Katharine Hayhoe is an anomaly in the science world. She is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change and its effect on humans and the natural environment, and she is also a conservative Christian. Hayhoe is coming to Boulder on a campaign to bridge the gap between those who believe in climate change and those who believe it is incompatible with their faith-based beliefs. Recently named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Hayhoe is the author of A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions.
Hayhoe is more than qualified to present hard data on climate change but has said she does not think facts should be the starting point for a discussion on climate change.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s an emotional issue,” she said in an interview with Climate One. “It’s about fear. It’s about thinking that I am a conservative and conservatives don’t Boulder think this Weekly is true. Or I am a person of faith and this is incompatible with my faith, it challenges the sovereignty of God. It challenges things that we hold dear to our hearts, not our brains.”
While 97 percent of climate experts have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening, 58 percent of evangelical Christians do not believe that global warming has anything to do with greenhouse gases, according to a 2014 Gallup poll. Hayhoe tries to start the climate change conversation with the similarities between the two camps, not the differences.
“I feel like it’s so important to start with the values that we share,” she told Climate One. “We all live on this planet. We all want a better life for our children. We want a healthy economy. Those of us who hold to almost any major faith believe that creation is something to be taken care of, that people are to be loved. So when we start from these shared values and we make a case for taking action on climate change, we’re starting from the identities that people already have instead of trying to make green tree huggers of the world.”
Referred to by many as the “climate change evangelist,” Hayhoe appeared earlier this year on the premier episode of the Showtime series The Years of Living Dangerously. She met with actor Don Cheadle to explain her views on faith and science, and Cheadle later wrote of her in TIME magazine, “There’s something fascinating about a smart person who defies stereotypes.”
Hayhoe is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She will present her talk, “Climate Change with Heart and Mind,” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Chautauqua Auditorium. Tickets are $12 and are available at www.chautauqua.com.
