BRIDGING THE GREAT AMERICAN DIVIDE

Most Americans support climate action, but you wouldn’t know it from Congress or the courts – or from most of the media. People on both the left and the right experience the same devastating floods, the same life-threatening heatwaves and the same catastrophic wildfires. Climate change knows no borders. Yet individuals tend to socialize within insulated political tribes, operate in completely different information bubbles and see the problems and solutions through different lenses. Joan Blades, co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org (and before that, MoveOn.org) and John Gable, co-founder of AllSides.com, have been working to burst those bubbles and bridge the divides. Together, they model an all-too-rare friendship, with deep respect for each other’s views. How can the rest of us learn to bridge ideological divides, develop trust, and find the common ground needed to rebuild respectful civil discourse?