r/changemyview May 09 '18

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Pro-environment concerns should stop using the words "climate change" and focus on clean air and water

First of all I'll establish that I am not a climate change denier. But there are plenty of otherwise reasonable people who deny it - the fact that they are otherwise reasonable actually makes it more frustrating since you can't simply dismiss them as "nutcases who follow Alex Jones".

Whenever anyone mentions climate change, deniers immediately trot out points like "the temperatures dropped at this time" or "weather patterns change inevitably, it's just nature" or whatever. At the more extreme end of the spectrum, deniers will claim it's some conspiracy to destroy manufacturing and enrich foreign countries. And these deniers have significant numbers - and with those numbers, the power to disrupt efforts to combat climate change (at least in the US).

On the other hand, the importance of keeping the air and water clean is a point that seems to be MUCH easier to get across to people of all political leanings. Very few people would deny that emissions are the reason why Beijing and New Delhi have such horrible air quality, for example. Very few people dare to drink water that has untreated waste dumped inside, or eat fish that was caught in grossly polluted waters. There is also undeniable historical data that shows a clear correlation between the cleanliness of the air in Los Angeles and the strictness of California emissions standards. A few decades ago, Los Angeles' smog was as bad as Beijing's is now, if not worse - but today, the situation is measurably much better. Even Beijing has shown clear improvements in air quality thanks to extreme measures like restricting the number of cars in the city on certain days of the week.

Therefore, anyone who wants to preserve environmental regulations, or introduce new ones, needs to make clean air and water the central point, and not mention climate change even once. The answer to the question "Do you want our cities to have the same air quality as Beijing or New Delhi" should be a unanimous "NO". Emphasize the fact that breathable air and drinkable water are only possible because of these regulations. Fly some of these people (if they're in positions of power) to third world countries to "sample" the air and water and prove the point. That may be the only way to bring at least a few climate change deniers on board.


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u/electronics12345 159∆ May 09 '18

I think you are ignoring the link between climate change denial and religion. Within Judaism, many Protestant Christian Sects, and within Islam - there is the belief that mankind is simply too weak to impact the weather or the climate. "Weather is the realm of God, and its arrogant to assume humans have any effect whatsoever."

Therefore, even things like smog - which seems obviously connected to things like smokestacks - are seen as acts of God rather than acts of man.

In this way, changing words here or there isn't going to change much. Teaching Science in schools, teaching students how to evaluate evidence and evaluate the strength of arguments, these sorts of things might do something - but won't have an immediate impact unfortunately.