The climate conversation is riddled with ideological battles. There are those who think climate change is the most pressing issue of our time pitted against those who don’t think it’s a big deal (if it’s even real). There are fights over ecological versus industrial forms of carbon removal. And there are those who believe that climate change can be reversed, while others have little hope that humanity will stick the landing. So, how do we move past these absolutist views and inspire action to solve the problem?

Jeffrey Howard is the Editor-in-Chief at Erraticus and the host of the Damn the Absolute! podcast. Both platforms take a pragmatic approach to ideas, challenging dogma, fundamentalism and ideological hubris. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Jeffrey joins Ross to introduce the principles of pragmatism as a discrete philosophical school of thought, describing the intellectual context from which it emerged and how the philosophy seeks to reconcile the competing camps of Rationalism and Empiricism.

Jeffrey explores how a pragmatic approach might break logjams in the climate conversation, explaining how pragmatists balance building an inclusive community of inquirers with taking action to solve problems in the real world. Listen in to understand how a pragmatist thinks about a climate solution like carbon capture and learn how pragmatism addresses our lived challenges, encouraging us to hold our views with humility as we work to improve life for all people.

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Resources:

Too many things referenced for this episode! Will fix this in the future. In the meantime, here is a truncated portion:

Erraticus

Damn the Absolute! Podcast

Jeffrey Howard on Reversing Climate Change EP107

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life by John Kaag

Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James

William James

Subsistence Agriculture in the US: Reconnecting to Work, Nature and Community by Ashley Colby

On Richard Rorty on Damn the Absolute! EP001

Toward a Politics of Uncertainty on Damn the Absolute! EP002

David O’Hara on Damn the Absolute! EP007