25,000 climate conversations

“The most important thing you can do about climate change is talk about it.” That’s the advice climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe gave during a TED Talk that has now been viewed over 4 million times.

You might find that advice surprising, coming from a scientist. But talking about climate change really is the first critical step to stopping it. When we don’t talk about it, people around us assume it must not be that big of a problem and so they don’t talk about it either. Consequently, our lawmakers don’t hear much about it, and they don’t work on solutions as much as they could.

But it’s a big problem. We need Congress focused on fixing it. 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 is likely to beat it. In addition to rising global temperatures, we’re seeing all sorts of other negative impacts, like more frequent and extreme droughts, floods and low snow packs. The summer smoke coming from western states warns us of the danger of future giant forest fires.

I (Kirk) have been studying the role of the oceans in climate and climate change for a long time. Measurements show that the world ocean has warmed from the surface miles downward, absorbing much of the excess heat trapped by the ever-increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases. As the ocean warms, the protection provided by this absorption capacity will vanish. Facts like this need to be widely known.

Living in the Flathead Valley, we’re lucky to be less affected by climate change now than people living in other parts of the country, unless you’re a farmer or rancher. People from big cities, like Billings, are enduring sizzling hot summers. We have to sympathize with tourists trying to escape the summer heat by coming to our valley, even though we’re not wild about the increased traffic.

Climate change is often masked by year-to-year weather variations, but talk to old-timers. Talk to farmers who are worried about drought. Some folks had to buy air conditioners because of the summer heat. Fifty years ago, they didn’t.

Many measures must be taken by Montana and the federal government. Please see cclusa.org for our climate solutions.

So, we need to talk about climate change more — with our friends and family, of course, but also with acquaintances in our daily lives. Just one conversation can interrupt that cycle of silence. And lots of conversations can bring more attention to the issue and make solutions more likely.

We hope that our lawmakers in Congress, Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines, and Reps. Ryan Zinke and Matt Rosendale, hear our concerns and take them seriously. People from all walks of life and all political stripes care about climate change and want to see the problem fixed.

As individuals, we also can take steps. Kirk’s daughter has a General Motors electric vehicle that she has driven for five years in the valley and even taken on a road trip to Vancouver. (Canada is ahead of us in providing chargers along its highways.) EVs and how-to-buy suggestions will be just one of many exhibits at our upcoming Earth Day gathering on Saturday, April 20 at FVCC. It’s free and will be fun for all ages. We’d love to talk with you.

This month, Citzens’ Climate Lobby volunteers, who are of all political stripes, are trying to hold 25,000 climate conversations across the entire country. 

To leave a healthy, stable world for future generations, we need to act now. That’s what we’re talking about in Kalispell on April 20, and we hope Congress is talking about it on Capitol Hill.

Kirk Bryan Jr. volunteers with the Flathead Valley chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), and is a retired oceanographer who worked at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program of Princeton University. Mark Reynolds is CCL’s executive director.