Attendees at Climate Solutions' deliberative forum Oct. 1 held small-group discussions during which they tackled climate challenges in central Pennsylvania and came up with ideas for problem-solving.
Tim Lambert / WITF
Pennsylvania climate forum brings informed public into problem-solving effort
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Scott Blanchard/WITF
Tim Lambert / WITF
Attendees at Climate Solutions' deliberative forum Oct. 1 held small-group discussions during which they tackled climate challenges in central Pennsylvania and came up with ideas for problem-solving.
Tim Lambert / WITF
Attendees at Climate Solutions’ deliberative forum Oct. 1 held small-group discussions during which they tackled climate challenges in central Pennsylvania and came up with ideas for problem-solving.
Climate Solutions’ deliberative forum revealed some key insights that can inform policymakers, people in positions of influence and other central Pennsylvanians as they work to solve problems related to climate change.
It also showed that you can bring people together for respectful, non-judgmental discussion on issues that affect everyone, regardless of your political leaning.
And it showed that people are eager to learn.
One attendee said he feels more optimistic about the climate than he did before the forum – because he didn’t believe emissions could be reduced.
Climate change and Pennsylvania
There’s overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity is warming Earth at an unprecedented rate. It’s already responsible for extreme weather, rising sea levels, and more severe droughts worldwide. Pennsylvania is on track for more intense heat waves and stronger storms in coming years, the Department of Environmental Protection says.
Scientists stress that rapid action is crucial to avoid the worst effects. Pa.’s most recent Climate Action Plan calls for an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.
Doing that will require hard choices by the nation’s fourth-largest carbon emitter: Pennsylvania must figure out how to cut emissions while planning for the future of people and communities that rely on the fossil fuel industry.
Join the discussion about climate and Pa. at Climate Solutions.
Another said she hadn’t realized the solar industry’s growth rate.
And another said she kind of knew about climate change but didn’t spend much time thinking about it – but now sees the importance of addressing its effects.
Deliberative forums bring together a demographically representative group of people, provide them with in-depth background material on the subject matter of the forum, and create questions to engage attendees in small-group discussions that are designed to produce ideas and potential solutions.
About two dozen central Pennsylvanians from eight counties — Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York — gathered Saturday at WITF’s Public Media Center in Harrisburg. The forum focused on flooding, agriculture, transportation and electric vehicles, and solar development – all topics that surfaced often in Climate Solutions’ survey and in its engagement efforts.
Climate Solutions will soon produce an interim report that it will send to elected officials (and those running for office), and a full report will follow later this month or in early November. But it’s possible to already identify some themes from Saturday’s discussions:
- Choices vs. mandates: Give people incentives to choose options like electric vehicles – but don’t mandate personal choices.
- Government has a role: Many attendees were, however, willing to embrace some government mandates, like requiring that new housing developments include open space for solar panels.
- Polluters pay: Many showed a willingness to have polluting industries pay to help deal with the effects of climate change, such as helping farmers adapt.
- Iffy on EVs, except…: There were tons of questions about EVs and some distrust of them. But there was a lot of sentiment that government should lead by example and switch its fleets to all EVs.
- Education: During their end-of-day reflections, every table referred to it in just about every way: Education for farmers to help them adapt and for government officials; education about solar so people can make decisions about it; about vulnerabilities in specific areas where people live; about cost-effective solutions; about how to reach younger generations so they can help problem-solve, too.
The groups also revealed how hard it can be for people to wrap their heads around climate change, because a warming world affects so many aspects of our lives. Each group was asked which of the four topics required the most urgent attention. Two said flooding; one solar; one transportation; and two groups couldn’t reach a consensus. Only agriculture didn’t make the list, because most groups figured attention to the other topics would help farmers as well.
How the Climate Solutions deliberative forum worked
Tim Lambert / WITF
Tom Daniels, a University of Pennsylvania professor, answers an attendee’s question at the Climate Solutions deliberative forum Oct. 1 at WITF in Harrisburg.
The two dozen people at the forum responded to an initial random-sample survey from Climate Solutions partner, the Center for Public Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. The survey polled people on knowledge of and attitudes about climate change and related issues.
F&M recruited a demographically representative set of those respondents, and Climate Solutions invited them to the deliberative forum.
Attendees received printed background material on each topic. At the forum, eight topic experts gave brief overviews. Each presentation was followed by small-group discussions, during which a facilitator led each of six groups through a set of questions created by Climate Solutions.
At the end of the day, attendees were polled on a narrower set of questions drawn from the first survey. Results will provide one look at whether knowledge or attitudes changed.
Here is the background material attendees received:
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