Even with people who accept that climate change is happening and caused by humans, climate conversations focused on turning acceptance into action can be difficult and frustrating. Many, perhaps most, of the people we meet have an interest in carrying on as they are - consuming extravagantly, flying, using fossil fuels… and will make excuses: “What about China/India/the USA?” “What difference would my puny efforts make?” “I pick up litter and recycle – surely that’s enough?” “Climate change will only affect faraway places, in the distant future, not here, not now.” “I/the UK can’t afford the changes we’d have to make.” – and so on. How do we counter all this, when, as you may have observed, haranguing, preaching, even scientific and rational arguments, don’t seem to work all that well? Setting a good example, normalising climate-conscious behaviour, showing off energy-efficient homes (as TTK does occasionally), offering impartial advice… may work better, but we will still find ourselves having to talk about and explain the linked climate and nature crises and what individuals can do about them. As Climate Outreach's Britain Talks Climate & Nature says, what you say may depend on who you are talking to.
Climate Outreach's Britain Talks Climate & Nature groups British society into seven distinct segments, describes their core beliefs and worldviews, and its Toolkit - Climate change and nature offers advice on how to engage on climate and nature (and what to avoid!) with these different groups[i]:
- Progressive Activists - 12% of the population
- Incrementalist Left - 21% of the population
- Established Liberals - 9% of the population
- Sceptical Scrollers - 10% of the population
- Rooted Patriots - 20% of the population
- Traditional Conservatives - 8% of the population
- Dissenting Disruptors - 20% of the population
You may well recognise yourself and your values in one of these social segments, but the real utility of the research is in its descriptions of other groups and its toolkit on how to talk to people whose priorities you may not share but who could be persuaded to take action (or more action) if approached sensitively. This doesn’t mean that you have to ditch your priorities and values, but it does give you some ways in or themes that might appeal to people who are not like you. When public attitude surveys show high levels of concern about climate and nature it’s worth trying to turn that concern into action. Avoiding or mitigating climate catastrophe will take millions of individual choices and actions as well as government interventions; individuals, local communities and community groups can make changes faster than governments so it’s important to keep talking.
As Rob Hopkins, Transition movement founder, has said: “If we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late. If we act as individuals, it'll be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time."
A version of this article was also offered to the newsletter of Humanist Climate Action