In the original Christmas story, a bright star appears over Bethlehem attracting three wise men from the East.  They traveled from far away to see what they believed was the Messiah who was just born.  The arrival of the wise men was considered to be a very strong signal.   This baby born in Bethlehem was a very strong to be a very strong teacher, prophet and healer.
 
Over 2,000 years later, the signal of climate change is becoming evident from many different sources of scientific evidence, such as changes in the atmosphere, oceans, polar ice shelves, sea level rise, weather patterns, etc.  Just like the prominent news in Bethlehem of wise men arriving from the East, it is getting harder to ignore the vast amount of news about climate change these days.

For me, it has been fascinating how my best friend, Scott, has reacted to the news of climate change.  I have known him for nearly 30 years.  I met him back in 7th grade when we would eat lunch together at school and talk baseball. We still talk regularly on the phone.  Since high school, our lives have gone in totally different directions.  He is an auto mechanic outside of Seattle, Washington with a wonderful family.  I am a single seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake.  Scott has similar conservative political views as ‘Joe the Plummer,’ who became famous during the 2008 Presidential Campaign.  I have become very a very progressive environmentalist with spending the last twenty years working in the national parks.   We have kept the friendship strong over the years with the unspoken rule of not talking about politics.

Over the years, Scott has had a lot of fun making fun of the issue of global warming.  He loved to joke how he would love to see palm trees in Seattle and his home state of Wisconsin.  He would welcome sea level rise because he could launch his boat so much closer to the Puget Sound form his house.  We would have so much fun talking about other stuff about baseball, the outdoors, music etc.  However, I would have to bite my tongue so hard that it would almost bleed at times when he would make his global warming jokes.  I would be staying at his house, with his family, and eating his food during these short visits.  I wanted to be a gracious guest so I just did not have the heart to correct him.

Scott was very eager to share with me amazing story though when I visited him in 2008.  He was teasing his son, Ricky about global warming over the years, just like me.  However, Ricky was coming home from school and not giving an inch on this issue.  He kept saying, “No, Dad, we are learning about this in school and this is why global warming is a huge concern…“
 
Finally, Scott wanted to let me know that he thought Ricky was on to something. He could not dismiss his own son and what he was learning in school. His best friend, who is a tree hugger park ranger, he might overlook on this issue from living out in the woods too long. However, it was hard to ignore his son who was coming home from school with articulate facts on climate change.  Just like the town of Bethlehem noticing the original Wise Men, it was hard for Scott to ignore the Two Green Wise Men showing up in his life.

As a side note, I called up Scott a few days ago to ask him if this story was true.  He said it was.  However, we wanted to add that he still welcoming global warming and sea level rise so he can go fishing from his house.  However, Scott went out of his way to wish me all the best as I am following my passion to be a climate change communicator.  His tone could not have been more supportive and encouraging.  In the end, that is all you can ask for in a best friend and more.  It makes me want to double my efforts even more to inspire people to resolve climate change.  I am going to do all I can to prevent dangerous climate change.  In the end, all the negative consequences are going to far outweigh any possibility of Scott being able to fish from his house.  

Climate change can be a daunting and scary subject for a presentation to strangers.   You may then wonder how on Earth you are going to keep an audience engaged and inspired on such a serious topic.  I have been giving presentations on climate change for over a year now as a park ranger and public speaker.  Let me share with you my 5 tips on how to do effective climate change presentations.

1. BE LIKABLE.  Look for those ways to establish rapport with your audience.  At my ranger talks, I always try to arrive about 30 minutes early to get to know the early arrivals in my audience.  The top advice you always here for public presentations is KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.  However, do you do this?  I chat with the audience members who arrive early by asking them where do they live, how did they hear about the program, what they did today, etc.  By establishing connections with the early arrivals, they will become friendly faces in the crowd, providing even support and an open mind to your ideas.

2. BE ENTHUSIASTIC.  Ralph Waldo Emerson was so correct when he stated, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”  If you are not excited about climate change, how will your audience be?  Even more, if you are not about the solutions, especially the ideas of sustainability and hope, how can your audience get excited about this?  Genuine enthusiasm is contagious.  Dower is depressing.  I know I just gave a great presentation when people come up to me and say, “I love how positive and enthusiastic you are.”  I love baseball and I feel like I have hit a home run whenever I hear audience members say this to me.

3. BE CREDIBLE.  Know your subject well.  It is hard for them to question your knowledge if you have really done your homework.  The greater amount of research you have put into your subject, the more confident you will speak about it also.  If you have really researched your subject and feel strong confidence speaking about it, the greater that your audience will trust what you are saying and think of you as an authority.

4. BE FUNNY.  Find some way to naturally incorporate humor into your program.  As science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once remarked,  “Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten  questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.”  I cannot tell you how to be funny.  To paraphrase E.B. White, ‘Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.  Both die in the process.’   However, if you can find some natural humorous way to share funny stories, images, or analogies, then your audience will more likely stick with you on what they perceive is a heavy subject like climate change.

5. BE HOPEFUL.  A friend of mine just returned from a presentation by Project Ocean.  That speaker stressed the point that when people hear they have cancer, they do not research the molecular biology of cells.  They want the solutions now on how they can fight cancer successfully.  Is it exercise, diet, meditation, prayer, medication, surgery, sense of humor, or anything else Doctor?  The huge planetary problems associated with climate change can be very scary for your audience to comprehend.  What is your solutions for them?

John Lennon once said it best: “There are no problems. Only solutions.”  You got to believe that.

In December 2010, Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer at the University of California Berkeley published research paper, Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs. The researcher conducted two experiments on 97 UC Berkeley undergraduates to gauge their political attitudes and skepticism about global warming. The study concluded that “Fear-based appeals, especially when not coupled with a clear solution, can backfire and undermine the intended effects of messages.”  In other words: GOT HOPE?

I would like to conclude with a statement I recently heard from Science Comedian Brian Malow.  In his recent presentation at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco on  ‘Delivering Your Message: Lessons from Stand-up Comedy, he remarked, “I admire scientists because they have maintained their child-like wonder of the world.  The only other profession I can think of similar to this is clowns.  And I think scientists are a lot less scary than clowns.”

I think it is so important to maintain those childlike qualities of wonder, fun, and hope as we engage people people with presentations on serious issues like climate change.        

Kermit the Frog was wrong: It is actually easy, as a matter of fact, very easy to be green.

I do not know if I mentioned this before: I LOVE THE COLOR GREEN.  Green is my all time favorite color.  I drive a green Honda civic. I use a green tooth brush, and favorite shorts sleep are even green.  My personal e-mail address is even [email protected].  In the summer, I even get to wear green at work as a park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, where we even jokingly call ourselves ‘the green & gray.’

Often times when you hear people talking about conservation or environmental issues as “green issues.” This is because the color green reminds us a lush green forest or mountain meadow in nature.

Most people, they will tell that they try to be green by recycling, not littering, and paying attention to green issues.   However, it seems that people have a hard time taking actions beyond those basics.  They believe they have to buy a hybrid car, buy organic fruits and vegetables, or weatherize, which they consider to be too expensive.  Tonight we are going to talk about why MAKING CHANGES TO REDUCE YOUR HOME ENERGY COSTS IS GREEN..

The Bottom line is that: GREEEN IS $GREEN$
(In the long term it saves you hard earned cash)

I am going to show you here tonight that unlike Kermit the Frog It is Easy and Fun to be Green.  First of all, who here in the audience has switched their light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL)?

Why did you do this?  Because switching your light bulbs save you a lot of money in the long run.  According to Homedepot.com, CFL will use around 75% less electricity than an incandescent bulb with the same light output, while lasting about 10 times longer. Additionally, since CFLs produce less heat, they can help you save on cooling costs in the summer.  The bottom line though is that if you Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and you could save around $60 per year.

Changing your light bulbs is just the tip of this green iceberg, for saving your hard earned green cash also.  Exactly one year ago, Consumer Reports had a cover story on 7 Ways to Slash Your Energy Bills.  Among their tips to helping you or the average America household to save green:

1. Adjust your TV mode from “retail mode” which enables TVs to have the best quality mode under bright showroom lights to “home mode,” which is fine for most types of viewing.  Average yearly savings around $45.

2. Pay a qualified heating and cooling pro to seal and insulate heating and cooling ducts that run through your home.  Average yearly savings around $400.

3. Unplug those voltage vampires, such as your DVD player, microwave oven, computer, TV, cell phone charger, and Hello Kitty toaster (which I know ___________ uses with pride very morning).  Average yearly savings around $125.

4. Stop pre-rinsing dishes before you put them in the dishwasher.  Believe it or not, your dishes come just as clean, and it is an unnecessary waste of time and energy.  Ultimately, the yearly savings is $75.

5. If you can wash your clothes in cold water.  If you are worried about removing tough stains, Consumer Reports recommends Tide 2X Ultra for Cold Water.  Even if this Tide detergent is twice as expensive as other detergents, Consumer Reports thinks you could receive an average yearly savings of $60.

6. Lower your water heater from 130 degrees to 120 degrees and insulating your hot-water pipes could save an average yearly savings of $15.

7. Insulate your attics, basements, and other key areas could save the average American household up to $191 a year.

Which could be your airfare for you and your significant other to: (Florida, Bahamas, Hawaii, or Cancun, Mexico)

And I have heard that it is a lot greener down there in January with all the palm trees than it is in St. Louis.

I know what you are thinking right now:  Brian, I do not have the time to make all those adjustments to my home to make it more energy efficient.   Your neighbor might be making these changes already.  I found an article this on May 13, 2011 on the ClimateCentral.org, To Save Energy, Utilities Tap into Our Competitive Instincts by Nicole Heller.

The article reported that City of Palo Alto, Calif. recently began including Home Energy Reports in residential utility bills to empower their customers save energy and be greener. Each report compares a household’s energy use with their 100 closest neighbors in homes of similar sizes, and also provides targeted energy conservation tips.  The bill reported that the author, Nicole’s energy bill was “ranked as the 23rd-most-efficient household in the neighborhood, based on the previous month’s electricity and natural gas use.”  They were listed in the good, but not the great category.  Nicole and her husband wanted to be listed in the Great category, so they immediately dusted off the caulking gun that had been sitting for over two years.  This couple then spent the next two hours caulking the windows and weatherizing their home.  They then waited patiently for their next utility bill.  To their excitement, they were now classified as “Great,” having moved up in the standings to become the ninth-most-efficient house among their neighboring peers, and saving about $50 per month relative to the average household, or about $600 a year.

Just think if you decide not to weatherize, your neighbors might just thumb their nose at you. Tell you that you stink.  Or, even call you an energy hog.

And you know Howard, that GREEN IS $GREEN$.
Becoming more energy efficient can save you a lot of money.
Again, Kermit the Frog, for all of his cuteness has it wrong.
It is easy and fun to be green.