I like this because it puts the odds and consequence in perspective for us, comparing to familiar things we use and understand, and know the reasons for (ie insurance).

This bite reminded me of something I just witnessed in my very own family. An uncle of mine, did not like all the beeping of the smoke detectors. The batteries all needed to be changed, but they are expensive. He did not want to keep replacing the batteries or hear the warning beeping. Thus, he turned off all the smoke detectors in the house with the circuit breaker. I warned him that if he has a fire, the fire insurance would not pay out a claim if the insurance noticed that the smoke detectors were not functioning. The family just convinced him that he is going to have to fix the problem so he has working smoke detectors. When my uncle decided to unplug the smoke detectors reminded me of what so people are doing with the science reports about climate change. Too many people are ignoring the vast amount of scientific evidence instead of taking action because the reports sound so unpleasant. Instead, taking action to resolve climate change is like a properly functioning smoke detector or buying fire insurance, it prevents a much bigger catastrophic in the future.

JR -- Hey, I'm glad you reminded me of that one. It's going "in the hopper" for a bite. I sheepishly admit to doing this all the time, especially with medical bills. . . better to face the bad news later. It's a great illustration of the universality of denial, which is important to giving people some face-saving "space" to end their climate denial.

The smoke detector story works well for me because it is a preventative measure. Insurance doesn't prevent a fire, but it does help you recover afterwards.

Another example of preparedness is that New York City is raising their sewer pumps by a couple of metres to prepare for rising sea levels.

We need many types of preparedness -- preventative action to reduce emissions and adaptive measures to help cope with expected changes.