by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)

You’ve heard it already: the pronouncement by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that we have only 11 years to control climate change. If by then we can’t restrain global warming to a maximum of 1.5C, even half a degree more will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

In these circumstances, it may be disingenuous to wish a Happy Earth Day about an Earth that may wish it could be rid of us, like so many fleas. How have we failed to make sufficient progress on the most compelling issue of our time?

One possible contributing explanation is identified in this month’s American Sociological Review journal, which identifies a 25 percent drop among conservatives who express trust in the scientific community. The article’s author, Gordon Gauchat, says that until 1974, conservatives were more trusting of science than other political groups.

Gauchat postulates that regulatory science and policy management are at the core: “The shift toward regulatory science that began in the 1970s could account for conservatives’ growing distrust in science, given this group’s general opposition to government regulation.”

How can this trend be reversed? Writer Alexander Makl offers five tips in his article, “How to persuade people climate change is real.”

» 1. The messenger matters. The messenger should match the audience, which makes you an important messenger to your peers. Improve your communication skills and learn to discuss issues in the spirit of collegiality. An important tool in this is Dr. Marshall Rosenberg’s book Nonviolent Communication.

» 2. Appeal to people’s values. We all appreciate the imperatives of a functioning planet such as clean air, water and natural resources. Stewardship of these is an important value across religious and political lines.

» 3. Educating makes a difference. While there are disagreements about the nuances and timing of climate change, the scientific consensus that it exists is overwhelming. Responsible media practice may be blameworthy in blurring the line. When they provide “both sides” of an issue whose other side is a tiny group far afield from consensus, people may assume both sides are equally plausible or scientifically robust. Commentators should give appropriate weight to the consensus versus outlier viewpoints.

» 4. Risk is a reason to act. This administration’s reliance on industry-funded environmental specialists presents great conflicts of interest that threaten our health and safety. For example, California children’s lung capacity has greatly improved since the regulation of small-particulate matter. But Tony Cox Jr., a risk assessment analyst who has worked for oil and chemical industries, now leads a key Environmental Protection Agency advisory board on air pollution. He is “reviewing” the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee’s assessment citing 2,800 papers by more than 50 world experts with an eye toward dumbing down the protection.

» 5. Individuals have the power to make a difference. The enormity of climate change can feel disempowering, such that the issues are shoved aside and not discussed. The important tool in our personal quiver is combating misinformation, so that policymakers have our support when viable, if difficult, solutions are presented.

One thing is clear. If skeptics beat the scientists at the game of dealing with climate change, they may win the battle but lose the race for their descendants. It’s too late for a stitch in time to save nine — that was appropriate in the 1970s. But action by all of us, in whatever personal and community ways we can possibly stretch ourselves — can make a difference for the lives of our children, grandchildren and beyond.

Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist

Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.More by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist