PACKING & PALLETIZING COMPANY PPC PROVIDING CUSTOM BAGGING, TAGGING AND PALLETIZING SOLUTIONS BULK BAG FILLER PALLETIZER T: (204) 331-3000 www.ppcinc.ca E: tp@ppcinc.ca TAG PLACER SEPTEMBER 2018 GERMINATION.CA 55 “With the ozone layer, which used to be the topic of the day, people didn’t have much trouble accepting that refrigerants used in fridges and air conditioners caused the ozone hole. That is a straight line — you have these prod- ucts that end up in the stratosphere and destroy ozone,” she says. “With climate change, there’s many factors at play — greenhouse gases produced by humans, solar cycles, changes in the earth’s orbit, volcano eruptions and so on. It’s harder for our brains to process.” There are, however, strategies to be employed in making the conversation easier. What You Can Do “Simply telling farmers, for example, that if they do a certain thing the nitrous oxide emissions from their soils will be reduced, that message doesn’t quite get through. Farmers are businesspeople, and businesspeople are natu- rally interested in how the actions they take will benefit them and their bottom line,” Wagner-Riddle says. It’s critical to translate the scientific language in a way that shows growers and others that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will benefit them directly. “Greenhouse gas reduction is related to better use of nutrients and seed — that needs to become the message. Using better inputs can earn the farmer more money, and makes it more difficult for them to continue practices that don’t necessarily do that.” Cadle-Davidson manages to talk in different terms that don’t necessarily mention climate change directly, but still get the point across. “Depending where I am, I might just refer to suboptimal environmental conditions, developing microbial products for extreme environmental conditions, that kind of thing. Another concept is changing land use, and how we can adapt to warming by growing crops in places we never have before. There’s lots of opportunities to talk about those concepts, and that’s where I find the safe spot.” Another effective strategy, Cadle-Davidson says, is to simply continue doing good science. “WITHCLIMATECHANGE,THERE’SMANYFACTORS ATPLAY—GREENHOUSEGASESPRODUCED BYHUMANS,SOLARCYCLES,CHANGESINTHE EARTH’SORBIT,VOLCANOERUPTIONSANDSOON. IT’SHARDERFOROURBRAINSTOPROCESS.” –ClaudiaWagner-Riddle “I always felt that engaging in good science was my best defense. The occasional bit of lazy science is enough to call an entire field into question because a single instance will get a lot of press as the counter example. Vocal climate change deniers can easily wash out the voices of scientists owing to the differences in argumenta- tion styles mentioned earlier,” she adds. “People can yell as loud as they want, but if scientists can operate on a more subtle level, that could be fine. Scientists don’t need fame. The hope is that we can guide policy and be a force for positive change over time.” Claudia Wagner-Riddle is professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Molly Cadle-Davidson is chief scientific officer for ABM based in Geneva, New York.