July of 2006: I caught myself behind closed doors with some folks in the State Department and Department of Defense as they discussed the crisis in Lebanon at its peak. The little I got wind of sounded chilling and I remarked I was glad not to have access to that sort of information. Someone then turned to me and said stoically, 'Sheril, I thank God I don't know the kind of things you do.' In short, he found global warming far more frightening than any passing human conflict. I reflected on this analysis and agreed.
More coming tomorrow on public perception of climate change. In the mean time, I leave you with Saturday Night Live's take:
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We laugh because it's better than crying, eh?
That's a fascinating comment from your DoD acquaintance. I know there are occasions when knowledge feels like a burden to me.
I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to shift gears and to switch contexts for the different audience extremes. Around SB we talk a lot about denial and the difficulty of getting some audiences to even begin to think about maybe considering the possibility of a problem. But I find myself also trying to deal with people who see the problems, but who give up to despair and won't begin to consider the possibility of solutions.
I find it tiring. Fortunately I also find it worth continuing the effort. Thanks for a dose of humor to lighten our load.
interesting that those on the inside are most frightened of what's on the outside