We need to talk about… climate change
Kate Heath, our Guest Editor for January 2018: Exploring the theme of effective climate conversation (including why writing your annual carbon emissions on your face might NOT be the best move if you want to have constructive conversation about it).
Many people find it a challenge to talk about climate change and its many related issues. Even when it’s a topic that touches and concerns them deeply, and they’re active participants in doing something about it. So much so that the term ‘climate silence’ has come into being in the last few years, describing the taboo status that climate change is coming to hold – particularly in more industrialised economies.
But to successfully respond to the challenges that climate change poses to our communities, it’s crucial that we talk explicitly about it – and in a way that invites and welcomes into the conversation a broad spectrum of people. And this is the clincher – it can be tough enough to start conversations on this topic, but it can be all-too-easy to unwittingly alienate or switch others off, or cause them to deepen their commitment to their own, contrary perspectives.
“This year I am going to learn how to have constructive conversations about climate change”
If you find that you struggle to have conversations about climate issues, or those you start seem to go nowhere or foment conflict, or you don’t feel inclined to start them at all – then join us in January 2018 for our next Guest Editor, Kate Heath. Kate will be exploring the theme of climate conversation – sharing her journey over the last year to break her own silence and learn how to become a more effective and inclusive climate communicator.
