We went to Alaska for adventure. Then we witnessed the glaciers melting and came back with a story instead. Glacier Exit, Raphael Rogers, Paul Rennick, and Kristin Gerhart

Adventure lured filmmakers Raphael Rogers and Paul Rennick to Alaska’s Exit Glacier. A stroke of luck led them to Rick Brown, aka Hot Dog, a wilderness guide with a story to tell. Since the 1990s, Brown has witnessed Exit’s retreat. The glacier used to melt about 150 feet per year. Now it recedes 10 to 15 feet per day. Nearby villages have had to relocate. There’s grass around Brown’s office where there should be snow.

Although the transformation of the Alaskan region Brown calls home may be extreme, we’re all living within shifting landscapes. Even so, few people are talking about why. In a recent poll, six in ten Americans “rarely” or “never” talked about climate issues with family and friends. However, when asked about whether was personally important, six in ten answered extremely (12%), very, (18%) or somewhat (33%). Our collective silence is masking widespread worry about the heat-trapping blanket spreading across our atmosphere.

Why the reticence? Some people may believe that their friends, family, and coworkers don’t share their opinions – even when they do. Called pluralistic ignorance, we go mum because we think that our views are unique. If we all make the same mistake, the net result is that nobody talks about urgent issues, like climate change.

Nathaniel Geiger and Janet Swim (2016) found evidence that pluralistic ignorance stymies conversation about climate change. The participants in their studies who believed that humans are changing the climate were more likely to discuss climate change when they trusted that others shared their concern. They were reluctant to talk when they thought that others doubted that climate change is real. of looking incompetent kept many silent.

Self-silencing in the face of disagreement should give us pause. Conversation may help people learn crucial information about climate change. Mathew Goldberg and his colleagues (2019) found evidence for this in their survey of 1,263 American adults who answered the same questionnaire twice, about seven months apart. The results revealed that talking about global warming at time 1 increased the perception that scientists agree that climate change is real and caused by human activity. In turn, this bump in the recognition of scientific consensus led to an increased belief that global warming is real and human-caused.

The researchers also found a feedback loop: “…increased perceptions of scientific agreement led to increases in discussions about climate change – suggesting that climate conversations can initiate a positively reinforcing cycle between learning, worry, and further conversation.”

At the end of Glacier Exit, Rick Brown said, “I have four daughters and a bunch of grandkids….I wonder what they will see if they come back after I’m gone. That’s my concern, it is for the future, wondering how this climate thing is going to work out for them.” How climate change affects all of us depends on many factors, including talking about it, a lot, to one another.