I spent years doubting the science of climate change and spending time with people who didn’t believe in the science either.
When I realised I was wrong, I felt really embarrassed.
To move away from those people meant leaving behind an entire community at a time when I didn’t have many friends.
I went through a really difficult time. But the truth matters.
I’m the granddaughter of coal miners in Pennsylvania and my family moved to Florida when I was young.
We have a Polish Catholic background and we attended church regularly, but at the same time we were very connected to science because my mum was a nurse and my dad sold microscopes and other scientific equipment.
maybe you didn’t have many friends because of the way you acted?
That seems unnecessarily mean. The author isn’t making any grand claims about herself, she’s explaining how she changed her point if view and admitted to being wrong about a major view. I’m hoping I can learn something from her experience, and maybe help tip more people towards making a similar change. I don’t really care how much or little she apologizes for being wrong before.
So what I think you can learn from her story is that she had to change her view because it was just not true (a lie). This lie she claims was planted by church groups and conservative media. Removing those two things from her life made it possible to spot the lie.
Abolish churches and media that bears false witness and the lie would never have been planted.