This morning I read a pretty well-humored article about Bill O'Reilly and Solar energy (video includes climate change debate, solar stuff is at 3:23). It was written by the CEO of a solar installation company in California so naturally he was a little biassed in favor of more solar, but what struck me was how polarized these discussions have become.
If someone (from the "left") says they want more renewable energy or they want to see the government reduce our carbon emissions, someone else (from the "right") will tell them to stop stealing their money through taxes and that global warming is a hoax. Then the first person will come back calling the other a denier and claiming that they don't love children and back and forth it will go until the two can no longer hold a civil discourse on anything.
The media and entrenched interests have pumped out this "With us or Against us" message for so long now that we actually believe it. And when we speak to someone who doesn't agree with us, our first thought becomes, they are a liar when we both know the truth and that truth is what I have been saying.
If we stop and breathe for a moment and remember that maybe, just maybe the other person is NOT in fact lying, but has not heard the same facts that we have. And also, there is just the tiniest chance that the information that we have received is not 100% true or certain. Especially if garnered from an email, a blog or a news pundit.
The breaking into and theft of several thousand emails from climate researchers at the University of East Anglia in England has revealed that scientists are human and are prone to bickering, backstabbing and embellishing their own work. And although it does call in to question the work of these certain researchers, we cannot then besmirch the rest of the world's scientists who work in climate science. That would be like, I bought a lemon from a used car salesman, thus everyone in the auto industry is a liar and a crook.
There are ways to reduce our carbon emissions without raising taxes and have it even be a positive investment. Energy efficiency is all that and a bag of chips. If Mr O'Reilly were to make his house as energy efficient as possible, that solar panel system he mentioned would make a lot more financial sense because it would then offset a much greater portion of his electricity bills (which is about twice the national average at $0.20/kWh including taxes & fees).
I like to use sources like the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) for all of my energy specific information and for temperature I check with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
We're all human and we all want to live a better life. If we remember that the person we are talking to is a lot more similar to us than not, we may just make this planet a better place to live for all of us.
