October 2021

October 20, 2021

In Episode 5 of the Post Carbon Institute’s podcast series entitled What could possibly go right? (2020), Suzanne Moser shares a compelling perspective on the importance of hope in hard and uncertain times, and how uncertainty itself lays the foundation for hope. Moser highlights two core ingredients of hope. The first is getting a real assessment of the current state – what I refer to as ‘facing the facts’ and the uncertainties for the future they present, and second is then searching together for what could possibly be a better way forward (Moser, 2020, 5:34). I found this perspective intriguing because in many ways it brings together the core content of CALS500 – Climate Science, Impacts, and Services, and CALS501 – Leading Climate Action in Society. Climate Science provides us the means for ‘facing the facts’ and getting a real assessment of the current state, and Leading Climate Action in Society focuses us on the art of supporting and empowering others for climate action. This led me to the questions: what are the core ingredients to convening and engaging others in climate action?

Climate action leadership entails working with diverse groups at organizational or community levels to find new ways forward. These groups comprise individuals with diverse life experiences, values and worldviews. Experiences, values and worldviews directly shape how individuals receive and respond to information about climate change (Hodson, 2019, p. 2). Views about climate change can be very different, and like vaccines and masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, views on climate change can be highly polarized. The first core ingredient to convening and engaging others in climate action is then to find common ground from which to begin.

In organizational work, this might begin with working from common organizational values. For example, framing climate action in risk mitigation or business continuity. In community work common values may not be as easily identified. Here lies a second core ingredient which is an initial step in design thinking: to gain understanding and empathy. Crichton and Carter (2017) highlight that we can “gain empathy for a situation by developing understanding of the concerns, insights, lived experiences, and/or needs of others.” (p. 47). Through asking generative questions, perhaps also respectfully asking provocative questions, and then actively listening we gain understanding and empathy. From this learning emerges shared values or shared hopes and worries around which we can begin to collectively engage. Further, through inquiring more systemically and more deeply, we can begin to understand the “assumptions that underpin existing structures and ways of doing things.” (Lonsdale and Turner, 2015, p. 21). Perhaps even belief systems that hold current approaches in place. What then is the next core ingredient to move forward?

The magnitude of the climate crises and the complexity of addressing the climate change challenge can be overwhelming. Research has shown that providing climate change facts to motivate action has limited effectiveness in changing attitudes (Hodson, 2019 p. 2) and can lead to responses such as “doom, dissonance or denial” (Stoknes, 2017). So how then do we work with the tension between facing the facts and supporting and enabling others in climate action? This highlights the next core ingredient: find shared positive aspiration to ignite hope and the human capacity for innovation.

Positive framing around climate action has been shown to promote hope and a sense of self-efficacy (Armstrong et al., 2018). Adaptation refers to “adapting to life in a changing climate” (NASA, n.d.) and offers a more positive framing for climate action. For example, working together to protect shared community assets or a beloved regional ecosystem. Grounding climate action in community-based or organizationally-based adaptation approaches enables people to collaborate around shared positive aspiration and promotes hope.

As climate leadership professionals, climate science grounds our work in evidence and provides us with a real assessment of the current situation. It allows us to consider the diverse and far-reaching impacts of climate change; for example, impacts to human health and human rights, ecosystem health and food systems, and risks to core infrastructure and our communities. Each of these in-turn provides a pathway to talking about climate change. These impacts provide the basis for new conversations about how we might work together to protect what we value and love. Herein lies the balance between being grounded in the scientific facts and igniting the human capacity for empathy, creativity, collective action, and hope.

References

Armstrong, A. K., Schuldt, J. P., & Krasny, M. E. (2018).  Establishing trust. Communicating climate change: A guide for educators. Cornell University Press. https://cornellopen.org/9781501730795/communicating-climate-change/

Crichton, S., & Carter, D. (2017) Taking Making Into Classrooms: A Toolkit for Fostering Creativity and Imagination. British Columbia Ministry of Education. file:///Users/jperdue/Downloads/Taking_Making_into_ClassroomsBC2018.pdf

Hodson, J. (2019). An ecological model of climate marketing: A conceptual framework for understanding climate science related attitude and behavior change. Cogent Social Sciences 5(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1625101 

Lonsdale, K., Pringle, P., Turner, B. (2015). Transformative adaptation: what it is, why it matters & what is needed. UK Climate Impacts Programme, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. www.ukcip.org.uk

Moser, S. (2020, July 2). What Could Possible Go Right? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bJTCOROhsA&t=1s

NASA (n.d.). Global Climate Change, Solutions.  https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/adaptation-mitigation/

Stoknes, P.E. (2017, December 8). How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action on global warming [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5h6ynoq8uM

October 7, 2021

The brilliant crimson-red berry clusters of the Mountain Ash hang in contrast to her masses of green and yellow leaves. The leaves are like a watercolour painting, yellow bleeding into green, red emerging, a new painting each day as the cool nights enrich the palette. This splendid medley of the colours in my front yard reminds me that Autumn has come, a time of fast and intense change, a final majestic display before the quiet slumber of winter with its protective blanket of snow.

As Adrienne Maree Brown so poignantly writes in Emergent Strategy (2017), “Change is divine and constant” (p. 56). The spectacular changes of Autumn are a reminder that nature is in a perpetual state of change; reoccurring cycles of growth, splendor, decline, and rest. How different this is from our western socio-economic system with its perpetual pursuit of growth, taking without concern for rest or replenishing. How did we become so disconnected from the very ecosystems that sustain us and of which we are a part of? How do we rebuild connection?

In Returning the Gift, Robin Wall Kimmerer (2014) reminds us of the importance of paying attention as an “ongoing act of reciprocity” (par. 17). Paying attention to the natural world sharpens my seeing and connection to the gifts that surround me. It reminds me of the incredible beauty of Earth, how infinitely interconnected all of life is, and how blessed I am to be sustained by the abundance of nature every day. This gives me a clarity of purpose in the caring for these gifts that sustain life on Earth, it shapes me. Paying attention also reminds me that change is always occurring providing fresh perspective on the changes in my life. Perhaps paying attention can also offer fresh perspective on our response to the rapid pace and scale of climate change and biodiversity loss.  

In her TED Talk, The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it, climate scientist Katherine Heyhoe (2019) underscores that the foremost thing we need to do is to talk about climate change and that this conversation must start with finding common values and things we care about. Hodson (2019) also affirms the importance of “attitudes, emotions, norms and values” (p. 2) in shaping beliefs about climate change information. Regardless of our socio-political views, we are all moved by the spectacular beauty of Autumn. Near where I live, tens of thousands of people go to the mountains each fall to view the larch forests turning yellow, setting the mountain side ablaze in colour. In my neighbourhood people walk more in Autumn and we stop to chat about how beautiful the colours are. Can this shared value of love for our natural environment provide an antidote to depolarize climate conversations? Can talking about what we love provide connection and an entry point for working together to protect what we love?

This Fall I am intentionally creating space is my daily conversations to pause and comment on the gifts of Autumn. My observation is that this sparks an immediate shared moment of gratitude, a moment of emotional connection. It also changes how we talk and what we talk about. I am learning a little more about people and what they care about. I find myself reflecting again on the power of nature’s beauty as a starting point for finding connection with one another through sharing stories about what we love and for initiating a conversation about the intensity of changes underway in our environment. In her ecological model for climate communications, Hodson (2019) highlights the importance of allies in climate communications for reaching broader audiences, increasing influence and building trust (p. 9). This leads me to ponder the role of nature herself in telling the story of climate change; perhaps she is our most powerful ally.  

Here again, the poetic words of Robin Wall Kimmerer (2014) from her essay Returning the Gift offer wise council:

Paying attention to the more-than-human world doesn’t lead only to amazement; it leads also to acknowledgment of pain. Open and attentive, we see and feel equally the beauty and the wounds, the old growth and the clear-cut, the mountain and the mine. Paying attention to suffering sharpens our ability to respond. To be responsible.

This, too, is a gift, for when we fall in love with the living world, we cannot be bystanders to its destruction. Attention becomes intention, which coalesces itself to action. (pars. 17 and 18)

Fall has come and great change is also upon us. What can paying attention teach us about building connection with others and about vulnerability and resilience in the face of the profound change? 

References

Brown, A.M. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. AK Press. 2017.

Hodson, J. (2019). “An ecological model of climate marketing: A conceptual framework for understanding climate science related attitude and behavior change.” Cogent Social Sciences 5(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1625101. Accessed 7, October 2021.

Heyhoe, Katherine. (2019). “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it.” YouTube, uploaded by TED, 11 January 2019, , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BvcToPZCLI&t=14s.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2014). “Returning the Gift.” Center for Humans and Nature. Minding Nature: Spring 2014, Volume 7, Number 2 https://www.humansandnature.org/returning-the-gift-article-177.php. Accessed 7, October 2021.