NCSE's executive director Ann Reid and Ben Santer, a member of NCSE's board of directors, were interviewed about climate communication on the Hertz Foundation's blog (July 30, 2019) before they spoke at the foundation's summer workshop in Los Angeles.
In the interview, Reid recommended a teaching approach that enables students to explore the evidence for climate change for themselves, adding, "the same is true outside the classrom when it comes to changing minds about climate change."
Santer agreed, saying, "Whether the audience is junior high school students, college students, or the general public, they ask similar questions: What is the evidence that humans are affecting the climate? How do scientists measure and monitor changes on a global scale?"
But Reid also emphasized the need to establish trust at the outset, explaining, "To communicate effectively you need to earn people's trust, not simply harangue them or suggest that they’re not smart enough to understand it on their own."
