Kingsolver's exploration of ways to come together to fight climate change

In her novel, Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver shines a light on a crucial but often overlooked factor in fighting climate change: the importance of bridging the gap between those who believe in it and those who don’t. Throughout the story, Kingsolver explores how differences in education, wealth, and religion shape people’s beliefs about climate change. She points out that without understanding why people think the way they do, efforts to address climate change could just lead to more polarization.

The novel highlights both effective and ineffective ways of getting people to care about climate change. For example, Ovid’s frustration with a reporter who implies that scientists are uncertain about climate change shows how unproductive it can be to dismiss opposing views outright (Kingsolver 368). Similarly, Leighton’s conversation with Dellarobia is ignorant and inapplicable because he doesn’t realize that Dellarobia can’t afford to eat out or buy red meat and gas (327). As we learned in class, avoiding long flights is one of the more impactful ways of reducing carbon emissions. Leighton’s list ends with “fly less,” which Dellarobia is clearly baffled by (329). With this, Kingsolver raises the point that those with more resources might have a greater responsibility in addressing climate change than those who are just trying to get by day-to-day. 

At the same time, Kingsolver acknowledges that communities like Feathertown can make some choices to protect the environment, such as deciding against logging the hill. In this case, to change Bear and Cub’s minds, it’s effective to understand their perspective as people just trying to survive rather than simply presenting them with the impact that their actions could have on the environment. Dellarobia’s alarm when she learns of how the Mexican family had lost everything “including the mountain under their feet and the butterflies of the air” shows that tangible risks are often more convincing than abstract discussions about climate change (103). Another example of effectively building understanding is when Ovid takes a real interest in learning about Dellarobia’s background and the lack of education in her community – this shows a more productive approach to having conversations with those with opposing views. 

More effective communication is just one small step towards coming together to combat climate change. Kingsolver might also address the lack of education in Feathertown to highlight a more long-term solution: improving education in rural areas. Long-term, this could shift the culture to placing more value on education and science.

Overall, Flight Behavior brings up many factors of the fight against climate change that are often overlooked. It’s hard to tell if we, the average Americans, can do much to stop something that is happening on such a large scale. Nevertheless, it is worth taking the lessons from Flight Behavior in order to do our small part and to foster greater unity.