Denial to despair

On our march I have had two conversations with climate change deniers. One was by Torness nuclear power station. The second was on Wednesday somewhere between Warminster and Shaftsbury.

In my experience before the march, those who are sceptical about the science of climate change tend to be men over 50 years old. Obviously this is not based on any scientific experiment subjected to analysis and published in a peer reviewed journal. But the two climate change deniers I have met on the march fit the profile.

Today, a man accosted me that humans are not having any influence on the climate. I went through the science of climate change and asked him which bit he disagreed with. Is it that we have not increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? Is it that greenhouse gases do not have a warming effect?

His response was that there's no point in us doing anything because of China. So, he now accepted climate change.

I pointed out that we emit 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person, and China emits less than 4. If we do not reduce our emissions, how can we expect China to?

He responded that it's all too late to do anything about it.

In the space of ten minutes our conversation went from denial, to blaming someone else, to saying it is too late.

The opposition to action on climate change is not based on logic. It is the perceived threat of what action to tackle climate change would mean.

Distance covered so far: 869 miles