NASA Scientist Reveals What Finally Made Her Conservative Dad Believe In Climate Change
It’s getting hot these days. And it seems some people can’t yet feel the warming atmosphere. Or maybe, they can, but they are reluctant to accept it. Despite scores of bulletins broadcasting the harrowing visuals of melting ice caps, forest wildfires, rising sea levels, and villages swallowed up by floodwaters, these people, a.k.a. conservatives, seem to live in a denial about climate change. In a recent episode of the award-winning Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast (@pablotorrefindsout), NASA scientist Doctor Kate Marvel revealed one unlikely trigger that made her conservative father finally believe in climate change: insurance companies.
Speaking to Torre, Doctor Marvel shared that her father, who’s a conservative, shrugged off her opinions about the climate crisis. Sadly, this is unsurprising. According to a report by NPR, nearly 43% of conservatives underestimate the severity of the climate crisis. The fact that these people downplay the obvious shift in climate is concerning for those who live in areas at risk of climate-induced disasters. “I would love to say that I changed my dad's mind about climate change, that his beloved daughter, who he talks to every week, finally brought him around and he has come around, but that's not what changed his mind,” Marvel said.
Thanks to the insurance organizations gearing up to include climate risks as part of their core functions, the clouded mind of Doctor Marvel’s father finally cleared up, and he was able to see the reality for what it is. Explaining the reasoning behind what convinced her father, she wrote in the caption, "The fact that every insurance company has climate scientists on staff, and insurance companies are all pricing in climate risks. There is no financial incentive for them to do that if it wasn't real."
Continuing the explanation in the podcast, she said that if this climate change were a hoax, the insurance companies would just undercut the market and offer insurance at much cheaper rates. But since they don’t do that, it means the issue is real. “And my dad was like, well, if capitalism says it's real, it's real.” Echoing her viewpoint, the host said, “If the greediest people in America think it's real, then that tells me something. Genuinely, tells all of us something about this.” After watching the video, one viewer commented, “Sigh, I should send this to my dad.”
Others went into a discussion about how boomers can sometimes be so repudiating and stubborn as they refuse to accept the changing realities of the world. “This happens more often than you’d think. My parents hired a shady contractor who ripped them off $6,000 rather than taking up their architect daughter’s offer to help. For free,” said @troutsytrout.
Adding to the insurance companies, @moneyinbananastand said oil companies, too, can help boomers realize the seriousness of the climate crisis. “Oil companies have climate scientists, too. They’ve had them since the 60s and know that their product is the leading cause of its acceleration towards catastrophe,” the user wrote.
@pablotorrefindsout NASA scientist Dr. Kate Marvel on what finally convinced her conservative father that climate change is real: "The fact that every insurance company has climate scientists on staff, and insurance companies are all pricing in climate risks. There is no financial incentive for them to do that if it wasn't real." 👀 #podcast #podcasts #podcastclips #science #scienceismagic #climate #climatecrisis #climateemergency #conservative #liberal #nasa #space #mars #spacetok ♬ original sound - Pablo Torre Finds Out
You can follow Pablo Torre on TikTok to listen to the mind-bending episodes of his podcast The Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablotorrefindsout)
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