Let’s Connect

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQze6Cuq5jqBpUVUnN5R3dnLqtFKYGpHQ4DUT5kFLfDX6ISbJMoj0aKYscDmAyjyQ/embed?start=true&loop=false&delayms=3000

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.

June 14, 2021

A key determinant of our continued slow pace towards a just transition to rebuild ecosystem health and respond to the climate crisis can be found in our affinity for quick solutions; to achieve more transformational change we need to more deeply understand the problems we are seeking to solve and develop our capacity for complexity thinking.  

Climate action in Western society is largely focused on incremental quick solutions with success determined in near term and local scales, often at a component level. This can lead to a false sense of progress and pre-empt the capacity for more transformative change. For example, a broadly considered climate change mitigation strategy is the rapid transition of cities to energy efficient buildings powered by renewable energy generation systems. However, in the absence of considering different spatial or temporal scales in the determination of success (Adger et al., 2005) we often fail to consider the socio-ecological consequences of scaling such solutions. For instance, the production of renewable energy systems and building materials have their own climate change consequences as a result of their extraction and production processes. Given the Earth’s finite resources, can this solution be delivered in an equitable way across all global communities? When we spend more time on exploring the problem and develop our capacity for complexity thinking, we see beyond the local contexts and begin to consider connections across and within interconnected socio-ecological systems (Dixon, 2017). In the city infrastructure example, considering Earth’s finite resources and a need for resource equity, might then lead to more transformative solutions such as developing regional circular material solutions or rethinking city planning and core energy needs.  By centering our efforts on deepening problem understanding and developing the capacity for complexity thinking we increase the potential to attain more effective solutions and transformative change.  

So how then do we refocus our thinking? The integration of Indigenous ways of knowing in climate action leadership contributes to the process of Reconciliation and provides a key pathway to recalibrate the predominate Western worldview and affinity for quick solutions. For example, gaining an understanding of traditional ecological knowledge and “the relationships of living beings (including humans) with one another and their environment” (Berkes, 1999, p. 8, as cited in Alexander, 2011, p. 477). can help shift Western perspectives from a predominant disassociation with the natural systems on which we depend. Further, In the exploration of a “…more relational disposition to collaborative knowledge creation and sharing.” (Goodchild, 2021, p. 79)., Melanie Goodchild contrasts the Western analytical pursuit of knowledge to the Indigenous practice of the pursuit of ‘wisdom in action’ (Goodchild, 2021, p. 79). Indigenous oral histories and storytelling can teach us how to listen more deeply, shift our worldview, increase our capacity to engage with complexity and thereby reflect more deeply on problem definition.  

In the context of Reconciliation and climate action, resilience is an important determinate in shaping how systems respond to change. This is applicable at individual and community scales as well as within ecological and socio-economic systems. Béné’s three typologies of resilience (Béné et al., 2012, as cited in Lonsdale et al., 2015) include persistence, incremental adjustment and transformational responses. This provides a helpful way of thinking about different dimensions of resilience. For example, the persistence of social or economic structures to change can lock in unsustainable or colonial practices. At the other end of the spectrum, Christine Nieve’s TedMED 2018 talk on lessons post-Hurricane Maria demonstrates both individual and community level transformational responses in the face of severe disruptive change.  A precondition for transformational responses is the degree of “…openness, adaptability and flexibility within the system.” (Dovers & Handmer, 1992, as cited in Lonsdale et al., 2015, p.  15). Thus, openness to Indigenous ways of knowing, flexibility to embrace change and the capacity for adaptive thinking are determinates in attaining transformative change.

Transformational change in the context of climate action requires a significant shift from quickly devised localized solutions to a deeper framing and understanding of the core problems with all their extended complexity. Reconciliation can provide an important pathway in broadening the Western mindset and exploring more deeply. Resilience thinking, particularly openness and adaptive thinking, establishes the conditions conducive to transformation change at individual and community scales. Such reflective change lays the path to transformative climate action.

References

Adger, W.N., Arnell, N.W., and Tompkins, E.L. (2005). Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Global Environmental Change, 15(2), 77-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.005.

Alexander, C., Bynum, N., Johnson, E.G., King, U., Mustonen, T., Neofotis, P., Oettlé, N., Rosenzweig. C., Sakakiabara, C., Shadrin, V., Vicarelli, M., Waterhouse, J., & Weeks, B.C. (2011). Linking Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge of Climate Change. BioScience, 61(6), 477-484.

Dixon, T.H.  (2011). “Complexity Science,” Oxford Leadership Journal, 2(1),1-15.

Goodchild, M., Senge, P., Scharmer, C.O., Roronhiakewen (He Clears the Sky), D.L., Kahontakwas, D.L., Hill, R., & Ka’nahsohon (A Feather Dipped in Paint), K.D. (2021). Relational Systems Thinking: That’s how change is going to come, from Our Mother Earth. Journal of Awareness Based Systems Change 1(1), 75-103. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.577

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.

Thanks to the MACAL leadership team and the inaugural MACAL cohort for a wonderfully rich first week in the Learning Intensive. Recalling the words of Mike Lickers, RRU Indigenous Scholar in residence, from our Tuesday session: “connectedness is co-created”. Thank you all for creating such strong connectedness over such a short period of time. I look forward to our journey together and continuing to learn from and be inspired by all of you.