密歇根新闻广播 文化改变对解决气候危机的重要性

Science shows climate change is real and humans are contributing to the problem. So, how did something science-based cause such a cultural and political divide?

University of Michigan professor Andrew Hoffman has an answer to that question.

In September, he wrote an article called Climate Change and Our Emerging Cultural Shift. It addressed the unique backlash to climate change science among some religious communities.

Hoffman is the author of several books, and a professor of sustainable enterprise at UM's Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School for Environment & Sustainability.

Right here in Ann Arbor¹, someone pulled up a Bible in front of me at one of my talks and said God promised Noah he would not flood the earth again. The seas cannot be rising, Hoffman said.

He found that responding to these religious climate deniers with more science didn't convince them. That's why Hoffman began to think about our current era, and our understanding of climate change, as akin² to other times of significant scientific advancement³ and cultural change — think the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, or the Protestant Reformation.

Those were fundamental shifts in our cultural beliefs as a species, a fundamental shift in our perception of the environment, and a fundamental shift in how we saw the two connected. And importantly, those shifts took a hundred years, Hoffman said.

And like those previous eras of change, the debate over climate science has been polarizing. Many conservative religious leaders reject the science, Hoffman said, because they feel their existential beliefs are being threatened. He said changing the view that believing in climate change goes against religious teachings is going to take time. In previous eras, it took hundreds of years for religious leaders to accept a new scientific understanding of the world around us.

Hoffman believes that faith leaders have power to rewrite the narrative⁴ surrounding climate change within religious communities. When people hear messages urging action on environmental issues from their religious leaders, it connects to their deepest sense of who they are. He sees change happening already among some religious leaders, including Pope Francis.

I fixated on Pope Francis's encyclical letter, Luadato Si. I think it's an interesting document for really laying out a set of moral beliefs that we are, he doesn't use the word Anthropocene, but he is pointing out that we are starting to live in a world that is not very nice, we are damaging it, said Hoffman. I love in the Catholic catechism where they say pollution is actually theft from future generations.

The Re-Enlightenment, Hoffman said, is still in its early stages, and it goes beyond convincing religious people that climate change is real. It also requires us to think more creatively about how we address the threats of climate change. That means acknowledging that green technology alone won't save us, Hoffman said. Take, for example, electric cars. While they reduce the carbon emissions⁵ of driving, they still require large amounts of energy for production.

If you think the answer is a windmill and an electric car, you're not thinking big enough, Hoffman added. The answer is not more cars, it is rethinking mobility⁶.

This post was written by production assistant Catherine Nouhan.

1 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

2 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

3 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

4 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。