Pat on the Back: Kasra Hassani

This week we pat Kasra Hassani on the back. Hassani is a scientist with a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology and used to be a climate denier. He has since come around and published an article last year explaining why he used to deny climate science and what changed his mind.

This is a re-post of an article from the Canadian Science Writers' Association.

Confessions of a Former Climate Change Denialist

by Kasra Hassani

I, a scientist with a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology, was a climate change denialist. Wait, let me add, I was an effective climate change denialist: I would throw on a cloak of anecdotal evidence and biased one-sided skepticism and declare myself a skeptic. Good scientists are skeptics, right?I sallied forth and denied every piece of evidence that was presented to me, for a relatively long time.

Changes in Arctic sea ice are an indicator of climate change. By NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio and adapted for NASA’s Global Climate Change website http://climate.nasa.gov/ (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14385) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

It feels strange when I look back — I inadvertently fell into almost every pitfall of pseudo-science, shutting my eyes and repeating a series of mantras, such as “I don’t believe it!”“Why does it even matter?” and “I don’t care!”.

Thankfully, those days are over, but the memories linger. Although the evolution of my thought, from ignorance, to denial, to skepticism and finally to acceptance was a continuum, in retrospect I can distinguish certain phases that are worth listing and discussing. I hope my experience encourages others to loosen up some strongly held beliefs and listen to the din of evidence.. Here are the prominent phases of my climate change denialism:

The “We have bigger problems” phase:

Being a biology and ecology geek in high school, my mind nurtured environmental concerns, especially in my birth country, Iran, where air and environment pollution, uncontrolled hunting, deforestation and desert formation are rampant. When I first heard about climate change through media (nothing had been taught in school), I couldn’t help but see it as a distraction from more immediate issues — poverty, childhood mortality, wars and conflicts, pollution, and so on. It bothered me to think of countries coming together and people marching in the streets over such a hypothetical long-term effect while children die of preventable causes. This phase slowly transformed into…..

The “It’s all a conspiracy!” phase:

The conspiracist in me intensified after I read the novel State of Fear by Michael Crichton, a science-fiction author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, and whom I adored during my teenage years. State of Fear had a very science-y look with references, graphs, arguments and counter-arguments. Its thesis was that the media exploited global warming to keep us in a state-of-fear and guilt over the very act of being human. And then, I moved into…

The “OK, it may be happening, but who knows if it’s our fault” phase:

As time went on, I was exposed to more and more evidence in support of climate change that I could no longer deny. I had no choice but to adapt my theory and finally admit to some sort of climate change. “OK, it may be happening, but how can you tell if it’s our fault? We lack a control Earth!” To back myself up, I clung to a variety of fringe arguments: “It’s the sun!” or “We can’t trust the measurements!” or “It has happened before! It’s normal!” and so on. (You can find a long list of common climate change myths debunked here and a shorter version here. Right now the list counts up to 176. New ones are added often.)

Some studies have suggested that people who believe in one conspiracy theory, tend to believe others as well, even if they are contradictory to one another. This is usually because the conspiracy theory needs to be strengthened in face of every new piece of contradictory evidence. Also, once you fall into the trap of believing that a huge sinister organization can perform an action so perfectly yet covertly, then you believe other conspiracies are plausible. Thankfully, I avoided the meta-conspiracist delusions. During this years, I actively discussed and argued with other conspiracy theorists and denialists, especially on biology and health-related issues such as evolution, immunization, and genetic engineering. Still, I kept adapting my own denial strategy, eventually leading to….

The “It’s not that important” phase:

This became a recurring thought supplied by my lack of knowledge and failure to see the impact that climate change has on the environment. I kept referring to other pressing and more tangible global issues. I was blind to how the pressing environmental concerns of today—energy, water, pollution, sustainability—were actually in harmony with actions needed to fight climate change. This can be clearly seen in United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals and their special focus on climate change.

Finally, I crawled into...

The “Maybe I’m being in denial” phase:

No one undeniable bit of evidence unequivocally proved to me that humans were responsible for climate change, which makes sense if you’re me. Science works on multiple proofs. One single experiment or piece of evidence supports a theory, it doesn’t prove anything. Over time, as different researchers gather more evidence a theory becomes refined and a more acceptable explanation for natural phenomenon. But it also took time because I was never astonished by a piece of evidence or a big news story; when you are in denial, evidence is unlikely to change your mind. On the contrary, it might persuade you to cover your ears and pretend you’re not listening. Believe it or not, there exists a “Flat Earth Society,” and no, I won’t link to it.

So what happened to me then? What was the revelation? How did I enter…

The “Tear down the conspiracy wall!” phase:

I began to actively pursue knowledge on how to discuss climate change with conspiracy theorists (the ones who believe in conspiracies in principle and therefore are more likely to be climate change denialists) that I realized my strong-held beliefs and stubbornness matched the same criteria as the people I was trying to convince. I was a denialist myself.

I created a list of every question and doubt I had about the physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and politics of climate change, and I started reading. I took online courses. I listened to podcasts. Every myth in my head popped and floated away. I learned that cosmic rays cannot account for the current patterns of climate change; that low and middle-income countries and their fragile economies are actually more vulnerable to climate change than high-income countries and should care more about it; that climate change could be accelerating desert formation; and finally that pushing for renewable energies and sustainable development is in harmony with combating climate change. It all made sense without the need for an Evil Monster Corporation hiding a big truth or pushing a secret agenda. I was conspiracy-free!

Bottom line

No human is free of bias. There could be certain social, political and even personal circumstances that would stiffen a thought or belief in one’s mind. It takes effort try to identify our biases and rid ourselves of them, or at least be conscious of them. But it’s definitely worth it.

High five, Kasra! 

Pat on the Back: Mark Ruffalo

This week's "Pat on the Back" goes to Mr. Mark Ruffalo. 

Besides being a dreamy film actor, Mark Ruffalo has taken on many environmental activism projects and water protection is a cause particularly close to his heart.

His big, green Hulk heart. 

Ruffalo has been widely noted for his environmental activism since 2011 when he received the Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award from Global Green. 

Here's why he won the award according to Hollywood Reporter.com:

"The award to Ruffalo is in recognition of his campaign to ban hydrofracking, a controversial method of extracting natural gas from underground shale beds. 'Right now, the big fight is stopping doing gas drilling in the Delaware River basin, which is where 15 million people get their drinking water,' Ruffalo -- who lives not far from the river in the Catskills area of upstate New York -- tells The Hollywood Reporter. As seen in the Oscar-nominated 2010 movie Gasland, fracking is believed to be a threat to clean water, in some cases sullying groundwater enough to make tap water flammable. The natural-gas industry disputes that."

More recently, Ruffalo has been working with Water Defense in a very public way to raise funds for the environmental organization. And I'm just saying---not buying one of these shirts when I had the chance is among my biggest regrets.

Back in September, Ruffalo also appeared on a Food & Water Watch press call to ask President Obama to ban fracking and transform the United States into a global leader in renewable energy. 

"By stopping this fracking, it doesn't mean that we have to go backwards-we don't have to take an economic hit or lose jobs," Ruffalo said. "It means moving forward with clean energy, the power of the 21st century."

These are just a few of the ways Ruffalo is joining the movement against climate change and providing publicity for organizations that are trying to clean up the environment. 

Keep up the good work, Mark Buffalo.