Finding New Starting Points for Climate Conversations

When writing his latest book, Dougald Hine had proposed the title "Why I’m No Longer Talking to People About Climate Change." In the end he called the book "At Work in the Ruins".

The book is born from his experience of facilitating climate conversations that oscillated between feeling connecting and generative to sterile and unproductive.

Mid-pandemic, it hit him that we needed new starting points if these conversations were ever to foster real understanding and action. The crisis still feels abstract to many privileged Westerners.

As Brazilian scholar and activist Vanessa Andreotti says, “When the water’s up to your ankles, it's not time to start swimming. When the water gets up to your knees, there’s still no point swimming. Only when the water reaches your ass is it time to start swimming.”

What if we waded into the deeper waters that are already swamping so many?

What if we chose new starting points for conversations about topics that are already deeply concerning?

In his book Dougald proposes topics such as loneliness, mental illness and addiction (including addiction to network technologies).

Could concrete shared experience motivate change where abstract existential threats haven’t?

The way we frame conversations determines who joins in and where these conversations they might go.

To attract more people, increase empathy and unlock potential for collaboration, we need new entry points rooted in lived reality, not far-off futures.

We need conversations that are small enough to act upon.

As someone still deeply concerned about climate catastrophe, Dougald believes that we can counter apathy and inaction by not just talking about the climate crisis. It may even help the climate conversation.

After all, severe social stresses impacting so many today stem from the same Western worldview that created the ecological crisis. Reimagining and addressing these interlinked predicaments in a holistic way could be our best hope.

Starting small conversations that can be interconnected may be a way to create a bigger impact.

You can watch our full interview with Dougald Hine on Crowdcast.

Listen to an excerpt of the conversation below...