We Need to Talk About Climate Change

According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, nearly 6 out of 10 Americans now consider themselves either “alarmed” or “concerned” about global warming, and the number of folks in the “alarmed” category (31 percent) has tripled between 2014 and 2020. So, more folks are concerned and talking about this topic than ever before. Just a decade ago, chances were that if you were an activist seeking to inform your friends on the science, impacts, and action required to reverse climate change, you could expect to get into an argument. Today, far more people are concerned about climate change and want to talk about it.

The first thing to know about talking about climate change is this: Actually talk about it! And remember that “talking” is a two-way street that includes listening as well. Experts on communicating about this thorny topic always advise that open-minded, informative discussion with lots of questions and answers is the best way to go.

The second thing to know about this complicated topic is that just discussing what you are doing to react to climate change does a great deal to motivate others to take action themselves. For instance, folks are more likely to look at installing solar panels on their house, buying an electric vehicle, writing to their reps in Congress or senators, or joining in activism if they know their friends and family are doing the same thing. So talking about taking action yourself is a great way to inspire others to do the same.

The third thing to know is what to talk about. If your goal is to inspire others to take action, it is worth picking topics you are comfortable with. If your goal is to learn more, it helps to figure out what you want to learn more about.

The three big topics in response to climate change right now are "mitigation," "adaption," and "resiliency." There is a bit of crossover between these topics, so it is worth providing more detail.

Mitigation is about reducing the primary cause of climate change—emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and a wide variety of combustible and noncombustible gases. Mitigation is therefore mostly about switching to non-fossil forms of power—wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, electric vehicles (EVs) and electric heating, AC, and hot water systems fed by low carbon electric generation. Mitigation also comprises better land use and includes measures such as planting more forests and the use of regenerative farming techniques.

Adaptation is about adjusting to the impacts of climate change—which include drought, wildfires, sea level rise, and extreme weather—but also changing our lifestyles and buying decisions to deal with the future impacts of a low-carbon economy. There is a lot of overlap between adaptation and resilience; however, adapting tends to be more about personal choices. Courses of action you could take to adapt to the impact of climate change include installing rooftop solar, converting to heat pump heating and cooling, investing in an EV and home vehicle chargers, and switching to more of a plant-based diet.

Resiliency refers to the defensive measures taken to reduce the economic impacts of climate change—building sea walls to deal with sea level rises, flood management projects, water conservation and its impacts on agriculture, and ensuring that building codes help protect property. If you are living in South Florida, public investment in projects to defend communities against sea level rise is a big topic. If you are living in California, wildfire resiliency and water conservation are big topics. If you are living in Ohio, the fact that U.S. Department of Agriculture growing zones have shifted one whole zone in the last 60 years and are likely to move one whole zone north in the next 30 should be a big topic for agricultural communities.

The fact is that, today, we all live in places that will experience some impacts from climate change, and there are a wide variety of things we can do personally or as advocates or activists to change how we respond individually and as communities.

Unlike in the past several decades, we now have more options to combat climate change than at any other time in our lives. The cost of renewable energy has plummeted, the cost of EVs has begun to drop and the cost of charging them is far below the cost of gasoline, and the cost of high efficiency electric HVAC and domestic hot water heating has dropped significantly. Arguments that these measures are just too expensive, too new, or too hard to understand have all been defeated by simple progress in technology development. Today, solar and home energy storage has become more affordable than ever, and wind power is less expensive than ever. More wind and solar is being installed today than fossil generation. Major auto makers will aggressively move to 100% EV production over the next two decades. Building technology and the products available for reducing the carbon footprint of the homes and commercial buildings we live and work in is rapidly becoming more available at better prices.

The goal now is to spread the word and take the time to learn what’s new during this exciting time.

So, to bring this discussion to a close, consider the following: Pick a topic or area of concern you either know something about or have a passion about and learn the facts so that you become a knowledgeable advocate. Then talk about it in everyday conversation just like you would talk about your kids’ sporting events, the best deals at the grocery store, or local politics. If you decide to install solar on your home or install a heat pump hot water heater, brag about your energy bill. If you by a plug-in hybrid car, brag about the fact that you only fill your tank up once a month. If you join an activist group and convince your local representative in congress to sponsor a bill to increase EV infrastructure, brag about how satisfying it felt to make a difference.

As one person making personal decisions to live a more sustainable lifestyle, you have small impact. As one person talking to everyone you know about what you are doing to live a more sustainable lifestyle (and asking others about what they themselves are doing) you can impact the decisions of dozens or hundreds of people. You will do more than you can imagine to normalize talking about climate change.

In the end, convincing your friends, family, neighbors, and the occasional policy maker that responding to climate change is just a normal thing to do, part of everyday life, and something that will make a difference, has more impact than you can imagine. Just those sorts of efforts have moved the conversation from fear of the unknown to a majority of Americans getting behind change in just a couple decades.

You can keep that wave of action moving.

Tom Williams is a 20-year veteran of the wind power industry and a Climate Reality Leader associated with the Climate Reality Project, an international organization founded by Al Gore dedicated to catalyzing change to respond to climate change with over 40,000 trained activists worldwide. Learn how you can be trained to educate others at climaterealityproject.org

Courtesy of Toledo Streets / International Network of Street Papers