Suggestions for smoother climate change discussions over turkey

Finally – it’s Christmas week, and even us guys are wrapping up our shopping!  Now, it’s time to look ahead to the centerpiece of many families’ celebrations, Christmas dinner.

A big part of solving climate change involves conversations: engaging as many people as possible to create better understanding of the problem and the solutions needed.  But sometimes starting and having those conversations can be a little uncomfortable.  So here are a few strategies that I hope can help make for thoughtful, amicable, productive climate conversations this holiday season:

• Try to find common ground: I’m no expert in conflict resolution, but I know that when I need to have a difficult conversation with someone, it’s a good strategy to start by finding all the things we agree upon.  It sets a nice tone, and can lower barriers to unfettered discussion.
• As Stephen Covey’s Habit 5 goes, ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood’.  Try to listen to someone else’s point of view with an open mind, and to understand where they’re coming from.  Ask questions calmly and sincerely, and summarize back to indicate you’ve understood.  Then ask follow-up questions.  Sometimes the right line of questioning can lead a person to see the folly of their own position and the need to change their minds.  Try to make that easy by challenging less and listening more.  No one likes to be proven wrong or embarrassed in front of others. 
• Speak to values.  As climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe advises, take a bit of time to find out what really matters to someone, and then make a connection: demonstrate how climate change will impact something that really matters to them, and/or how climate action can preserve or reinforce something that really matters to them.
• Related: speak to benefits of action – things like cost savings, better health, better air quality, more resilience, etc.  For example, our family has an EV primarily to lower our emissions (it’s a key value for us).  But I know that doesn’t resonate with everyone, so when speaking with others about EVs, I try to focus on cost savings, low maintenance, power, reliability and other benefits.
• Be prepared to bite your tongue, compromise and let small things go, if it may keep the conversation going and open the door to changed thinking.
• Have some solutions ready to suggest, so that you can bridge smoothly from understanding to action once you sense that the time is right.
• If it’s comfortable, raise the subject of New Years resolutions, and ask if anyone is ready to make some that center around sustainability – IE generate only X bags of trash; take public transit once a week; make sure the next vehicle is electric; even subscribe to a sustainability newsletter like this one.  It’s perfectly fine to start small, as every action is a good action; and it’s nice if you can lead by example with one or two of your own.  Maybe a family challenge could be in order?
• Know when it’s time to change the subject: not everyone is persuadable, and often small progress is as good as it gets, so try to know when it’s time to move on, chat about something else and enjoy that turkey.

Happy holidays, and may comfortable conversations about sustainability prevail!

The Butterfly Effect and my dear Mom

I love the story of the Butterfly Effect, because it shows how seemingly small actions can be the seeds of much larger change and progress:

In 1961, MIT meteorologist Edward Lorenz developed one of the world’s first computer programs for predicting the weather. It would accept numbers representing current conditions, perform some complicated calculations and then produce a forecast. To test the program, Lorenz ran a set of figures through his computer and obtained a forecast. Then, to verify everything was working right, he ran the same scenario, expecting the same result – but to his astonishment, the second forecast was completely different.

Upon investigation, he discovered that one number entered to six decimal places the first day had been entered to just three decimal places the second day.  It was a minuscule difference, but it produced an enormous effect on the outcome.  It led him to wonder: could something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings over Brazil trigger a tornado in Texas weeks later? The Butterfly Effect.

Years ago, when I left home for university, my dear Mom gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten: “Carl, maybe you can’t change the whole world, but you can change your little corner of it.”  It still resonates over 40 years later, and has become my mantra.

And when you combine my Mom’s words with the Butterfly Effect, here’s the result: when you change your corner of the world, maybe, just maybe, you can change the world.  It’s a message that I hope gives heart and hope through these challenging times.  I reflect on it especially as I mourn losing Mom earlier this month.

Mom challenged me to change my corner of the world, with the hope that small local actions might snowball into larger positive changes. In honouring her legacy, I pledge to continue to do my best – and I hope her words may inspire you to do the same.