Finding common ground with climate-change contrarians

This article by Prof. Scott Denning from Colorado State University was published in the UCAR Magazine. He offers three pieces of wisdom for interacting with audiences who may be hostile.

1. Begin from common ground.

2. Engage the audience on a human level.

3. Emphasize the basics.

Denning argues that our inability to interact with climate-change contrarians has hurt our ability to engage the public. In fact, Denning argues that scientists need to leave their comfort zone, think about how to address the contrarians, and work with them to begin to work to bridge the gap.