I also think, at least in the past, the attitude towards climate work has been vaguely dismissive.
As somewhat of an outsider, this has always been my impression. For example, I expect that if I choose to work in climate, some EAs will infer that I have inferior critical thinking ability.
There’s something about the “gateway to EA” argument that is a bit off-putting. It sounds like “those folks don’t yet understand that only x-risks are important, but eventually we can show them the error of their ways.” I understand that this viewpoint makes sense if you are convinced that your own views are correct, but it strikes me as a bit patronizing. I’m not trying to pick on you in particular, but I see this viewpoint advanced fairly frequently so I wanted to comment on it.
Thanks for posting! I took an En-ROADS workshop with a trained facilitator in my local community and I thought it was extremely well done. The organization that built En-ROADS trains facilitators to then teach others about the tool (and about climate).
En-ROADS itself is an example of an intervention whose impact would be difficult to quantify. The goal is to educate as many people as possible about the fundamental dynamics of the climate problem, using well-designed interactive workshops/tools that are based on robust evidence. It seems like a good approach to me, but I don’t know if they can ever prove a positive impact on the climate problem. I sometimes wonder if a similar approach would be helpful for spreading the “EA gospel” to a wider audience.