Ending the Silence, and Moving to Discussion

Our first video of the MC3 video series, Inertia, is an animation illustrating the political gridlock that occurs with the debate on climate change and how social and financial resources spent on debating the reality or imperativeness of climate change can divert resources from climate action. Later, through the fourth video of the MC3 video series, The Moral Imperative, we explored the reasons why this debate continues and the difficulties involved in achieving consensus to act on climate change. The Moral Imperative features Dr. Azim Shariff (Culture and Morality Lab, University of Oregon) discussing how it is difficult for an issue as large, complex and politicized as climate change to ring moral alarm bells.

The video below, Ending the Silence on Climate Change, furthers this discussion by providing more insights on the difficulties in achieving social and political consensus and what the potential communication-based solutions are for moving past these difficulties. Climate change is a widespread and encompassing issue that exerts its effects on the entire planet; however, the planet is comprised of many different belief systems and worldviews. As is necessary for other large complex issues, perhaps our first step in global action on climate change is learning how to communicate, to listen and understand each other, so that different worldviews can see common goals.