The Greening of Gavin

Can I Change Your Mind About…. Climate

@ By 13 Comments

I don’t normally write another post so quickly, but wanted to spread this far and wide.  If you get this in time, and live in Australia, please have a look at this show.  Also there is a survey, so lets use our voices to show politicians who will probably act on these results, that we are concerned about our changing climate and want them to continue to act in our best interest!  You can fill in the survey before the show airs.

Alicia over at Missus Moonshine is as concerned as I am about the negative impact on climate action that this may have.

After the show next week, I will post my thoughts.

Thursday 26 April 8.30pm ABC1

A provocative ABC1 event designed to kick-start a new national conversation about the big issue dividing us.

Separated by a generation, and divided by their beliefs, two passionate, intelligent and successful Australians, former senator Nick Minchin and youth activist Anna Rose, go on a journey of mutual discovery to see if they can change each other’s minds about the most divisive issue in Australia today: climate change.

It’s an adventure that will challenge both their beliefs, while giving the Australian public a much-needed opportunity to think afresh about where they stand on the defining issue of our times: what to do about global warming?

In a unique interactive experience over 2 hours of riveting viewing, a one-hour documentary is followed by a live studio audience. At home, and on-line, the national audience joins in, leading to a cliffhanger decision. Have we shifted the national mood? Have we changed people’s minds?

Followed by a Special Edition of Q&A at 9.35pmTAKE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE www.abc.net.au/tv/changeyourmind
What do you think about Climate Change? What does it say about you?
The data from this survey will be used to determine Australia’s differing attitudes to Climate Change.

Premieres Thursday 26 April 8.30pm ABC1
Anna Rose & Nick Minchin

Anna Rose
Anna is co-founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. With 70,000 members, it has more members than the Liberals and ALP combined. 28, Anna has led AYCC delegations to the UN, Copenhagen and Montreal climate conferences.
Anna Rose & Nick Minchin
Nick Minchin
Recently retired Senator, Nick Minchin has been the kingmaker of conservative Australian politics for a decade. A senator for 18 years, he spent 11 years in Cabinet. He is a committed climate sceptic.

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  2. JOC says

    Oh Gavin, I just took the survey and I’m in the “alarmed” camp at 24% of the count. But currently, at 8.oopm Thursday, 54% are dismissive of the climate change happening! That’s over half the people who have bothered to take the survey. How can they not care????
    There’s obviously a lot of work to do here. Spread the word people.
    Jan

    Reply

  4. Kathy P. says

    The NY Times published this article yesterday. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/science/earth/americans-link-global-warming-to-extreme-weather-poll-says.html?ref=earth) Seems Americans are starting to put 2 and 2 together.

    As for the skeptics (aka shills for Big Carbon), I found the following comment by “Arthur Goldberg” in New York to be very interesting. He writes,

    The tiny, vocal minority are NOT researchers in climate. Rather, they are scientists from other fields, some reputable, who’ve been hired by corporate interests, to discredit climate research and protect the corporations. E.g., see the article “No Need to Panic About Global Warming” on January 26, 2012 in the WSJ. The the signers have no expertise whatsoever in climate science, including Allègre (geochemistry), Scott Armstrong (marketing 🙂 ), Breslow ( physiology and metabolism), William Happer (optics and spectroscopy), McGrath (chemistry), Schmitt (geology, astronaut, politician), etc.

    Reply

  5. Kristy says

    Cheers Gavin. Is it ok to repost your post on my blog to spread the word? The 54% ‘dismissive’ is part of the reason things aren’t moving, imo.

    Reply

  6. Gavin Webber says

    By the way, the survey is rigged, and vested interests are pushing up the stats. There is no survey validation via email, so basically anyone can do the survey as many times as they like with a false email address. I managed to do it three times without issues.

    Talk about a false representation of the real views of the people.

    Gav

    Reply

  7. Kristy says

    hey I was thinking though, if you add together the results for ‘alarmed, ‘concerned’ and ‘cautious’ you actually get a lot closer to matching the ‘dismissive’.

    We know polls aren’t always ‘for real’ BUT if it gets people talking, and then thinking even after they walk away (from the show/computer) etc then that’s something.

    Reply

  9. Ishara says

    Very interesting. Sadly Im not surprised at the dismissers though. When I talked to my (intelligent graduate) sister recently about climate change, she responded saying that it would t happen in her lifetime (she’s 40) and she didn’t have kids, so she didn’t care what happened afterwards *aaargh*. She’s normally a nice, sane person. I sometimes think that it’s just too overwhelming for people so they go into denial. There’s also some interesting psychological research that suggests that if people hold a “just world” world view, they are more likely to go into denial, because the predicted impAct of climate change affects those who are least responsible for it – and is therefore profoundly unjust.

    Reply

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