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Using the Story of a Gallon of Gasoline to Astound, Scare, and Build the Hope and Courage Necessary to Face Climate Change
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  • Don Duggan-Haas,
  • Ingrid Zabel,
  • Alexandra Moore,
  • Robert Ross
Don Duggan-Haas
Paleontological Research Institution

Corresponding Author:dugganhaas@gmail.com

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Ingrid Zabel
Paleontological Research Institution
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Alexandra Moore
Cornell University
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Robert Ross
Paleontological Research Institution
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Abstract

It is difficult to teach for both understanding and application, and the climate crisis highlights this in profound ways. Even those who understand the extreme threats posed by anthropogenic climate change have been largely at a loss for how to generate a response to such threats at scale. What drives people, organizations and governments to actually act in the face of crisis? In at least several historical examples, the impetus for action includes being astounded and scared while also having reason for hope and the ability to display courage. These steps are infused with building visceral understanding of the problems’ magnitude. Examples that follow this pattern include US involvement in World War II, the Apollo Program, and the civil rights movement. “Where Does Gasoline Go?” and “Fire & Brimstone & Fort McMurray” are presentations that, when brought together apply this framework to climate change communication. Americans burn 391 million gallons of gasoline per day, each containing 5.5 pounds of carbon. To sequester that carbon by tree-planting requires the equivalent of growing a 2x4 for each gallon. If the US were to offset current emissions from gasoline (roughly a quarter of total US emissions) by planting trees, we’d need to grow 4.3 billion pounds of wood every day - more than 1.5 trillion pounds/year. When you fill your tank, count 2x4s as the gallons roll by, and mentally scale this up to every driver in the country. If one understands both scale and the basics of climate change, this is both astonishing and terrifying. We have faced terrifying situations before and we have emerged from them. Indeed, throughout human history, we have always lived in times characterized by the wonderful and horrible simultaneously. We have also always made apocalyptic prophecies that, at least at the global scale, have not come to pass. For the credible ones, people eventually acted and were able to meet the challenges (though sometimes at horrific costs). Recognizing that we have always been wrong in predicting global apocalypses and that when the situation becomes dire (as it is doing now) we have taken effective action is reason for hope. The process described here, through the story of a gallon of gasoline, couples clear science with powerful emotion. It closes with hope. And, it offers tools and a broader approach that can be widely replicated.