BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Climate change: How to talk to a denier

  • Published
    24 July 2022
Share page
About sharing
Related topics
  • Climate
Illustration of two women having a discussion with a thought bubble featuring a melting globe and an illuminati symbolImage source, Jana Tauschinski/ BBC
By Merlyn Thomas & Marco Silva
BBC Climate Disinformation reporters

What can you do when the people closest to you believe climate change is a hoax?

It was during school pick-up a few years ago that Lance Lawson first asked his father about his views on global warming.

"He basically told me something along the lines of 'It's nonsense'," Lance recalls.

His dad spoke of unscrupulous politicians "fearmongering" for electoral gain. Climate change, he told Lance, was completely "overblown".

From left to right: Brian Anderson (father) and Lance Lawson (son)Image source, Lance Lawson
Image caption,

Brian Anderson (left) was convinced climate change was 'nonsense' until his son Lance Lawson started discussing it with him

Lance, now 21, lives with his father, Brian Anderson, in the US state of Florida. He was just a teenager when that conversation happened, but it made a huge impression on him.

"My father is a very smart man," he says. "So I assumed that, if my father is telling me this, then it must be true."

But, as time went on, Lance started realising his father's views weren't backed by scientific evidence - and he decided to challenge him.

"Whenever he drove me to school, I would give my own argument, and he would downplay the evidence. It would force me to acquire new evidence, and that cycle helped expand my own understanding."

'Vessels for communication'

If someone close to you believes climate change is a hoax, you may find it hard to do what Lance did.

Maybe you fear confrontation, maybe you simply don't know how to explain the basic science of global warming.

  • A really simple guide to climate change

  • How do we know climate change is caused by humans?

  • How extreme weather is linked to climate change

But Gail Whiteman, professor of sustainability at the University of Exeter, says it's important to talk: "If we don't tackle climate denial and climate indifference, then the uphill battle to find a safer future is lost.

"We need to tackle our teachers, our neighbours... All of us have to become vessels for communication."

But how exactly do you go about starting the conversation?

Reciting the facts isn't always the answer

Sander van der Linden is professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, and studies how people get sucked into conspiracy theories.

Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge.Image source, Daniella Da Silva
Image caption,

Prof Sander van der Linden says facts don't always change minds - in fact, they might backfire

He says years of research have shown him that confronting people with hard evidence is not the way to go.

While it might be tempting to try to bluntly fight conspiracy theories with facts, "there's a very high chance it backfires".

"Telling people that they don't know what they're talking about, or that they're wrong, just creates more defensive responses."

Lance says there is a common misconception that people who don't believe that climate change is real are "stupid or uneducated".

"But there are a lot of people out there who are just naturally sceptical as part of their personality," he says.

His father, Brian, is one of them - he grew up in rural Minnesota in the 1970s. "It was incredibly cold," Brian says, and this made it hard for him to believe scientists who spoke of a "warming planet".

Two men standing on water with megaphonesImage source, Getty Images

Affirm their worldview

Lance says that his father is a very religious man - so he asked him to assume that climate change might be real, and questioned whether he wouldn't then have a moral responsibility to take care of what God had provided.

"Lance spoke in a language that I could appreciate and understand," says Brian. "You have to approach people in terms of where they're at."

  • Why is climate 'doomism' going viral?

  • Facebook drives sceptics towards climate denial

  • From Covid denial to climate denial

Prof van der Linden believes that changing the minds of climate deniers is impossible without affirming - to some extent - their worldview.

He says it's important to "[expose] techniques of manipulation" by asking questions such as: "Have you considered that some of these theories might be created to take advantage of people?"

'Remain humble'

No-one likes being talked down to, and the same goes for someone engaging with climate change denial.

"You can't convince someone if they perceive that there's a power differential," says Prof van der Linden. "The whole point of a conspiracy is the idea that there are these powerful elites conspiring against us."

Lance's close bond with his dad is something he believes was key to persuading him, but he also says it's important to check your tone: "Ask yourself, 'Am I sounding sanctimonious?' Remain humble. Be gentle."

Is it worth it?

Falling down the rabbit hole of conspiratorial thinking can be a long process - taking months, or even years.

Prof van der Linden believes that thinking you'll win someone over with a single, one-off conversation is simply not realistic: "You have to be content with small wins, and compromise."

And yet, some experts question whether talking to climate change deniers is really worth it.

Abbie Richards researches the spread of misinformation on social media.

Screenshot from a TikTok video by Abbie RichardsImage source, TikTok/Tofology
Image caption,

Abbie Richards is sceptical about the merit of arguing with climate change deniers

"Effort is better spent on pushing for actual change, rather than trying to combat solidified disinformation that has been pushed... for years," she says.

"But I also think trying to find things that you can agree upon might be more helpful, like [other] policies that we could both get behind."

On TikTok, she debunks disinformation about climate change, but says she's given up trying to engage with hardcore conspiracy theorists.

"I don't give credibility to people who are denying climate science, and I don't want to waste my energy on debunking more of their disinformation."

But Prof van der Linden points out that "some of these dismissive individuals are very loud and have a disproportionate influence on public debate".

"It's quite risky to do nothing, especially when [they] have outsized voices."

  • How high-profile scientists felt tricked by group denying climate change

  • Small army of volunteers keeping climate deniers off Wikipedia

'Breathtaking moment'

With time and patience, Lance managed to convince his father that climate change was real - so much so that he was surprised by his own success.

"One time, my dad came downstairs in the middle of the night, so enthused after watching a documentary about deforestation that he was like: 'Lance you won't believe what's going on in the rainforest!'

"It was a breathtaking moment, to see him so engaged."

Do you have a story for us? Get in touch, external.

Related topics

  • Disinformation
  • Fake News
  • Climate

More on this story

  • The audacious PR plot that spread climate change doubt

    • Published
      23 July 2022
    Polluting industrial chimneys
  • Got climate doom? Here's what might help

    • Published
      3 October 2021
    Climate demonstrators hug in Trafalgar Square
  • Don't let climate doom win, project tells worriers

    • Published
      28 April 2022
    Student Azza Dirra wants the programme to end the taboo around climate anxiety
  • A simple guide to climate change

    • Published
      10 January
    Promotional image showing parched ground, planet Earth, and green semicircle
  • How do we know climate change is caused by humans?

    • Published
      25 October 2021
    A firefighter in a wildfire
  • Top 10 tips for combating climate change revealed

    • Published
      20 May 2020
    Vegan burgers

Top stories

  • Marten and Gordon guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of their baby

    • Published
      3 hours ago
  • The chaotic lives of a couple who killed their baby daughter

  • Trump threatens Russia with tariffs while unveiling new Ukraine weapons plan

    • Published
      2 hours ago

More to explore

  • The chaotic lives of a couple who killed their baby daughter

    Constance Marten and Mark Gordon
  • The 'strongman' PM who inspired Trump's playbook - but now finds his power crumbling

    Two treated images, with Orban at the forefront with his fist in the air, and Trump and Vance as smaller figures behind
  • Dubious sales tactics at two leading estate agencies uncovered

    Headshot of Julie, standing outside in front of a pale brick wall. She has straight shoulder-length blonde hair with a fringe and has clear-framed glasses. She is wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and a pearl necklace.
  • Trump, Coldplay and red carpets - was this Super Bowl or soccer?

    • Attribution
      Sport
    A split image of Robbie Williams, US President Trump and Coldplay's Chris Martin at the Club World Cup
  • 'We want to carry on Bebe's light and big heart'

    Bebe King
  • The deepening water shortage row between the US and Mexico

    Water in Lake Toronto reservoir are very low
  • England building 'urgency' - are they ready for Sweden?

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Sarina Wiegman
  • How hundreds of Irish babies came to be buried in a secret mass grave

    A general view of the former site of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home and the memorial garden where it is believed 796 children are buried can be seen on February 21, 2024 in Tuam, Ireland.
  • Summer Essential: Your family’s guide to the summer, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday

    concentric circles ranging from orange to yellow to represent the sun, with a blue sky background
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Nurse on first day among four dead in plane crash

  2. 2

    First Harry Potter image released as production begins

  3. 3

    Knightsbridge murder possibly a 'targeted attack'

  4. 4

    Trump threatens Russia with tariffs while unveiling new Ukraine weapons plan

  5. 5

    Wallace 'sorry' after 45 claims against him upheld

  6. 6

    Marten and Gordon guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of their baby

  7. 7

    India orders airlines to check fuel switches on Boeing jets

  8. 8

    Mark Gordon is a psychopath, says woman he raped when he was 14

  9. 9

    Court papers reveal Marten and Gordon’s failures as parents

  10. 10

    Dubious sales tactics at two leading estate agencies uncovered

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • An insight into Mary Earps' journey

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Mary Earps: Queen of Stops
  • Anaïs Gallagher explores Oasis' legacy

    • Attribution
      Sounds
    Mad for Oasis
  • The golden age of tennis

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Gods of Tennis
  • Danny Dyer shares his life's soundtrack

    • Attribution
      Sounds
    Desert Island Discs: Danny Dyer
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.