After thinking about my blog idea for a bit, I went by the gas station to pick up a snack. As the employee began to quietly ring me up, I smiled at the silence, thought what the hell, and said — “how do you feel about climate change?” I delivered it in a charismatic, casual tone which hopefully concealed my knowledge of how ridiculous the question would seem to him. He was taken off guard, as I expected. After a brief silence he said, really awkwardly “I mean I don’t know..” I responded very tactlessly with “Do you believe in it?” (I probably should have went with a less politically-charged question), and after more silence he gave the bewildered reply of “I don’t think that — what is it really warm outside or something?” The look in his eyes screamed “What are you doing? Don’t talk to me about this”. At that point, I just brushed it off, walked on, and laughed to myself when I got in my car. I didn’t think the interaction would be “successful”, but I wanted a taste of what a stranger’s reaction would be. Still, the extent of his awkwardness at being asked the question was a little surprising.
Aside from this particular context, why is it so weird to talk about this stuff in the first place? I think it’s largely rooted in a cultural ideal of individualism, a learned kind of passive respect which allows people’s views to be free from conversation and inspection because they’re veiled beneath a call for political correctness. What about a different kind of respect, though? If I have a high amount of respect for someone, then that person deserves to have conversations which hold their views to the highest standards. Clearly, some conversation subjects should be approached with more empathy, communication, and understanding than others, but to say that we shouldn’t talk about those subjects at all is to 1) waste an opportunity of practicing those tremendously important skills and 2) deny an opportunity to talk about what is most important for us to talk about, that is, matters pertaining to social values and the collective good.
Is this random gas station encounter a valid way to engage with people over the issue? Well it’s definitely not the best, since it shrinks the context of an important and deep conversation to the amount of time it takes to buy some Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. However, I think it certainly didn’t harm anyone and I felt it was beneficial in that I got a little outside of my comfort zone. Plus, the amount of talking about climate change is so low, and so much less than the ideal, that I think throwing it into almost any conversation might be something positive. He’s almost definitely going to tell someone how some weird guy asked him about climate change, and maybe they’ll talk about it or maybe they’ll at least be a little less shocked if someone happens to do it again in the future. I am definitely planning on engaging with people in ways which are of a less random context and allow for an extended time period, but I will probably continue to do these random conversations during my regular life, even if for no other reason than to break free from my inhibitions and be entertained by the reaction.
This was a very very short interaction, but I observed a few things about it. For one, I felt that the shock value of the question seemed to undermine my hopes for the employee to actually think about the question’s content. I felt he’d have a similar reaction if, instead of talking about climate change, I’d asked him “are you pro-life or pro-choice?” There are a number of ways which I could’ve handled the situation better, and hopefully I’ll start to understand more as I continue to start the conversation. For one, I definitely could’ve given a more smooth delivery of the question; this could mean getting a bit personal or different in my interactions before jumping headfirst into discussing climate change. As I crumple up my receipt, I could ask if the gas station recycles and then use that as a segway into other conversation. Of course, maybe this Dara’s employee was just a particularly uncomfortable dude. However, I certainly don’t expect starting conversations about climate change to be anything other than uncomfortable, and as these interactions continue in different forms, I’d imagine they will get less and less uncomfortable. Less uncomfortable for me, since I will be acclimatized to the awkwardness, and less uncomfortable for others because I will continuously refine my conversational methods.
Lastly, I’d like to mention that experiments like this may be totally changed or abandoned in the future as I continue to ponder the issue. For example, if climate change beliefs and reactions are so tied to identity then could a very brief and shocking mention of the issue actually strengthen a person’s identity-based response against it? It’s entirely possible. Then again, I think that talking about something is plainly the best way to get used to talking about it, and that’s ultimately the goal here. As I continue with my intellectual exploration of the Anthropocene and the lived experience of trial and error, I might find some better answers to these questions, but until then my approach remains the same — let’s get awkward.
I'm mutable 
I love your description of your interaction with the cashier, you are an excellent writer! I think that your analysis of the interaction and its effectiveness (or lack thereof) is insightful. As a person that is pretty uncomfortable interacting with people, the idea that even unsuccessful conversations can generate productive ones later is encouraging.
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I would have loved to be the person behind you in line witnessing the whole awkward interaction. I think people have learned or been taught not to talk about anything that could be construed as offensive or a “brass” topic. and why is that? why has our culture cradled such social behaviors?
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Your voice is great–intellectual, clever, clear, and honest. This was a great read. I also find you very brave for this project, as you are mindfully entering yourself into an awkward situation. However, I recently have read an article where it makes a point that confronting the awkward and unknown is the best way to cultivate our creativity and continue to grow our intellectual flora.
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I really enjoyed reading this post! I think you should do this experiment a few more times and document people’s responses. I think you are developing a really interesting blog idea here… why is climate change a personal, private opinion? Why does American society treat belief in climate change or interest in the environment like its a private, political conversation? You know how when you were a kid your mother might have told you never to talk politics or religion with someone you didn’t know well. You don’t want to accidentally offend someone’s beliefs or catch them off guard or be rude etc. The impending doom of our planet should be in the headlines of every newspaper constantly. Everyone should be talking about it the way they talk about an upcoming hurricane or tornado prediction. But climate change is not discussed in small talk with strangers or plain talk with acquaintances..so why not? I believe its because the consequences of climate change go against our value system and our expectation as a society for a safe and better future. Maybe its scary so we avoid the topic as a society? Or maybe it requires we give up too many luxuries now? I would love to see you explore this topic further.
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This is a very will written piece and i cannot wait for what else you have in store for us. When reading this i felt like i was actually there. You have a strong voice with clear and concise thoughts, well done and i can’t only expect even better ones to come.
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