Climate Communication in a Red State

What happens when your mission is to provide climate services to a state that avoids recognizing the existence of anthropogenic climate change? You remind people, through word and deed, that climate services involves much more than climate change, and that any knowledge of the future state of the climate is useful. You also look for the appropriate balance between announcing the current state of scientific knowledge regarding climate change for all to hear and only talking about climate change when people seek you out. You also learn about why many people are skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change and what that means for the scientific enterprise. Finally, you look forward to conferences such as this one where the energy of people doing good climate science is like a breath of pure oxygen, even if you do have to exhale carbon dioxide.