Climate activism and the importance of talking about our future

Grocery shopping with a friend or loved one and checking out prices together is a great opportunity to see how climate change is affecting farmlands and food production. CREDIT: PEXELS

At eMERGE Guelph’s Climate Change Matters event, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe discussed how conversations can have big impacts on the environment

ELENI KOPSAFTIS

Conversations underpin all climate action. Where people choose to invest their money, what party they vote for, what energy source they use at home, all these actions start with conversations.

– George Marshall, environmental campaigner and writer astronomy at the University of Toronto before specializing in atmospheric science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As a distinguished scientist, what is Hayhoe’s answer to our aforementioned climate problem? It's simple; talk about it.

On Feb. 9, sustainability organization eMERGE Guelph hosted the Talk as if Climate Change Matters event alongside Dr. Hayhoe. Hosted via Zoom, the event was part of a series that began in June with the Invest as if Climate Change Matters event, which discussed how individuals, including those in greater positions of power, can invest their money to help fight climate change.

At the Talk as if Climate Change Matters event, Hayhoe discussed the ways in which talking to others about climate change can incite positive change.

“[Talking] massively affects what other people around us think, because where do we form our opinions? Based on what we hear and the info we get,” said Hayhoe during the event.

“This changes what we call our social norms, which are our ideas on what is or isn’t acceptable in our societies, and this in turn changes our sense of efficacy. We think ‘well if I do something it won’t make a difference.’ And if we think we could make a difference, then we’re willing to do something.”

Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Well it is, so long as you know how to start the conversation.

Talking to others about climate change with the intent to spur action is more than just quoting statistics and research papers. Rather, talk about the things that actually matter to the other person.

Do you and your friends enjoy cooking together? Hayhoe suggests talking about food. Ask them about how making food has changed for them over the years, and how grocery store prices have been fluctuating. This gives you the chance to discuss how climate change has affected the production of produce in your region.

What about the more conservative members of your family that you’re worried about talking to? Do

With persistent droughts and virulent wildfires worsening each year across the world, climate change is undoubtedly an issue that warrants immediate and effective action. But how can we tackle the problem when so many people appear to be dismissive or resigned? Canadian-born Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is a professor of political science, as well as the director of the Climate Science Center, at Texas Tech University. She completed her studies in physics and they like fishing? Ask them how fishing has changed in the past few years. Are fish scarcer than they used to be? Have floodings brought water levels up, destroying their favourite fishing spots?

No matter what topic you choose to engage with, you’ll find that climate change affects everyone you speak with.

“We don’t have to be a Liberal, or an NDP, or a Green tree hugger to care about a changing climate, although if we are then we certainly do. All we have to be is a person living on this planet,” said Hayhoe.

Once you’ve made others realize that climate change affects them and their hobbies, they will follow up with their friends and family who enjoy the same things. Eventually, your singular concern about climate change will reach one group, and then another, and then another.

However, to spur action like we hope to, we need to follow up by giving hope.

According to Hayhoe, providing worrying data without a solution causes fear, which can cause people to freeze up and feel that their efforts are pointless, thus resulting in inaction. So instead, we can offer hope by sharing what other communities have successfully done to combat climate change.

At the event, eMERGE Executive Director Evan Ferrari mentioned the evolution of Guelph’s waste management program.

“In the early 80s, we didn’t have a blue box program,” said Ferrari. “It was for a family, and then a larger group of individuals, and then a larger group of individuals, until it started becoming a movement and environmental groups started getting involved. Eventually, we wound up with a three-stream waste reduction system that had one of the highest waste reduction targets in the country.”

Similarly, you could start a small initiative amongst your family, friends, classes, or clubs. As Ferrari suggests, big change starts with small steps, and if you find others who have the same interests as you, talking with them about environmental impacts can help your initiative spread far and wide.

So instead of feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of fighting climate change, start simple, by initiating discussions with the people around you. With the right kind of talking, you’re capable of inciting mass change to better the environment.

“There is no single person or thing that will fix this problem for us, but there are a lot of different solutions, and a lot of different people, and a lot of different policies that will all do a little bit and will all move us a little closer to that better future,” said Hayhoe.

“We are conducting unprecedented experiments with the only planet we have. We know that the possible outcomes are disastrous— the end of human civilization as we know it. But we also know that a better future is possible.”

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe’s book, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, delves deeper into the practice of talking and its positive effects against climate change. It is available at The Bookshelf in downtown Guelph.

On March 8, eMERGE Guelph will also be hosting an online event from 7 to 8:30 p.m. called the Women’s EV Night to normalize the ownership of electric vehicles by women. Participants will be joined by Clara Clairman, chief executive officer of Plug’n’Drive.

To learn how to fight climate change locally, visit eMERGE Guelph’s website at emergeguelph.ca.