{"id":288865,"date":"2023-11-27T14:21:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T13:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=288865"},"modified":"2023-11-27T14:21:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T13:21:41","slug":"how-npr-converted-a-southern-christian-to-the-church-of-the-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=288865","title":{"rendered":"How NPR Converted a Southern Christian to the Church of the Climate Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What kind of religion would climate change be, without some good old fashioned conversion stories?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018I thought climate change was a hoax. Now I\u2019ve changed my mind\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Ott spent years believing climate change was a hoax, influenced by friends at church in the US south and a popular right-wing radio host. Here she shares her journey from being a climate sceptic to becoming an advocate for clean energy, with a passion for teaching teenage school students the science of climate change. She features on this year\u2019s BBC 100 Women list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent years doubting the science of climate change and spending time with people who didn\u2019t believe in the science either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I realised I was wrong, I felt really embarrassed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a Polish Catholic background and we attended church regularly, but at the same time we were very connected to science because my mum was a nurse and my dad sold microscopes and other scientific equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My conviction that climate change was a hoax solidified when I heard Limbaugh talk about Climategate. It was a controversy involving research from the University of East Anglia. Only much later did I learn that the material was twisted and taken out of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An independent enquiry cleared the UEA scientists of wrongdoing and concluded that \u201ctheir rigour and honesty are not in doubt\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when the big turning point came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tuned into NPR, a US non-profit broadcaster. I don\u2019t remember which show it was, or the specific news story, but I remember how they described the issue in a completely different way from what I had heard on my usual stations. And it sounded so reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-67483064<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sarah Ott once believed climate change was a hoax, but now she is passionate about the environment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

What I find most striking about Sarah\u2019s conversion story is the lack of detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah claims she realised how wrong she was about climate change when she started tuning in to NPR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would that be the same NPR \/ PBS which somehow blurred the signature of physics legend Edward Teller<\/a>, during their rather feeble expose of the climate skeptic Oregon Petition? PBS claims Teller\u2019s signature was blurred to emphasise other content<\/a>, not to hide the fact a climate skeptic petition signatory was one of the USA\u2019s greatest physicists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Ott claims she doesn\u2019t remember which NPR story triggered a fundamental re-appraisal of her life views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find this claim to not remember the details of such a life changing event a little puzzling. Why wouldn\u2019t Sarah make an effort to share that special life changing story which can reach climate skeptics and Conservatives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but the handful of life events which caused fundamental pivots in my values and life choices, I remember them like they were yesterday. Like the time I got so mad I finally decided to defend myself against the schoolyard bully. Such pivotal moments in one\u2019s life tend to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah accepts at face value that an \u201cindependent inquiry\u201d concluded the Climategate scientists\u2019 \u201crigour and honesty are not in doubt\u201d \u2013 but doesn\u2019t mention any specific emails she found troubling. Did she not bother to look at Climategate for herself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British BBC, which published this religious and political conversion story, would love for you heathen climate deniers to blindly follow Sarah\u2019s example, to switch off conservative commentators and tune in to NPR, so you can have your scientific, political and religious views corrected. But they must think we are all really dumb, if this pathetic conversion story is their idea of persuasive marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the BBC is so used to abusing the trust of their own loyal fans<\/a>, they have gotten complacent, and think everyone is easy game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Watts Up With That? Essay by Eric Worrall What kind of religion would climate change be, without some good old fashioned conversion stories? \u2018I thought climate change was a hoax. Now I\u2019ve changed my mind\u2019 Sarah Ott spent years believing climate change was a hoax, influenced by friends at church in the US south […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":288875,"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":"What kind of religion would climate change be, without some good old fashioned conversion stories?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"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":[691824802,691819627,691818056,691818102,691819821,691824801],"class_list":{"0":"post-288865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-british-bbc","9":"tag-clean-energy","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-climate-crisis","12":"tag-npr","13":"tag-southern-christian","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0Screenshot-2023-11-27-142030.png?fit=1181%2C783&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1d97","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":205592,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=205592","url_meta":{"origin":288865,"position":0},"title":"No, NPR, Public Opinion Polls Aren\u2019t Proof of Climate Change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"National Public Radio\u00a0(NPR) recently ran an article discussing the results of a poll it conducted claiming that Americans are suffering from extreme weather events due to climate change. 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