{"id":263144,"date":"2023-06-21T12:19:33","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T10:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263144"},"modified":"2023-06-21T12:19:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T10:19:36","slug":"bbc-learning-english-how-to-talk-to-a-climate-denier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263144","title":{"rendered":"BBC Learning English\u2013How To Talk To A Climate\u00a0Denier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite what a naive propaganda piece has to do with teaching people English eludes me:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Introduction<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Do you know somebody who doesn\u2019t believe that climate change is happening? Most scientists say it is. Rob and Sam get some tips on how to make people think about climate, and teach you new vocabulary along the way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s question<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

What percent of the world\u2019s scientific community agree that climate change is real?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a)    79 percent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

b)    89 percent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

c)    99 percent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vocabulary<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

climate denier
<\/strong>person who does not believe that climate change is happening, or does not accept that it is caused by human activity such as burning fossil fuels<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ill-informed
<\/strong>knowing less than you should about a particular topic<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

full-blown
<\/strong>completely developed or committed<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

take a long, hard look (at something)
<\/strong>examine something very carefully in order to improve it for the future<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

throw insults
<\/strong>say offensive, hurtful things directly to someone<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

backfire
<\/strong>have the opposite effect from the one you intended<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRANSCRIPT<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I\u2019m Sam.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>And I\u2019m Rob. When Sarah Ott was growing up in Florida in the 1990s, she loved playing in nature. She picked up litter in the street and took it home to recycle. But later, in college, Sarah became surrounded by people in her community who didn\u2019t share her love of the environment \u2013 people who didn\u2019t believe that climate change was real. And slowly, Sarah started to doubt it as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>Climate deniers<\/strong> \u2013 people who don\u2019t believe that climate change is happening, or that it isn\u2019t caused by humans \u2013 make up around nine percent of the American population, according to some estimates. Now, Sarah works as a climate campaigner at the US National Centre for Science Education, teaching children the science behind climate change, but her journey there was a difficult one, and she lost many friends on the way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>In this programme, we\u2019ll be discussing climate deniers, and finding out how to talk with people who doubt the science of global warming. And as usual, we\u2019ll be learning some new vocabulary as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>But before that, I have a question for you, Rob. Whatever climate deniers think, there is strong agreement on the issue among scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. So, what percentage of the world\u2019s scientific community agree that climate change is real? Is it:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a)    79 percent?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

b)    89 percent? or<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

c)    99 percent?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>I\u2019ll have a guess and I\u2019ll say it\u2019s 99 percent.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>OK. I will reveal the answer later in the programme, Rob. Marco Silva is a climate disinformation reporter for the BBC. He told BBC World Service programme, The Climate Question, what he\u2019s learned about reporting on the issue from around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco Silva
<\/strong>It\u2019s quite important to make here a very clear distinction between being wrong, ill-informed<\/strong> about climate change and being a full-blown<\/strong> climate denier. A lot of people may not be very well versed with the science, the facts of climate change\u2026 to be honest, they can at times be quite complex, quite dense. Some people may have genuine questions about the subject. So, with information, with facts, those people can be convinced. Climate deniers<\/strong>, though, people who reject the basic facts of climate change, are likely to be more difficult to persuade.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>Marco distinguishes a full-blown<\/strong> climate denier \u2013 someone who is completely committed to the idea, from someone who is simply ill-informed<\/strong>, meaning someone who knows less than they should about a particular topic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>Marco thinks it\u2019s possible persuade an ill-informed<\/strong> person that climate change is a fact, for example by sharing personal stories of how of the weather has changed in recent years, or by asking them why they doubt the scientific evidence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>Full-blown climate deniers, on the other hand, are much harder to persuade. Here\u2019s Marco Silva again, sharing some advice on how best to talk to people about the climate with BBC World Service programme, The Climate Question.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco Silva
<\/strong>A number of researchers and academics have looked into exactly this topic before. Professor Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, is one of them. He\u2019s been looking into this long and hard<\/strong>, and when I spoke to him, he gave me a couple of tips. For instance, don\u2019t challenge a climate denier directly. Don\u2019t confront them telling them that they\u2019re this or that, throwing insults<\/strong> at them, that their beliefs are wrong \u2013 that sort of attitude or strategy is only likely to backfire<\/strong>. If you do that, the chances are people are just going to hold on to their views even more firmly.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>Marco mentions Professor van der Linden, a psychologist who has taken a long, hard look <\/strong>at the issue of climate denial. If you take a long, hard look <\/strong>at something, you examine it very carefully in order to improve it for the future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>Professor van der Linden advises us not to challenge climate deniers directly, and never to throw insults<\/strong> \u2013 to say offensive, hurtful things directly to someone. This approach is unlikely to work and will probably backfire<\/strong>, or have the opposite effect from that intended, such as making that person\u2019s opinion even stronger.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>Instead, what\u2019s needed is understanding and empathy \u2013 realising that climate deniers cannot control the life events that led them to mistrust science; and the patience to try to show them difference between fact and fiction.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>OK, it\u2019s time to reveal the answer to your question now, Sam \u2013 what percentage of the global scientific community agree that human-caused climate change is real? And I guessed it was 99 percent.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>And that was the correct answer, Rob! The scientific evidence for a climate emergency is overwhelming, leaving just the question of what we do about it. OK, let\u2019s recap the vocabulary we\u2019ve learned from this programme on climate deniers <\/strong>\u2013 people who do not accept that climate change is real.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>Someone who is ill-informed<\/strong> knows less than they should about a particular topic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>The adjective full-blown<\/strong> means completely committed or developed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>The idiom to take a long, hard look <\/strong>at something means to examine something very carefully in order to improve it for the future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam
<\/strong>If you throw insults<\/strong>, you say offensive, hurtful things directly to someone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob
<\/strong>And finally, if your actions backfire<\/strong>, they have opposite effect from the one you intended. Once again, our six minutes are up! Bye for now!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam<\/strong>
Bye bye!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/learningenglish\/english\/features\/6-minute-english_2023\/ep-230309<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quite what a naive propaganda piece has to do with teaching people English eludes me<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":263148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818389,691820379,691820378,691819379],"class_list":{"0":"post-263144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-climate-denier","10":"tag-learning-english","11":"tag-propaganda","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1366%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-16sg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":210011,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=210011","url_meta":{"origin":263144,"position":0},"title":"Climate change: How to talk to a denier","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Seems like only\u00a0yesterday\u00a0John was answering a particularly\u00a0absurd piece of propaganda\u00a0hiding shamelessly on the BBC News homepage ready to ambush anyone who happened by wondering what was happening in the world, i.e. someone looking for actual\u00a0news. 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