There are many situations where communicating your interest and awareness of climate change and other ecological threats will come up.

It might be a social situation, it might be at work, a patient might ask, or it could be a formal presentation. Resiliency and climate-smart solutions to problems may come up at any workplace.

At times you can change minds with information and simple analogies like saying that greenhouse gases act like a blanket. Some 40% of Americans still say they don’t understand the issues. In a study, it was found that both Democrats and Republicans can to some degree be swayed by facts.

Read the room, know your audience. In conversations, listen, don’t assume what others know or what they are concerned about. Keep it relevant. Tell stories. Show images in presentations; a picture or simple graph is worth a thousand words. But unless you are talking to a polar bear relief group, don’t show polar bears on small ice flows. Make sure the images are clear and easy to see and follow.

One question is the best term to use. Climate change is neutral, and might be good if trying not to be challenging, On the other hand, it doesn’t convey the urgency of the situation. There is evidence that the term “climate crisis” gets just enough attention and captures the situation better for most uses. “Environmental destruction” may be too strong unless communicating with a group already convinced about the dire straits we are in.

Most Americans don’t need to be convinced, they need to be motivated and hopeful

Most Americans don’t need to be convinced. Even in “red states” in the western United States the majority of those who responded to a February 2023 poll wanted conservation and clean energy.

In April 2023 the Yale Climate Communications group assessed their data on Americans’ concerns about climate change and found some interesting demographics. Here are some highlights:

64% of Hispanic/Latino and 61% of Black adults were in the Alarmed or Concerned groups. It was only 50% for White adults, and White adults (26%) were 3 times more likely to be Dismissive or Doubtful. Women (59%) were more likely to be Alarmed or Concerned than men (52%) and less likely to be Dismissive (7% vs 11%). Gen Z (59%) was slightly more likely then Gen X (54%) or Baby Boomer or older (53%) to be Alarmed/Concerned.

In June 2023 the Yale Climate Communications group reported that 74% understand global warming is happening now (only 15% disagreed), 61% of Americans think global warming is due to human activity (unfortunately 28% still think it isn’t), 62% feel a personal responsibility to take action, and 66% don’t think it is too late (it isn’t too late to prevent the worst outcomes), while only 13% disagreed.

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication in their Fall 2023 report found that about 2/3 of people rarely or never speak to their family and friends about climate change. Certainly, there are many situations and circumstances when it wouldn’t be appropriate, or at best it would be forced, to have such a conversation. It is always a judgment call. Also, it needs to be a conversation; debating with someone in the 10% die-hard climate denier category may be frustrating and fruitless. But consider pushing your comfort level a bit. After all, if you don’t talk about it, you don’t know what the possibilities are. I have found myself surprised at times by the interest and concern behind the silence, that some people want to talk about it but aren’t sure how to broach the subject. After all, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found in their research that:

·       67% of Americans say the issue of global warming is either “extremely,” “very,” or “somewhat” important to them personally, while 33% say it is either “not too” or “not at all” personally important.

So, 2/3 find it important; they may want to understand better, or they may feel alone and want your support.

·       63% of Americans say they feel a personal sense of responsibility to help reduce global warming.

This implies that there is a good chance many more people may want to learn more.

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication in their Fall 2023 report found that “58% understand that global warming is mostly-human caused. By contrast 29% think it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment.” That is something we MUST change! Our summarizing the science section includes background material and specifically a page on debunking climate myths.

Talk like a human

“Talk Like a Human” is the title of a publication by the Potential Energy Coalition that is worth reading .

Read the room, know your audience. In conversations, listen, don’t assume what others know or what they are concerned about. Keep it relevant. Tell stories. Show images in presentations; a picture or simple graph is worth a thousand words. Make sure the images are clear and easy to see and follow.

Motivated interviewing

In The Carbon Almanac (bibliography) there are suggestions about “motivated interviewing”:

• Ask open-ended questions. Be curious.

• Affirmations: recognize their strengths.

• Reflective listening: repeating or mirroring, paraphrasing, and reflection of feeling. This can get silly, but if done sincerely in a neutral fashion, the other person feels heard and empowered. You want partners, not followers!

• Summarizing: shows how you heard them, allows them to correct misunderstandings, and opens the door to further discussion.

  The Nature Conservancy has a useful publication “Let’s Talk Climate”. Their 5 tips:

• Meet people where they are

• Connection outweighs facts

• Start with what is already happening

• Conversation not conquest

• Focus on the person across from you

  Alarmism and gloom and doom aren’t the best messages.

  Some in your audience are either already depressed, anxious and frightened and feeling helpless, or are simply turned off by being preached at.

  Obviously this subject matter is hard to look at without reacting emotionally, and you can’t shy away from that.

  But the message is not “give up, we won’t succeed, we are doomed,” but rather “hope; get motivated to make a difference.”

  If we can’t make some difference, why are we talking about it?

  WE NEED HOPE TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE. WE NEED TO PICTURE THE BEST OUTCOMES.

  The conversation is about the world we want to live in, not only the one we are trying to avoid.

  If you are talking to healthcare professionals, keep in mind that most of us are used to bad news and want hard facts. Desperate situations and bad outcomes are part of our territory, but it is still helpful not to be another brick in the wall of depression and inertia.

Be as positive as you can, whenever you can

What a wonderful world it could be!

Have a vision of the world you hope for in the future by changing how we get and use clean energy. A future with air you can breathe, a vibrant economy with new jobs, and no longer being tied to fossil fuels and those bad actors that use them to have undue influence on our lives.

We need a positive target to go towards, not just a horrible future to run from.

Talking to kids

As above, be positive. Make it fun. Do age appropriate activities like composting if you can.

A podcast that is short and positive with good advice is“the Anti-Dread Climate Podcast.” Their 3/13/24 “how to teach kids about climate action” is short, positive, mostly common sense from experts. While mostly limited to climate they do go over a 5th grade class that composts and the kids were great. They emphasized: Look for the helpers and join them. Pepper in good news.

How To Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change, turning angst into action. Harriet Sugarman. New Society Publishers, 2020. It has won multiple awards and has some very good advice, not only for talking to kids.

Messaging that works in many countries

What then is the best messaging? How do you open, how do you get their attention and what will move them as you have that conversation, or in circumstances where a full. personal conversation isn’t possible?

In recent research the Potential Energy Coalition in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication looked at “multiple framings of 18 different policies with nearly 60,000 people across 23 countries ...which collectively account for 70% of the world’s population.” I highly recommend looking over their report summary; it isn’t long and has a lot of interesting material.

Here are some highlights of what they found to be the messaging that worked best:

- Don’t concentrate on limitations; changes are opportunities! They write: “When we say the words ban, mandate, or phase out, we lose support. Instead, messages that included upgrading, setting standards, making solutions accessible, and reducing dependency performed significantly better.”

- “Fear versus hope is the wrong debate. The big motivator is protecting what we love… the data clearly showed that one message … moves the whole world significantly: protecting the planet for the next generation.”

- “In every country in the study, the ‘later is too late’ narrative outperformed messages focused on economic opportunity, fighting injustice, improving health, or even preventing extreme weather.”

 - Other messages that were effective, though less so, were: “.. protect our health by reducing air and water pollution” and “to protect ourselves from extreme weather.”

We couldn’t agree more (hence our website embracing the Planetary Health mantra cited on our home page: “protecting the planet to protect ourselves”).

- They found that “there is significant support for immediate government action on climate change in every country we surveyed. On average across the 23 countries in the study, 77% of people agree with the statement, ‘It is essential that our government does whatever it takes to limit the effects of climate change,’ and just over 10% disagree.”

While first it is important to realize that more and more people understand that climate change is real (a majority of people do even in the United States), the Potential Energy Coalition research found that the United States lags behind other G20 countries and is the most polarized nation on the topic. That means we in the United State really have our work cut out for us.

Other tips:

Use stories, examples and metaphors

Try to use stories of resilience and hope, and ask the audience, when relevant, to suggest examples of how they are impacted and stories they might have.

Don’t debate or cajole. If someone is a “climate denier” at this point (not merely questioning or somewhat skeptical), that person has an agenda or biases that go much deeper than any facts you can present. Assuming it isn’t for money or power, it is part of how they see themselves, their identity.

However, do engage someone who is questioning or skeptical but seems sincere. It may not go well, but it may be worth a try. Research on the Yale “Six Americas”shows that even those who are doubtful or dismissive can reassess their ideas and that the effect can last. A difficult call sometimes.

It isn’t always helpful to stress buzzwords like “global warming” or even “climate change.” It isn’t a matter of hiding an agenda; sometimes approaching the matter as a health issue related to pollution gives the skeptical or biased listener an entry into a fruitful discussion. Make it easy for them to buy in!

the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication published a blog on what they think makes stories work. Here is their “key takeaways” message form the blog:

Key Takeaways for Impactful Climate Storytelling

• Tell personal stories that connect with people through shared values and emotions.

• Connect the dots for your listeners. Relate lived experiences to the reality of climate change. 

• Feature voices from diverse communities.

• Share stories of hope that emphasize the fact that every listener can make a difference.

No eco-guilting

It won’t help in most situations, but will more often hurt, preventing any useful discussion.

Maybe when really appropriate, you could express righteous anger, such as addressing recalcitrant or unrepentant big polluters, but you are not likely to be talking to a coal industry lobbyist, an Exxon executive, or addressing Congress or the General Assembly at the United Nations.

You may feel better scoring points in your head, but are you closer to your goal of communicating effectively?

A young woman told me her friends say they don’t feel it yet. Now, they live in southern California, land of wildfires, droughts, heat waves, flash floods, mudslides, and record-breaking temperature (recently the highest temperature in the world for a September day was in Death Valley, 127 F).

My suggestion was: you may want to shout them out of their self-centered complacency and comfortable ignorance, but DON’T!

In fact many people aren’t directly impacted in a major way…yet.

If they aren’t being aggressive or defensive, try to walk them through it, patiently, without being attached to changing their minds in one conversation.

Probe gently:

Even if they weren’t in the thick of things, directly impacted, how did they feel during the last heat wave or when they were breathing smoke from a wildfire? How did they feel looking at the destruction from a recent hurricane?

Tell them about someone who was impacted. Some say it is better to tell the story of someone besides yourself (maybe we like gossip or feel less put on the spot talking about someone who isn’t present).

Do they have specific concerns, like how making big changes will effect them or the economy?

Perhaps they don’t understand how climate change works and don’t see the connections between climate change and the droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events.

Maybe they feel powerless, they don’t know what they can do.

Or they don’t see the big picture: when environmental degradation impacts another part of the country, or even the world, hurting the economy, or making certain foods more scarce, disrupting supply chains, we are so interconnected that it will reach into their lives eventually.

For those who are concerned about the expense, the cost-saving aspects of alternative energy can be persuasive in a positive way.

And if they still just aren’t feeling it, just can’t relate to it, you find little or no common ground, sometimes it is best to drop it, and let them know you will be there for them when they do want to know more.

Other communications

Consider writing letters to the editor.

Give talks to community or professional groups. If possible speak to someone who has given a similar talk that you think went well. Of course, what works for someone else may not work for you and your style may not fit every group.

It is also important to know your audience. Keep it as brief as possible and on point; and know what your point is! Are you asking someone to take action? Voicing your stand on an issue? Make your purpose clear. Keep it to the facts.

Additional Resources