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A Sierra Club Holiday Survival Guide:
How to Win Arguments and Influence People
Uncle Burt
Uncle Burt is worried that the world is about to end. He's a nice enough guy, but ever since the 2008 election he's been spouting conspiracy theories. He will insist that you keep Glenn Beck on TV throughout dinner and will no doubt gloat about the recent election, so you may have to yell a little just to be heard. He'll give you a hard time about not eating the turkey -- or for cooking up a local, humanely raised heritage breed. Don't worry, though, because we have some answers to keep Burt from scoring any points.
During a commercial break, Uncle Burt looks over at you and you already know what's coming. He saw you pull up in a Prius, and Auntie Mim told him about the compost bin in your backyard - although you're pretty sure she called it a trash heap.
Uncle Burt: How is it that everyone in this country sits around doing nothing while socialists are running it? And don't get me started on the environmentalists - they're just as red as Obama.
You: You know Uncle Burt, President Obama and environmentalists are calling for job-friendly and business-friendly initiatives. We want to create jobs and help businesses grow. We're just not interested in helping the big oil and coal companies continue to pollute our air and water. We want to be able to compete globally, preserve the environment, and create more good-paying jobs here in America.
Uncle Burt: But Obama is nationalizing everything. And environmentalists care more about polar bears than people.
You: Sure, there has been a lot of government help for struggling businesses, but President Obama didn't nationalize the big banks when a lot of people were saying he had to. Government aid was needed to keep the economy alive. Thing may still be tough, but at least the economy is picking up. And when it comes to polar bears, environmentalists want to protect land and reduce pollution -- including global-warming pollution -- in ways that benefit both wildlife and humans.
Uncle Burt: But you're going to regulate everything in the process. Regulation is going to ruin the economy.
You: It was lack of regulation that caused the economic crisis we're in now. Look, the economy is like a highway. Do you really want to drive on a road with no rules and with no one to oversee what's going on? Aren't you happy that there are traffic laws that prevent someone from running you over to get to where they are going?
Uncle Burt: Well, there are a lot of bad drivers out there. But I'm not sure traffic has anything to do with regulation. I do know that global-warming treaties are going to take away America's sovereignty. It's anti-democratic.
You: That's an interesting point, Uncle Burt, but some problems are too big to be tackled by individual countries. American air doesn't stop at the border, and neither does China's. Climate change is a global problem. We have to come to agreements with other countries to make sure everyone's keeping up their end of the bargain, just as we did when we successfully reduced the hole in the ozone layer. When democratic countries sign treaties, they are expressing the will of the majority of their citizens. There's nothing anti-democratic about it.
You want to talk about sovereignty, though - did you know climate change threatens our national security? It will cause droughts, floods, wildfires, and more around the world - which will in turn create climate refugees and cause border skirmishes. Many high-ranking retired military officers are even speaking out about the national-security implications of global warming. It's in our interest to all work together to fight climate change so as little of that happens as possible.
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