At one time, the very idea that there are people in the world that don't believe in climate science or, at worst, don't care about humanity's impact on the environment, was utterly alien to Philippe Cousteau, Jr.
The son of Philippe Cousteau and the grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Philippe grew up believing "that the quality of our water and our air is paramount," that these were "just fundamental truths." As he told Planet Experts, it "was a bit of a shock coming out of university and getting into the professional world just how vehemently opposed some people are to what I thought were, as I said, universal truths that weren't really controversial."
Planet Experts met up with Cousteau at the Climate Reality Training seminar back in September to discuss his non-profit, EarthEcho International. Dedicated to their late father's vision of "a world where every single child can breathe fresh air, drink clean water, and walk on green grass under a blue sky, " Philippe co-founded the organization with his sister Alexandra in 2000. The organization has helped hundreds of thousands of young people to identify and solve environmental challenges in their communities.
You Can't Argue With Climate Denial
It almost goes without saying that conservation has become a family tradition for the Cousteaus. Towards the end of his life, Captain Cousteau invested the bulk of his efforts in youth education. "He realized, as he often did before the rest of us, that if you really want to affect change in the environmental movement we have to have a youth strategy," said Philippe. "Unfortunately, if you look at the modern environmental movement and you look at many of the big NGOs out there, there is no youth strategy."
At the same time, there is another force working to exploit the lack of both youth and adult education on environmental science, a movement bent on sowing misinformation on climate change and pollution. I'm not saying this is the same force that's paying senators like Jim Inhofe millions of dollars to win elections, but you can certainly see it from there.
I caught some flack in my last piece for giving climate skeptics the benefit of the doubt. I stand by this principle, though I understand what my critics are saying: Science is not something that can be "believed" or disbelieved, but an objective set of data that can be observed, measured and reported. This is absolutely right, but you're absolutely wrong if you think all humans are this logical all the time. Belief is necessary, specifically the belief that science is conducted for our benefit.
There are many people out there that have been told - and so believe - that science is serving an agenda, and it's impossible to win these skeptics over with facts alone. But that is no reason to give up or scream at them. There's a better way.
You Can Reason With Climate Skeptics
Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the national Tea Party movement, spoke about the need to frame environmental issues in ways that resonate with conservatives and/or disbelievers at the Climate Reality training seminar.
"Don't make the mistake of thinking just because someone is a Republican or conservative that there's no need to talk to them about clean energy and climate change," Dooley told Planet Experts. If the environmental argument is couched in what's good for the economy (energy innovation), or national security (protecting our endangered coastlines, our children), then conservatives will join the fight, said Dooley.
In the same way, Cousteau encourages climate activists to "find ways to build bridges, find common values" that both the left and the right can agree on.
"Credible science is on our side," he said, "but that's still not enough for some people. I agree with Debbie Dooley and people like that that say, instead of arguing with each other, let's find a basis for commonality, let's be adults and let's engage in a conversation of respect. In some cases, that may be talking about security, in some cases that may be health, but let's at least be able to find somewhere that we can build trust and go from there."
Activists and conservationists run into problems when they begin to demonize the other side, Cousteau warned, and that knife cuts both ways. "Just because you don't agree with me, you're not the devil incarnate," he said. "You're a human being and we both care about the same kind of things."
But compromise has its limits, he admitted.
"Some people still think the world is flat," he said. "You're not going to convince them - so screw 'em and keep on going. At a certain point, you gotta 'know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em,' as the old song goes."
Photos: Philippe Cousteau, Jr., at the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training in Miami, FL. (Photo Credit: Juli Schulz via Planet Experts)