep them close as valued friends and community members. The question is how do we talk with them about this issue that is so important in our present lives and for our future? Reasoning with them doesn’t seem to work. And, of course, angry arguments just make things worse.

There are ways to do this. Social scientists and communications experts have come up with several strategies that are worth trying.

Try to Understand Your Audience. Conservatives generally want to preserve the status quo, where they are comfortable, and are wary of change. This is particularly true of new and untested theories and policies. They want to preserve what is good about the past. They want to protect the ideas and things about life they instinctively find valuable. The first thing we need to do in talking with conservatives about climate change is to recognize that this is where they start. It is not necessarily wrong or a bad way of thinking.

Use Trusted Sources. Salesmen know that it is difficult to persuade anyone by using a frontal assault. Instead, persuading people your friend listens to as trusted sources is the way. This also goes for pointing out to your friend that another trusted conservative source has adopted your point of view on something. Citing Fox News or the Wall Street Journal removes a lot of sales resistance.

Focus on the Local Impact of Climate Change. Talk about how climate change is hurting people in the community where your friend lives. Conservatives are more likely to have a change of heart when they can see how climate change affects them personally.

Emphasize Conservative Values. Progressives respond to arguments about harm to our environment. Conservatives respond better to arguments that we have polluted our environment. Emphasize purity. Efficiency and cost savings are also good arguments. A conservative may purchase a high-efficiency lightbulb if the package says it will save him money, but less likely to make the purchase if it says the lightbulb will help prevent climate change. Conservatives generally appreciate ingenuity and innovation. So talk about American advances in solar technology and nuclear energy.

Emphasize Public Health, Not the Paris Accords. Environmentalists have been using the “planet-on-fire” approach to talking about climate change for years. It hasn’t worked with conservatives. But carbon is pollution and conservatives get that. Carbon pollution is harming our public health in many ways – floods, heatwaves, respiratory diseases. It is easy to find examples and talk about carbon gasses as a threat to public health.

Define Success. If you are hoping for a Perry Mason-type confession from your conservative friend that he has been wrong about climate change all along, you will be disappointed. Persuasion doesn’t work like this. It moves in small steps. An acknowledgement that you have a point is success. If you can get there, let it rest for a while.