I feel like a physician, one who's done a scan of the patient's body and seen evidence of a potentially serious issue.

I think the biggest pushback comes from people who perceive me to be a threat. Having bloggers who are dedicated to making up false information about you, having anonymous people write nasty emails and letters, having organizations file legal requests for your work-related emails, and all the other things that happen can be very depressing and discouraging.

It is certainly true that conservative Christians are much more likely to doubt the reality of climate change than mainline Christians or the unaffiliated. But when we control for political affiliation and for the important role of thought leaders in determining our opinions on social issues such as climate change, most of the faith-related bias disappears.

It's a new normal and I really do think that global weirding is the best way to describe what we're seeing.

Our carbon emissions have to eventually go to zero. We have to. Otherwise we're never going to have a stable climate and that's what our goal is for human civilization to thrive, a stable climate. We don't want one that's hotter, we don't want one that's colder, we want one that's stable.

We must also suffer the consequences of our past decisions. And for that, we must open our hearts to those in need.

It's easier to deny the reality of the problem altogether than acknowledge that it is real.