How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
'The antidote to climate anxiety is action. Make your first action reading this book.' OSHER GUNSBERG
'Rebecca Huntley has given us a great gift: an essential guide to understanding ourselves and each other as we face the climate crisis. Let's take down the walls that divide us. Collectively, with compassion and courage, we can make real change happen.' KYLIE KWONG
'Explains whether and how we will choose to solve the climate problem. Immensely important analysis in a great read.' PROFESSOR ROSS GARNAUT
Why is it so hard to talk about climate change?
While scientists double down on the shocking figures, we still find ourselves unable to discuss climate change meaningfully among friends and neighbours - or even to grapple with it ourselves.
The key to progress on climate change is in the psychology of human attitudes and our ability to change. Whether you're already alarmed and engaged with the issue, concerned but disengaged, a passive skeptic or an active denier, understanding our emotional reactions to climate change - why it makes us anxious, fearful, angry or detached - is critical to coping on an individual level and convincing each other to act.
This book is about understanding why people who aren't like you feel the way they do and learning to talk to them effectively. What we need are thousands - millions - of everyday conversations about the climate to enlarge the ranks of the concerned, engage the disengaged and persuade the cautious of the need for action.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Huntley (The Full Catastrophe), lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, eschews data in this accessible primer on emotions and the environmental protection movement. Rather than offer readers statistics "about CO2 levels and temperature rises, shrinking ice sheets and acidification of the oceans," Huntley draws on psychology and sociology to examine how guilt, fear, and anger can be harnessed to help activists speak more persuasively. One chapter, "Green Girls or What We Can Learn from Teens on Talking about Climate," highlights the influence of youth leaders such as Daisy Jeffrey and Greta Thunberg, while "Hope or How to Get Out of Bed in the Morning" distinguishes between "helpful" hope and "the kinds of hope are, in truth, denial in disguise." "Loss or Bury Me in a Carbon Sink" examines the eco-burial movement, which involves "preparation of the dead in environmentally friendly materials," and touts the importance of including faith-based communities in the larger movement. Balancing personal anecdotes and a survey of environmental activism at large, Huntley tackles big ideas and tough emotions with sympathy and curiosity. This fresh approach to a familiar topic is a welcome contribution to the climate conversation.
