The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department video “Texas The State of Springs” explores some tough controversies by letting both sides have their say. In this excerpt, Robert Potts from the Edwards Aquifer Authority squares off against Ken Kramer from the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. So who won? Watch and find out:

Ken Kramer from the Sierra Club has got the winning argument: it’s responsible to balance the needs of today with those of future generations. The state should plan ahead to make sure there’s enough clean water in the aquifer in the decades to come.

Problem is, Ken didn’t actually say that — he implied it. It’s so obvious to him that it probably never occurred to him that it’s not obvious to everybody else. And this a common mistake experts make, because experts can recognize the implications of the facts that regular people can’t. The truth is that less than half of the people who watched the film were willing to take either Ken or Robert’s side on this one:

Source: Survey on American Attitudes on the Environment, Global Strategy Group, 2005

The bottom line is that there are a lot people out there predisposed to agree with us, but many of them fail to act on those sympathies because they don’t understand us, or aren’t sure they understand us. If we make our point — using words that work — before we prove our point with the supporting evidence, we’ll increase the number of undecided viewers we pull onto our side of the fence.

So does that mean Robert Potts won this debate? Nope. He made the same mistake, and few more. What are they? Ain’t telling… I play for Ken’s team.