Over the past 18 months, the dialogue on climate change has fundamentally shifted. Many organisations have declared a climate emergency and we know that widespread action is required across all of society. But how do we inspire and encourage people to change the habits of a lifetime?
Part of the answer is to become better communicators and to explore new ways of sharing our messages. I was therefore delighted to be asked to participate in Let’s Talk Climate Action - a panel debate deftly orchestrated by our colleagues at Historic Environment Scotland and expertly hosted by journalist and writer Sally Magnusson.
Sadly, due to the impact of Coronavirus, we were unable to welcome a live audience to the Queen Anne building in Edinburgh Castle on 16 March 2020 but the event was livestreamed via Facebook and the full video (75 minutes) has now been posted on YouTube.
The keynote speaker was Professor Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University who is one of the world’s leading climate change communicators. Her presentation was followed by Dr Matt Winning, commedian and climate scientist at UCL (University College London) who gave a short version of his stand-up routine and then Ewan Hyslop, Historic Environment Scotland, and I joined the debate. We discussed our experiences of finding effective ways of communicating the climate crisis and how we use our areas of expertise to reach new audiences, changing hearts and minds along the way.
Connect the dots between what we already agree on and how climate change is affecting us and bring up a positive, viable solution the person you’re talking to could get on board with
Professor Katharine Hayhoe
Taking part in this event is one several actions that Icon is taking as we develop our response to climate change. Over the coming months we will be implementing new ways of supporting members to share best environmental practices and will also be building on our collaborative relationships with other like-minded organisations. We also continue to play a leadership role through our work with the Climate Heritage Network. As part of this activity I am currently co-ordinating the working group tasked with delivering Action 1 in the Madrid to Glasgow Action Plan (even though COP26 has been postponed due to the Coronavirus). It's quite a challenge but the top communication tips that I picked up from Katharine and Matt are already proving to be extremely helpful!
