We need to talk

Why climate conversations are essential climate action.

Nov 22, 2023

Kia ora, welcome to Future Proof brought to you by AMP. I’m Ellen, thanks for joining me this week.

Two billion people, mostly from developing countries, don’t really know the term “climate change”, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication estimates. That’s based on a survey of more than 139,000 Facebook users around the world. “But when we give respondents a single sentence description of climate change, we find that more than 80% immediately say, ‘Yes, that’s happening’,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the program.

The survey included more than 1,000 New Zealanders too. Here’s what it revealed about Kiwis and climate change:

64% said they knew a lot, or a moderate amount, about climate change, but 4% reported that they’d never heard of it
77% of New Zealand respondents believed climate change is happening
45% thought climate change was caused mostly by human activities, and 32% thought it was a mix of humans and natural changes
A combined 65% of respondents were very or somewhat worried about climate change
41% said that climate change was extremely or very important to them personally

These results don’t seem too different to other surveys on New Zealanders and climate change (albeit with different questions). A bunch of us know and care about climate change, but plenty of our friends, family and communities don’t. And a decent chunk of us have misconceptions about climate change and how best to tackle it.

Which brings me to the big question: how can we engage more people with the basics and urgency of climate change?

One of the most powerful actions you can take is simply to have a chat. This doesn’t mean schooling someone with data and science. It means talking from the heart, connecting over shared values, and telling stories. Here are some tips:

Listen, and ask questions. You’re having a chat, not giving a lecture. Find out what’s important to your convo partner and reflect back their concerns to demonstrate that you’re really listening. Seek common ground. What do you share?
Find a frame that resonates. Climate change can feel distant or abstract. But maybe the economy or health or food offer “ins” to a climate conversation by stealth.
Tell a story. Facts alone aren’t sticky. But facts wrapped in a narrative and emotion stick in our brains like glue. The Climate Reality Project suggests telling a story of climate hope. The Workshop suggests leading with a positive vision, and “selling the cake, not the ingredients”.

By regularly having these conversations, we can create networks where talking about climate is the norm, friends and family feel empowered to act, and where we all don’t feel quite so alone.

AMP believes that investing in a sustainable future is the best way to achieve long-term investment success. That's why they integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into all of their investment decisions.
AMP supports companies that are making a positive impact on the world while avoiding those that are causing harm. AMP is also working to reduce its own carbon footprint and achieve a net zero outcome by 2050 or sooner.
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We briefly breached the 2° threshold this month

Global temperatures temporarily pipped past an ominous threshold on Friday 17 November, reaching 2.06°C above the pre-industrial average. Scientists warn that exceeding 2° of warming will be accompanied by dangerous and irreversible impacts for people and planet – but don’t spiral just yet! To officially cross this critical threshold, we’d need to see a months- or years-long breach, The Washington Post reports.

This temporary spike is a symptom of a planet getting hotter, and we’re on track for a whopping 2.9° of warming, according to a new UN Environment Programme report. The world must cut predicted 2030 emissions by 28% to remain consistent with a 2° pathway, or 42% for a 1.5° pathway, the report says.

Do all these broken records mean the world is warming faster than expected? Not quite, according to the BBC, who outline the complex factors that have contributed to a scorching 2023. “Climate change is as bad as we expected. And that's bad enough,” climate scientist Zeke Hausfather told the outlet.

How much land do we need to sequester carbon?

If you take the climate pledges of all the world’s governments and add up the total land area they propose for removing carbon (through tree planting, for example), you get a mind-boggling one billion hectares. That’s an area equivalent to South Africa, India, Turkey and the European Union combined, per the latest Land Gap Report.

Real emissions reductions are essential, and trees shouldn’t be an excuse to keep burning fossil fuels. But trees can still help: a new study finds that restoring and conserving existing forests could boost sequestration by 139 gigatonnes of carbon. And even better if your forests are diverse, rather than monoculture plantations: a second study finds that above-ground carbon storage is 70% higher in mixed planted forests compared to monoculture.

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More stories:

The world’s “polluter elite” – or richest 1% – account for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, according to a special investigation by The Guardian, Oxfam, and the Stockholm Environment Institute.
Mata Reports investigates the Māori Carbon Collective, and the impact of “carbon farming” on Māori communities.
This one simple trick saves millions of litres of water every year.
Is climate anxiety affecting our decision to have kids? It’s complicated, says this new meta-analysis.
Everything you need to know about congestion charging in Aotearoa.
China’s carbon dioxide emissions are predicted to fall next year, according to a Carbon Brief analysis, fuelled by a rapid rise in low-carbon energy. This comes as the US and China announce joint efforts to ramp up solar, wind and other renewable energy efforts to displace fossil fuels.
I’m not screaming into the void anymore, writes climate scientist Kate Marvel.
New Zealand’s marine sediments store heaps of carbon, a new report says, highlighting areas vulnerable to being churned up by disruptions like bottom trawling.

This week marks 75 years since takahē were rediscovered living deep in Fiordland, after being presumed extinct for 50 years. Above is some historical footage of the expedition into the remote Murchison Mountains in 1948. Earlier this month, the Takahē Recovery programme announced that the chonky rainbow chook population hit a new milestone of 500 adult birds, while an impressive five nests have been discovered in the Greenstone Valley, where takahē were only reintroduced in August this year. What a year, what a bird!

Sending aroha to New Zealand’s hide-and-seek champs,

Ellen