One of the most controversial and pertinent conversations of our time is the one about climate change. Nothing makes people shut down and zone out or become frothy and heated up like this one. Nor is there a better place to practice perspective taking!

In this second part of a two part discussion (if you missed part one you could still easily join in), we will continue our enquiry into perspective taking via the dialogue/video on climate change between David Roirdan of Integral Life and Dr. Michael Zimmerman.

So, what is a healthy conversation to have about the environment? Science and policy have blurred together to confuse a debate already challenged with problems in defining terms. Dr. Michael Zimmerman talks further about the possibilities and pitfalls of the debate on climate change.

“You will notice the way Michael Zimmerman handles his disagreements with other academics and activists in this interview. He gives thoughtful articulation the different perspectives involved, even where his disagreements run deep. He also makes his own position unmistakably clear: we can’t afford to get tunnel vision and we can’t afford to ignore the influence of politics. In other words, he takes perspectives without being taken by them.

This ability and willingness to “look as” another person, to adaptively learn and test one’s own deeply-held assumptions—while maintaining one’s own deep sense of personal capability—is the basic formula for adaptive problem-solving in the 21st century, and humanity’s most precious (and most rare) resource.”

Join us on Sunday for part two of this video interview followed by a group discussion.