“If there are people who are willing to talk to you about it, the first thing you got to do is listen….I grew up in a very rural area and it’s very conservative also. And when I go home, I don’t talk about climate change. I do talk about what’s going on with hunting season. ‘Oh, there’s no deer this year. Why do you think that is? Tell me about the rain’….It is again about that pivoting and you have to understand what’s important to the people you’re talking to… I might say, ‘I just upgraded my mom’s generator. It’s great because with all the outages we’re having out here, now she can get electricity and I know your husband’s been sick, that could be something that could be really beneficial for you.’ I do not mention climate change…I am putting out ideas that are going to save somebody’s life, I’m responding to the situation of the people that I’m speaking with.”
Allison Agsten on Electric Ladies Podcast
How do we keep people safe and sound in the face of ferocious weather, wildfires and floods, especially when they wince at the words “climate change”? Make it real for their world. How?
Listen to Allison Agsten, Director of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communications at the University of Southern California in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson. She also curates art at the intersection of art and climate at the Wrigley Marine Science Center.
You’ll hear about:
- How to keep people safe with adaptation strategies without talking about climate change.
- How art and climate intersect and how it helps people stay safe.
- How to combat disinformation and misinformation…and so much more
- Plus, career advice, such as:
“When I talk to women who are at some point in their careers and they’re thinking of joining our sustainability communicator cohort, they always say to me, I just don’t know if my skills are translatable. Yeah, they are. I can help you think about the language…It’s scary because I’ve done it myself. I’ve made a number of career pivots, but to me, even scarier is not taking that chance and having the opportunity to feel really good about the work you do every day….I sleep well at night because I know that I used the skills that I have to do the thing that I think is most important.” Allison Agsten on Electric Ladies Podcast
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You’ll also like:
- How to Talk About Climate in a Polarized Culture – with Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy
- Seek First to Understand – with Jennifer Hough, Advisor, TEDx Speaker, Author
- How Do We Talk About Climate? – with Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center, nonprofit producing environmental documentaries and media
- What’s a Tech Humanist? – with Kate O’Neill, Speaker, Tech Humanist, Author
- The Politics of Climate & Energy – with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus
- How Climate Modelling Affects Everything – Maria Caffrey, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, UK’s National Physical Laboratory
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