geographical and landscape differences aside, what struck me as the most unique in alaska was the general consensus among people who live there that climate change is real, and it\u2019s happening right now. though i can only speak from my personal experiences, it seemed climate change in alaska was not a political issue nor a subject of debate. rather, it was spoken about matter-of-factly\u2014a striking difference from many places i have visited or lived in (even progressive ones).<\/p>\n
this realization begged the questions: how and why are these people so accepting of climate change? and how can they help convince others about about the reality of what\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n
slowly, through conversations, i found the answer to my questions. i spoke with naturalists, fishers, national park rangers, native alaskans, local residents, and heard from the lieutenant governor of alaska, gaining tidbits of insight from each, identifying themes and patterns between their stories.<\/p>\n
why do alaskans see it differently?<\/h2>\n
first, it seems they all accept climate change because they see it in their daily lives.<\/p>\n
alaska has been called ground zero for climate change\u2014and for good reason. with temperatures rising faster than those of the rest of the country, and obvious fluctuations in precipitation and weather patterns, those i spoke to didn\u2019t seem to deny climate change because to them, it\u2019s quite obvious.<\/p>\n many spoke about changes they\u2019d seen in their own lifetimes: noticeably warmer temperatures, shrinking glaciers that were visible to the eye over short periods of time, increases in snowfall, shifts in frosts and seasons, fluctuations in wildlife populations, and new challenges in agriculture, to name a few.<\/p>\n a glacier bay national park ranger who wishes to remain anonymous told me that since the most recent administration took over, park rangers and pamphlets are unable to speak about global climate change\u2014only changes that are happening in their immediate area.<\/p>\n though obviously a frustrating censorship, i began to wonder if perhaps this approach\u2014speaking about local rather than global change\u2014could actually be useful in fostering change. and that maybe, many who refuse to admit to climate change will be hesitant to do so until they have to face it themselves, or until it starts to interfere with their daily lives or impacts them financially.<\/p>\n inspired, i questioned those who lived and worked in alaska about how they suggested speaking with skeptics about climate change. and again, a theme emerged: speak about realities that are changing right in front of you. that way, i realized, there is no room for denial, nor is there need to bring in politics, money, or even science.<\/p>\n what i took most from my entire experience in alaska is that to transform skeptics into believers you have to make climate change real to them.<\/p>\n travel can be perception-changing, and videos, photographs, and data can be effective for some, but for those where facts aren\u2019t enough, maybe, just maybe, their own two eyes, their grocery bills, or the flooding in their backyard will be.<\/p>\n perhaps as scientists, journalists, and advocates, we have to think less \u201cglobal,\u201d and go more \u201clocal.\u201d what i mean by this is instead of the continual broad focus on climate change as an abstract occurrence happening around the world, or in distance places, there should be an increase in talking about climate change as it\u2019s happening within our own communities.<\/p>\n we can start by communicating in our hometown media outlets: documenting sea level rise on our own coasts, reporting on changes in temperature and precipitation that may be obvious in our hometowns, and by shedding light on climate change-related realities that someone may feel at an individual level, whether that be higher prices on local agriculture goods, or changes in air quality around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n i\u2019ve always been one to believe that small changes can cumulatively make a big difference. which is why, from now on, i\u2019m going to make more of an effort to report bigger on a smaller scale, striving to be less negligent of what\u2019s right in front of me. my hope is that this may be a meaningful avenue of change, and potentially result in shifts of perception at a local level, even at times when federal or state regulation may not support it. and maybe now, thanks to the insight i gained from my trip to alaska, i can rest a little easier, now that i know the answers to my questions were\u2014no pun intended\u2014right in front of me all along.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" next in our alaska series: while many still find climate change up for debate, perhaps the way to engage and persuade these individuals is by focusing on its effects in their own communities rather than in far away places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4916,5196,4914],"tags":[274,144,382,547,591,81],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-12153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate","category-past-storyfest","category-sustainability","tag-alaska","tag-climate-change","tag-communicating-science","tag-lindblad-expeditions","tag-storyfest","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\ncommunicating about climate change<\/h2>\n