Canadian scientist uses faith to convince climate change skeptics – CBC interview

To convince skeptics that climate change is real, Canadian atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe often refers to something that may seem contradictory: the Bible.

“It’s much more convincing to go to the bible and to walk from Genesis through to Revelation and see how people, humans are given responsibility over the earth, how we’re told to love others, to care for people who don’t have the resources we do, than to pull out the 5,000 pages of the latest scientific report and whack someone on the side of the head with it,” Hayhoe told The Early Edition‘s Rick Cluff.

Hayhoe, who is the director of the Climate Science Centre at Texas Tech University and Canadian as well as an evangelical Christian, was in Vancouver on Thursday, to give a talk about climate change at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

She is known for her work in trying to bridge the gap between scientists and Christians in the U.S., and has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Though Hayhoe often turns to her faith to make climate change relevant to some people, she says it isn’t always the best way.

Plus, the fact that extreme weather conditions such as stronger hurricanes, extreme droughts,and heavy rain or snowfall appear to be happening more frequently and in unexpected places around the world is already helping shift people’s attitudes about how climate change could impact the things and places they love, she said.

“If we are somebody who enjoys hiking and skiing, of course we want to preserve the resources that give us so much pleasure,” she said.

“If we’re a person who wants a healthy economy, climate change impacts our economy. We need to speak the language of whatever it is that we care about and connect the dots to climate.”

This CBC interview originally appeared here.