When we discuss climate change, we tend to tell others to “look at the facts.” But in the age of the internet, you can find “proof” for any position we listed above. So how do we move forward, knowing that looking at the facts is insufficient for developing an informed opinion on climate change?

First, we need to be aware of how our brains process information. The first information we hear on any topic tends to stick in our brains for a long time, especially when that information makes us feel strong emotions. Even when we come across new evidence that we think carries weight we hold onto our old beliefs. This means that with longstanding issues such as climate change, our conscious opinions are entangled in information we subconsciously use to inform our worldview.

Being aware of these processes means paying attention to our internal monologue when learning about climate change. Pay attention to how you react to information about who’s to blame, timelines of destruction, proposed solutions, etc. — especially when that reaction involves automatically dismissing (or believing) something because it feels right or wrong. Often, if we take an extra couple of seconds to ask ourselves why it feels true or false, we discover our assumptions aren’t as obviously true as we thought. We can then proceed with a better understanding of our subconscious instincts and make conscious decisions about what we believe.

Finally, it’s important to remember that we won’t benefit from this process without a healthy amount of intellectual humility. The question of what climate change looks like, and the corresponding question of what to do about it, are not simple. The only thing we know for sure is that no individual has the full story — and that includes you. This necessarily means that at least some of how each of us thinks about climate change is misinformed. And that’s okay — it just means we have more to learn and can benefit from remaining open to the idea that we might be wrong.