Next week, the UNFCC Climate Change Conference COP 26 launches the latest round of multilateral discussions about increasing emissions reduction targets and financing mechanisms to support climate adaptation policies and actions to address the impacts of climate change. But, though nations may be coming together in such discussions, there are still enormous and troubling gaps in public and political discussions about climate change and how to address it effectively. Coming to democratically legitimate and supported climate actions relies in good measure on widespread public engagement and dialogues that can bridge the gaps between those with opinions on the different ends of the political spectrum. With some arguing for urgent and transformative action, some arguing for the status quo and the necessity for continued oil and gas exploration and extraction, and others who don’t think climate change is an issue that affects them at all, movement on climate change is mired in the polarization and divisions that are increasingly characterizing public discourse.

As we have seen with the response to the COVID-19 public health measures, and as we see with the response to climate change, we need new methods and approaches for engaging the public in useful dialogue across deep divisions. The work of engagement and communication is a critical part of climate action if we are to support the transformative changes so necessary for getting to carbon neutrality and a climate-just and climate-resilient future. So the question is, how do we bridge these gaps in understanding and empathy gaps in ways that can move us towards the policies and sustained actions necessary for the approaching transitions?

There is, of course, no single answer to that question, but Stanford University has offered one response by using their Online Deliberative Platform polling technology to bring 926 randomly selected US citizens together in a deliberative dialogue on climate change. The goal of the conversation was to foster informed, thoughtful discussions about climate policy as it relates to greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the global race to net zero. The process included providing participants with a 64-page briefing document focused on possible policies for reaching net-zero by 2050, engaging those participants in small group discussions to share ideas and frame questions that they then posed to subject matter experts in a plenary session. The results of the dialogue indicate that the process, while not a magic bullet for bringing people together, did result in some changed perspectives. Participants acknowledged an increased understanding of others’ perspectives and “changed minds significantly on 66 of the 72 issue propositions” posed. (You can read more about this process and the outcomes in an article written by Talib Visram).

Other projects, such as the Alberta Narratives Project, are similarly working to bring people together to engage in new conversations about climate change, and there are a number of resources designed to support these challenging dialogues. These include ICLEI’s, Having the Climate Conversation: Strategies for Local Governments guide; Climate Outreach’s The #TalkingClimate Handbook, Simon Fraser University’s Democracy, Dialogue and Climate Action resources, and Kyle Conway’s recent The Art of Communication in a Polarized World which, although not specific to climate change, offers some insights into communication theory and some steps to take theory into action.

There is no single solution to the challenges of polarization or how to encourage useful dialogue to foster awareness and understanding of climate change and its consequences. and what actions might be taken. But processes that foster dialogue and an exchange of ideas across differences, do provide a starting ground. The commitments Canada and other nations make at COP26 in the race to net zero, and the race to resilience will only be meaningful if they are implemented. Implementation, in turn, relies on climate policies and actions that reflect and integrate the disparate voices of citizens, and help us collectively move past the polarization and partisanship that have, thus far, limited those actions.

How can you support and engage in such dialogues? In the lead-up to COP26 and what follows, we all have a role to play in exploring and creating spaces that support meaningful, empathic, and potentially transformative dialogue about climate change and climate action.

For some inspiration check out *Rise Up, a youth-produced video that explores the journey of youth climate activists at COP25 in Madrid and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that followed in late January 2020. The energy and momentum you will see in Rise Up serves as an optimistic launching pad and warm-up for all that will take place at COP26 in Glasgow

*Rise Up has been posted on Vimeo because it has been submitted to a documentary film competition and this is the reason it requires a password to view.  

The password to enable viewing is RbDCOP25. 

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