Highly inflammatory tweet from the allegedly respectful, non-polarizing Hayhoe: "Climate denier bloggers scramble to deny they are just another manifestation of garden-variety conspiracy theorists"

Twitter / KHayhoe: Climate denier bloggers scramble ...

Climate denier bloggers scramble to deny they are just another manifestation of garden-variety conspiracy theorists http://bit.ly/RIc7d6

True Believer | OnEarth Magazine

This teachable moment turned out to be highly instructive for the teacher as well. Hayhoe couldn’t ignore or demean her husband; she had no choice but to engage with him, patiently and respectfully. It was, in a word, a revelation. "People aren’t bothering to develop relationships before they talk about these issues," she says. "But if you relate to the other person as a human being, then they’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt. They may say, 'You know what? I don’t necessarily agree with you. But I like you. Let me try to figure out what your reasons are.'"

It’s within this tiny but crucial social space that Hayhoe operates, sharing her graphs and charts, trying to explain the implications of global temperature rise to those who may have been conditioned to reject anything that sounds like environmentalist orthodoxy. To a one, Hayhoe’s academic colleagues and others with whom she has worked say the same thing: this one-two punch of scientific rigor and cheerful unflappability is what makes her one of a kind...her style and temperament suggest someone with little patience for the self-aggrandizing theatrics and polarizing tactics that mark our political discourse. She has discovered that there’s simply no substitute for sitting down with people, listening to them respectfully, letting them voice their doubts, and then -- availing herself of the decisive power of the science and the disarming power of her faith -- going through the facts with them.