Katharine Hayoe, Ph.D., has been named to a number of lists including Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Thinkers, and FORTUNE magazine’s World’s Greatest Leaders. Photo by Ashley Rodgers, Texas Tech University.
Q&A with Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe,
speaker for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate
By Susan Messer
In early September, I had the opportunity to speak with climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, advisor and kick-off speaker for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate, an exhibition of newly commissioned artworks exploring climate change impacts and solutions in the Chicago area. In particular, we spoke about the challenges and rewards of communicating about global warming—sometimes described as global weirding, which is the title of her YouTube Digital Series. Dr. Hayhoe says that talking about climate change is the most important climate action we can take. How we talk about it, of course, is the key, and this became the focus of our conversation.
Q: How did you become involved in the Third Coast Disrupted project?
A: In 2008 the City of Chicago launched the ambitious project of bringing residents and experts, including me, together to develop scenarios for Chicago’s climate future and making plans for adapting to changes that were already affecting the city and region. The result was the Chicago Climate Action Plan, which 10-plus-years later continues to shape Chicago’s work in reducing carbon pollution and responding to a changing climate. The plan has been influential in so many ways—as a model for other cities and an impetus for other projects. Houston, for example, is now doing what Chicago did in 2008. The Morton Arboretum has been planning for what trees will be native in 50 years.
Christine Esposito, who is project director and lead curator for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate, was also involved in Chicago’s Action Plan. We kept in touch over the years, and Christine asked me to be the kick-off speaker for the Third Coast exhibit because of my scientific work and also my interest in the arts as a powerful means of communicating about climate change. Plus my past connection to Chicagoland.
“Many see science through the lens of politics; I’m trying to uncouple that by eliminating triggers. ”
One goal of Third Coast Disrupted is to bring people’s attention to climate change in the place where they live, which is the best way for them to connect with it emotionally. Why should we care about these issues? Because they’re affecting our home, the container for all we love. Art is so much better at making those connections, on the emotional level, than science.
Q: Artists and scientists have specialized ways of communicating about their work. This makes me wonder how the Third Coast folks overcame or bridged those differences so they could enter each other’s worlds and ways of communicating. I guess that’s not really a question.
A: It’s true that the words we use can often create unconscious barriers. Scientists use precise language, but even with other scientists, I’ve discovered misunderstandings based on differing use of terminology. This problem can be even more dramatic when we’re working across disciplines. I once worked on a project with infrastructure engineers. These are the people who create roads, bridges—structures designed to last a long time through a range of climate conditions. These projects are extremely costly, and failure can be life threatening. Well, after a full year of working together with these engineers, we realized that we had opposite definitions of “conservative.” For me, a climate scientist, when I say I’m being conservative about a projection, I’m referring to the best case—that is, the least change. For these engineers, when they said they were being conservative, they were thinking of the worst case, everything that could potentially go wrong, and what they could do to keep those things from happening.
Here’s another example of how language can create or lift barriers. With many audiences in Texas, I’ve found I can’t use the phrases climate change or global warming. They’re trigger words. Instead, I’ve started using the phrase climate variability, or I keep the focus on trends. Even though the information is the same, the changed language keeps the audience from shutting down.
Once in San Antonio, I gave a talk on climate to a large group of water conservation experts from across the state. The 2011 drought had awakened them to the challenge that water poses for Texas’s population. But most Texans still question the link to human-induced change. During my presentation, I focused on data, trends, predictions, strategies, but I avoided the words “climate” and “change” in sequence, even though that’s what the talk was about. Afterward a woman came up and said, “You know those people who are always talking about global warming? I don’t agree with them at all. But this makes sense.” Many see science through the lens of politics; I’m trying to uncouple that by eliminating triggers.
Q: But back to the Third Coast Disrupted project and exhibit?
A: Yes, the visual arts bypass language, so they have the potential to get the message across without using trigger words. Art helps us connect personally, emotionally, about why we care and what we need to do. Comedy, fiction, metaphors, poetry, stories all allow people to connect deeply with difficult issues. They allow emotional truth to come out, which is an area in which scientific reports have their limits. Art has a way of bypassing the triggers that make people close their ears and eyes, become depressed and overloaded.
Q: Okay, so now you’re a civilian. You’re not speaking from a podium or stage or over a Webex. Say you’re just walking around your town, and you see someone doing something environmentally harmful. Say it’s two people standing and talking on the front porch while one of them has left the car engine running at the curb. Do you ever intervene or comment? And, if so, how?
A: Hmmmm. No one ever asked me that before, but I would say that if you’re going to speak up, you have to do it in a way that offers a solution.
“Can I help you? I could turn off your car for you?”
“My ignition is broken, and if I turn it off, I can’t start it again.”
“Wow, sorry to hear that. But you’ll want to get it fixed because while starting a car uses 10 seconds of gas, letting it run wastes so much more.”
You want to offer a solution that would make things better for the person you’re talking to and would also be good for the environment. But you don’t want to shame them because then they don’t want to listen. You want to approach people with the attitude that, “I know you are a good person. I know you want to do the right thing. Here’s something helpful.” Also, you have to be aware of and listen to what people want. It’s tricky. It involves a gentle touch, good listening skills. And there might be some people you can’t reach. That’s OK. We can’t reach everyone. Your responsibility is not to change the world, but to do what you can do well. As a Christian, I think of it as to “walk in the good works that were prepared for you (Ephesians 2:10).”
“Art has a way of bypassing the triggers that make people close their ears and eyes, become depressed and overloaded.”
Note: Katharine Hayhoe received the American Geophysical Union’s climate communication prize, the Stephen Schneider Climate Communication award, the United Nations Champion of the Earth award, and has been named to a number of lists including Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Thinkers, and FORTUNE magazine’s World’s Greatest Leaders. Dr. Hayhoe is currently the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law and co-directs the Climate Center at Texas Tech University. She has a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate
September 8 – October 30, 2020
Glass Curtain Gallery – Columbia College Chicago
1104 S. Wabash Ave., 1st Floor, Chicago
Gallery Hours: Mon–Fri, 9 am – 5 pm
Gallery capacity is 10 visitors. Masks are required.
Katharine Hayhoe: Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts & Solutions
Wed., September 16th, 7 – 8 pm CDT
Free - Online. Register here.
The Art of Communicating Climate: A Conversation
Thurs., September 17, 8 – 9 am CDT
Free - Online. Register here.
Sponsored by Openlands.
Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist, Texas Tech University
Mika Tosca, Climate Scientist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Christine Esposito, Project Director & Lead Curator, Third Coast Disrupted, and Founder, Terracom - Moderator
Additional program information here.