NPR’s Leila Fadel talks with Susan Joy Hassol of the non-profit organization Climate Communication about the increase in climate due to climate events across the country.
TO MARTINEZ, HOST:
California isn’t the only state where weather conditions are increasing. Last year alone, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looked across the country and found 18 climate and seasonal disasters where damage exceeded $1 billion each. Susan Joy Hassol is the director of the nonprofit Climate Communication, and has spent the past three decades working to help people understand climate change. Susan, I just said the word – or the word climate change. You don’t use it. You like to mess with the weather. Why is the word important here?
SUSAN JOY HASSOL: Yes, words are important because they affect the way we think and the way we see things. So, for example, some people are calling the weather crazy, wild, which we see as strange. But I call it a new innovation. We shouldn’t – there is nothing normal about this. We don’t have to turn it into something normal and come to accept it. It should scare us enough to take immediate action. You know, I also call what some people call natural disasters – usually, these weather disasters are natural disasters. And, you know, when you call something new, it means we’ve reached something permanent. But this is just the beginning. It’s only going to get worse until we get rid of heat storage pollution.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, and change sounds softer than disruption.
HASSOL: Yes. You know, any kind of climate change for any reason is called climate change. This is human-caused climate change.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, as more and more people are dealing with the climate crisis, do you believe that there might be some effort to deal with the climate crisis?
HASSOL: Well, of course. This is real, now, up close and personal. You know, this is not just a prediction. We see outside our windows. And many Americans are now dealing with these kinds of disasters – floods, wildfires and so on. Seventy percent of Americans have experienced these things in the past few years, and they’ve realized that because of this — the bad weather and the growth of this, that it’s a problem. And I think they are willing and want to deal with it. The good news is that they love clean energy, so that’s the big answer.
MARTÍNEZ: And it took, you know, billions and billions in losses – in the real loss of the public purse – to get to the point where I think we’re starting to care a little bit about this, right? And it took that – didn’t it? – not maybe science.
HASSOL: Well, of course. You know, people who think that if we just explain science better and more clearly – or like the average American tourist in Paris, think that if they just speak English loudly and slowly, people will understand. But, you know, it’s not about that. It’s about people experiencing it on their own. Well, you know, the good news is that tackling climate change doesn’t have to be about compromise and compromise. It can be about luck and change in our lives, our health and our lives. It could be a story of people growing up in the recent years of oil.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Susan, how do you think scientists and policy makers should talk about this issue? Because for many people, it’s a burden, like they can’t do enough, even if they do something in their lives. So how do you think this should be communicated? There are about 30 seconds left.
HASSOL: Yes. Well, you know, these are the things we want to do anyway. Doing what we need to do to maintain a healthy climate will also give us cleaner air, friendlier, more walkable communities, sending fewer children to the hospital with asthma. It will be a great thing for our health and the health of the planet.
MARTÍNEZ: That’s Susan Joy Hassol of Climate Communication. Susan, thank you.
HASSOL: Thank you, A.
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