{"id":303,"date":"2023-04-17T05:59:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T12:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/?p=303"},"modified":"2023-04-17T06:01:06","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T13:01:06","slug":"303-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/303-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Single Objective Truths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image Credit: Bridget McKenzie, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late summer of 2022, I was trying to decide which brand of over-priced butter to purchase. In addition to the much higher prices than my previous grocery shopping excursion, the shelves were quite bare, and the selection was much more limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A middle-aged woman picking through the yogourts advised me to stock up. She also predicted dire food shortages due to severe droughts and a looming train strike in the USA. This stranger immediately asserted, \u201cIt won\u2019t affect me. I\u2019ll be taken up by the rapture.\u201d At that moment, the thoughts in my head did not mirror the polite response that left my mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One person\u2019s idea of hope can be another person\u2019s idea of delusion, denial, escapism and\/or myopic-mindedness. In the same way, one person\u2019s idea of realism can be another person\u2019s idea of doomerism, alarmism and\/or pessimism. It is interesting how deep narratives play unconscious roles in climate perceptions and communications (Moser, 2014). We need to acknowledge the subjectivities\u2014including our own\u2014that affect the perception of climate science, as opposed to being the carriers of a single, objective truth (Howorth et al., 2020). There are unexpressed and unexamined fears embedded in how reactions play out in these settings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open discourse can quickly shut down, and the lingering impacts of such occurrences add to the challenges of climate communication. Avoiding the emotional discomfort of unwanted or insinuated labels becomes the priority rather than the full exploration and reflection on novel concepts and ideas. The first thought isn\u2019t \u2018what do I think\u2019 but \u2018what should I say\u2019, producing carefully curated statements within the safe palette of vanilla. Or alternatively, nothing is contributed at all. Ironically this situation is fertile ground for normalising self-policing, under-reporting and fostering cynicism – which all work in favour of fossil fuel interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike misinformation campaigns paid for with a fire hose of fossil-fuel profits, climate communication does not have well-funded single-minded global propaganda machines accelerating its goals. At best, it is a coalition of splintered interests (multi-level governments, community organisations, private interests, activists) trying to find common ground to gather and move forward. Developing skills and competencies that identify and eliminate unhealthy organisational dynamics while concurrently creating space for diversity and emergence, seems paramount. Burnout, trauma (collective and individual) and climate emotions are rife in these networks, adding additional layers of difficulty to an already Herculean effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate communication can be viewed as the art and science of dodging cultural landmines while maintaining intellectual integrity and accuracy on a financially unequal playing field with intentions of nurturing engagement while starving climate cynicism. Piece of cake.<\/s><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image Credit: Virpi Oinonen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building resilient patterns with people, groups, and communities using the tools of climate communication allows for the possibility of responding well in uncertain times and circumstances. Subsequently, the concept of adaptive capacity comes to mind. Adaptive capacity is the ability of systems, institutions, people, and other creatures to readjust in the face of impending harm, seize opportunities, or react to outcomes (IPCC, 2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptive capacity & action would be called sisu<\/em> in my culture. Sisu is a continual way of being. It is a philosophy, mindset and inner strength that is drawn upon, which feeds courage, resilience and determination to move through significant adversities in life. Emilia Lahti elaborates upon this in her 18-minute 2014 TEDx Talk: Sisu — transforming barriers into frontiers | Emilia Lahti | TEDxTurku<\/a>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Note: glorifying resilience rather than calling for the dismantling of oppressive structures that force people to be resilient in the first place is a form of climate oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m interested in finding a way to live \u2018the questions\u2019 together, knowing that we will never all agree on the \u2018right\u2019 answers and \u2018solutions\u2019 to our current predicament. In addition, I want to avoid being captured by narratives of absolutes and be nimble enough to hold space for emergent possibilities. I also want to apply a playful approach to the work of contending with extinction-level impacts should the \u2018business as usual\u2019 pathway not be relinquished in the coming decades because \u2018being taken by the rapture\u2019 isn\u2019t one of my options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howarth, C., Parsons, L., & Thew, H. (2020). Effectively Communicating Climate Science beyond Academia: Harnessing the Heterogeneity of Climate Knowledge. One Earth<\/em>, 2<\/em>(4), 320-324. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.oneear.2020.04.001<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2014). IPCC, 2014: AR5 Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Report<\/em>. IPCC. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/report\/ar5\/wg2\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moser, S. (2014). Communicating adaptation to climate change: the art and science of public engagement when climate change comes home. WIREs Climate Change<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/wcc.276<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image Credit: Bridget McKenzie, 2022 In the late summer of 2022, I was trying to decide which brand of over-priced butter to purchase. In addition to the much higher prices than my previous grocery shopping excursion, the shelves were quite bare, and the selection was much more limited.  A middle-aged woman picking through the yogourts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kelleigh","author_link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/author\/k6wright\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Image Credit: Bridget McKenzie, 2022 In the late summer of 2022, I was trying to decide which brand of over-priced butter to purchase. In addition to the much higher prices than my previous grocery shopping excursion, the shelves were quite bare, and the selection was much more limited.  A middle-aged woman picking through the yogourts…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/k6wright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}