Here’s Everything We Know About How to Talk About Climate Change

Talking about climate change is harder than it sounds (imagine a game of charades in which you must suddenly convince your friends they’re in imminent, life-threatening danger).  The threat is too big to grasp and the straight facts are not enough to get most people engaged — so how can you spur them to take action?

Over the past year, we’ve asked experts — activists, psychologists, policy wonks, even therapists — for their best advice.  The conclusion?  There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but here are some broad do’s and don’t’s to help you get your message across.

• Tell a story rather than reciting facts
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• Tailor that story to your audience
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• Focus on solutions
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• Talk about how we’ll be remembered in the future
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• Get kids in on the game
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• Don’t try to scare people
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• Don’t rely on cheesy stock photos
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• Learn from the Don Drapers of the world
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• Don’t get discouraged that you can’t reach everyone
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• Just talk about it
  
  These are our best tips for talking about climate change, but the most important piece of advice boils down to a very simple prescription:  Just … do it.  Start having conversations about climate change with your friends, with your coworkers, with your elected officials, with that friendly guy at your bus stop.  Talk about it until it’s normal, then talk about it some more.
  

Read and see more at Here’s Everything We Know About How to Talk About Climate Change