by Bill Stovin
The use of art and entertainment in climate communication
Alongside legacy media, there’s a whole new media landscape in which long form conversations are happening in podcasts, blogs and newsletters. Art, humor, stories and music are all ways in which we make sense of and have feelings about things bypass the logical side of the brain. So all of those things help to puncture the thinking mind and get to our feeling mind and that’s super important.
And I think a lot of people are arguing at the moment that we’re in a time of grief where we need to be really feeling something about the fact that Jasper burned down and so many people have been displaced. Lytton has burned down and that town is forever changed. Our landscapes and the way that we live have fundamentally changed.
Dealing with hopelessness about climate change
What young people need is to feel not abandoned. They need to see is there are grownups in the room who care about this and who are trying to do something. And at least they’re not alone in their grief, anger and frustration. There will always be a place for some sort of action. Every ton of pollution matters. We need to build out new jobs. We have a whole energy system that we need to transfer to renewables.
There will be new jobs and opportunities in how we take care of and protect nature and how we protect people and keep them safe. So I think that increasingly we need to be telling stories of what the world will be, where are we going, to show up and not leave young people feeling frustrated, angry, sad, and alone.
Giving them a sense of agency in the political system is really important for many people or for many young people. What happens in government is kind of mysterious. Giving them a sense of how you get involved in shaping the future that you want, building confidence in democracy and that voting matters. Giving them some empowerment to shape the world they want is the best gift that we can give them.
The importance of conversation about the climate
We need to be in a place in which you cannot be elected unless you are a climate leader. Part of that is normalizing the fact that I’m concerned, I expect action and part of that normalization means we need to be talking about it. People are still not talking about it as much as I might talk about climate change day in and day out. People are not having the conversation.
We tend to underestimate the level of concern. We tend to underestimate the amount of good work that’s actually happening and the amount of progress that we’re making. So I think that having conversations, as simple as it sounds, is really important and critical in between elections as well as all the other more professional organizing and mobilizing.
What are the things that are happening in your community that allow you to have a conversation? Is it a cool solar panel project that’s happening somewhere? Is it new EV chargers that are going in somewhere? All of that is important to give a sense of momentum and the inevitability of the energy transition which I think is key. We need to be electing people who have a plan for a world that is running on renewable energy and is not based on fossil fuels.
Handling difficult climate conversations in a family
Don’t bring things to a painful point. Having an intact relationship provides the foundation for what might be a long conversation. I think for some people, and I live in Alberta, this is a long conversation. And when people feel like you’re trying to win, that they’re being tricked, that’s what shuts it down. So keeping a relationship intact, I think is the most important thing and then taking as much time as it takes to have that conversation. So it may be that this is something that happens over a month or two months or a couple of years.
What people fundamentally want is to be listened to. So listening sometimes is the most important thing that we can do rather than just share information and talk. When people feel their concerns are heard, that they’re actually being seen to be a good person, and that what they want or what their hopes and dreams are, is the first step to having a genuine or authentic conversation.
Common ground could be things like cool tech. Heat pumps save you money. They cool, they heat. You could go in through that door. You could go in through the wildfire door. You could go in through the air pollution door. You could go through the changes to local wildlife. There are lots of different entry points into conversation, but you need to start from a place where there’s some sense of mutual respect.
That said, it’s also okay to call out blatant misinformation when it happens. If you have enough of that relationship established to say, no, actually, that’s not true. Those would be my tips. Listen, tell stories, lean into why you care and why this is important to you, address misinformation when you can and try to build trust.
About Amber Bennett
Amber Bennett, Founder & Executive Director, Re.Climate
Watch the interview with Amber Bennett by Bill Stovin in the GTEC Reader, Volume 5, Issue 2 here.
Or, read articles on climate change, sustainability, education, and more from GTEC’s Communication & Media (formally GTEC Blog)!
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