TALKING CLIMATE
We should really call this section how to talk climate without talking climate! It can be difficult to engage in communities with very obvious climate action/climate change events, we know this from experience! Climate change is such a huge subject many find it overwhelming and as human beings we are also not very good at addressing dripping taps, floods we get the plumber straightaway. To many climate change still feels like a dripping tap but there are ways to bring people into a conversation…
Firstly, this is a festival so go with celebrating your community and the fantastic work you are doing. Celebrate all that is brilliantly local about your place and host an event which is suitable for your community. Have wonderful food and drink, a good atmosphere and follow our hints and tips for event planning and sustainable events. By doing all of that you are already focusing on climate action and if you want to start a conversation about it, we have the following to help.
In this section you will find:
Information about hosting a Climate Cafe
Information on Climate Conversations
Links to toolkits developed by Climate Outreach
Hints & Tips to Talking Climate without Talking Climate
Focus on local
Focus on your community and localism celebrating all that is good about your place in your event. Aim to bring your community together in events and activities. We have found that the most successful climate action projects are ones that address community needs and bring a community together, once you have people attracted to the activities of your event and in the door, that’s how then informally the conversations can start.
Informal Chats
You don’t need to know all of the science behind climate change nor try and impart that to those attending your event. There are lots of other ways that you can do it, for example hosting an event about waste or re-use can also be a way that those attending can learn a new skill which saves them money. So go with that and if climate change comes up then have a chat about it but focus the event on learning new skills or interesting activities.
Connect with Nature
Events and activities that connect with nature are good ways to start conversations around climate change. Being in nature whether green or blue activities helps us to see that we are tiny parts of the ecosystem of life. Tiny parts which have a big impact on our planet with our behaviours, connecting back to nature helps to put our role into perspective and relate it to the bigger picture.
Resources
If you are looking for more formalised resources and toolkits on how to talk climate at your event or even plan a specific event the resources and links below may help you with your event or activity. Who knows, they may even lead you into brand new climate action in your community.
Climate Cafe
A Climate Café® is an open, inclusive space for people to get together to talk and act on climate change.
Climate Cafés are informal where everyone is welcome to join the conversation and get involved. Cafés can bring people together from across communities, work places and campuses to focus on solutions. People find them inspiring, positive places to go along to.
Climate Conversations
Hosting a climate conversation is a more formalised way to talk about climate change and there are a heap of resources out there that can be used to host a climate conversation. Typically there is more structure to a climate conversation where you introduce the science through either a presentation, talking it through or by showing a video and then hosting a conversation afterwards.
Climate Outreach
Climate Outreach are a global organisation with the key aim of communicating climate change and providing research and resources to empower all sections of society to do so. They have a wealth of tools and resources available to help you on your climate outreach journey. Follow the link opposite to one we think is most worthwhile as a starting point but please follow their website and look through the additional resources.