4 Tips for Conversations That Help Motivate Climate Action
A Head-Heart-Hands Approach to Discussing Climate Change and Inspiring Change
By Chelsea Hicks-Webster
I recently attended a talk by Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist and Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. She was addressing 350 interdisciplinary professionals being retrained at Terra.do to work on climate issues. (If you ever get the chance to hear Dr. Hayhoe speak, take it. She radiates genuine hope that will jolt you out of any climate despair!)
This article summarizes Dr. Hayhoe’s message about how the small act of talking about climate change can sow seeds of change.
“Let me be blunt,” said Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. “Where we stand [with climate change] is bad.”
She was referring to the fact that more extreme weather events, including droughts, wildfires, storms and floods, are on the rise everywhere. The United States, for example, used to experience billion-dollar weather disasters once every four months. Now, these disasters happen every 2.8 weeks.
(Wondering how warmer weather leads to weather disasters? Check out the NBS article What is Climate Change?)
Hayhoe has worked on climate change for decades. She trained as an atmospheric scientist, but increasingly her efforts focus on communication. She believes that our conversations about climate change may be the way we have greatest impact.
She also points out that most people have two big challenges related to climate conversations. First, most people simply don’t talk about climate change in their daily lives. Second, those of us who do talk about climate change usually do it wrong. We beat people over the head with facts and doom. (We become “that person” at the party. You know … the one no one wants to talk to.)
But the truth is, globally 80% of people already feel some level of concern about climate change. They don’t need to hear more about melting ice caps and dying polar bears. According to Hayhoe, providing them with a few strategic pieces of information can help them convert their concern into action.
Knowing About Climate Change Isn’t Enough
Most people know climate change is happening. But those actively trying to address it are fewer. For example, 49% of production sites in corporate supply chains are experiencing great climate variability. Yet a majority of those sites don’t have a plan for how to address these issues.
Here’s Hayhoe’s model for action. Knowing about a problem isn’t enough to fuel action to solve it. People also have to:
- Believe the problem is impacting issues (1) they care about, (2) in their community, and (3) in the present.
- Know what they can do to help.
When you can give people this information, Hayhoe says, you connect cognitive knowing (their “head”) to emotional connection (their “heart”), and ability to act (their “hands”). And this combination supports action.
Based on this framework, Hayhoe offers four tips for having climate conversations that inspire action. Her advice draws on established research as well as her own work facilitating conversations.
4 Tips for Climate Conversations That Motivate Action
Below are four tips to have climate conversations that move beyond the listener’s head to connect to their heart and their hands.
Connecting to Someone’s Heart
Tip 1: Discuss local impacts
Physical distance from an issue reduces how intensely people care. That means it’s tough to inspire climate action by talking about polar bears or the drought happening on another continent. Instead, talk about how climate change is impacting the local community of the person you’re talking to.
Tip 2: Discuss present (not future) impacts
People have a natural tendency to value the present more than the future. That’s why we eat the cake now, when we want to lose weight in the future. That’s also why this week’s work deadline feels more compelling than saving future generations from certain death.
If you really want to motivate action, help people understand how climate change is impacting the world now. If you need to learn about this yourself, try Googling: How is climate change impacting [insert your region]. Unfortunately, that should give you some juicy information as climate impacts are already playing out around us.
Tip 3: Discuss issues the listener cares about
People feel more emotionally connected to climate change when they understand how it affects issues they already care about.
So? Connect climate change impacts to your audience’s passions. If you’re talking to a neighbor who loves hiking, you could talk about the increase in tick-borne diseases associated with a warming climate. For your boss, you could talk about how increased flooding might impact a company facility near a floodplain.
“Each person you talk to is already the perfect person to care about climate change,” Hayhoe says. “Their values are already perfectly aligned.” You just have to show them that.
The Climate Mind app can help you make those connections. It provides evidence-based information about how climate change will impact all sorts of activities and experiences.
Connecting To Someone’s Hands
Tip 4: Share solutions
If you’ve implemented tips 1–3 well, the person you’re talking with is probably starting to feel some climate urgency. Now they need to know how to channel their concern into action.
To do that, talk about solutions! Especially solutions being used in the region of the person you’re speaking with. For example, if another company is relocating its flood-prone facility, talk with your boss about that. Role models matter: For example, research shows that people are most likely to install solar panels on a house if someone within a half mile of them already has solar panels.
Be positive as you share solutions. For example, instead of telling people they are terrible for eating beef burgers, talk about the amazing vegan restaurant you tried. People are more likely to act if solutions don’t mean major sacrifice.
(Pro tip: Hayhoe says individual lifestyle changes, like eating less meat, will only get us 30% of the emissions reductions we need. That doesn’t mean they aren’t important, but it means we need to be sure to talk about systemic solutions, too — like how you plan to vote for political candidates who support climate-friendly policies, or how your company is creating a net zero action plan.)
Don’t know all the solutions? No problem. Many credible sources are willing to offer help. From your industry association to local news media and nonprofits, it’s easier than you might think to access expertise. (The NBS Climate Change content library is a great place to start!)
This article was originally published by the Network for Business Sustainability. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
