Earlier this month, I attended a webinar presented by Seniors for Climate featuring well-known atmospheric scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. Hayhoe discussed the importance of moving people who care about climate change from worried to activated. She also shared a message of hope in the fight against climate change.  

About Katharine Hayhoe

Born, raised and educated in Toronto, Hayhoe is the Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy, and a Professor at Texas Tech University. Check out her bio for a full list of qualifications and accomplishments. It’s safe to say she’s a credible source on the topic of climate change.

Hayhoe’s talk reinforced recent data on how worried we are about climate change. She also offered practical ideas for climate conversations that move people from worried to activated. Most importantly though, she gave reason for hope.  

We’re worried about climate change

Last year, in Have we forgotten about climate change? I shared the results of a survey revealing that three quarters of Canadians are concerned about climate change and feel it will harm future generations.

Hayhoe’s presentation shared similar stats from the United States, where 63% of the population worry about climate change.

Hayhoe divided the population into three groups: Not worried, Worried and Activated.

The group who are not worried are typically climate deniers. This group represents a much smaller portion of the population than those who worry.  

Data from both Canada and the United States reveals the vast majority of people fall into the worried category. Yet only about 8% of those who are worried are activated in doing something about it.

Hayhoe pointed out that we spend too much of our energy trying to convince people in the not worried group that they should be worried. She maintains it’s more important to move people from worried to activated. But how do we do that?

---

Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.

---

Moving from worried to activated

One of the biggest takeaways from the webinar was that worrying isn’t a bad thing—if we know what to do about it. Action offers hope which helps to relieve climate anxiety. Hayhoe discussed how moving someone from worried to activated requires engaging their head, heart and hands. But how?

Head

Let’s start with the head.

Those of us who care about the environment typically have a lot of head knowledge, leading us to share scary data in climate conversations. Usually this leads to people rejecting the idea of climate change even more—ultimately resulting in inaction.

Heart

The next piece of the equation is engaging the heart. This is all about understanding why it matters.

The Canadian survey I mentioned earlier showed people were worried about the impact of climate change on future generations, but fewer people think it’s affecting them now. But things we care about are already affected, and insurance claim data backs that up.

In Canada, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was one insured catastrophic event every 3 months. Now, there’s one every 4 weeks. In the United States, there was one billion-dollar-plus climate weather event every 4 months in the 1980s and 1990s. Last year, there was one every 10 days.

Yet despite the evidence that’s right in front of us, governments have pushed climate solutions to the back burner largely because of political and economic uncertainty.

Shifting our conversations to positive solutions can help engage the heart and offer hope. Hayhoe pointed out that climate solutions can protect the things we care about by:

• Giving us cleaner air and water
• Protecting us from disasters like storms, wildfire and floods
• Improving our physical and mental health
• Providing more affordable energy
• Reducing gender, racial and socio-economic inequality
• Creating healthy ecosystems and foodscapes
• Giving us a more stable world

It’s not about saving the planet. It’s about saving us.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Hands

With the head and heart engaged, the last step in moving from worried to activated is engaging the hands by doing something.

The biggest asset we have is our voice. Hayhoe suggested action starts with changes to what we buy, and how we vote.

At the end of the webinar, Seniors for Climate called on us to get involved in the week of action taking place from October 12 to 18. This year’s event focuses on breaking the climate silence.

Here are some simple examples of things we can all do:

• Talking about pollution—in person, on social media, or in a blog post
• Calling or writing a letter to an elected representative
• Attending an event in your local community

Visit the Seniors for Climate website for more information and to find out how you can get involved.

Don’t lose hope

I practice hope like it’s an olympic sport and I want to medal.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

The news often feels bleak and it’s easy to lose hope, but Dr. Hayhoe ended the webinar on a positive note.

Since the Paris Agreement was signed, our collective actions have reduced predicted warming from 4 to 5 degrees Celsius, to current estimate of 2.7 degrees. While 2.7 degrees will have significant impacts for our planet, it’s not as catastrophic as warming of 4 to 5 degrees.

In her weekly newsletter, Dr. Hayhoe shares good news and ways you can act. Sign up on her website.

---

We cannot afford to be complacent. It’s time to engage the hands and move from worried to activated. How will you take action in the fight against climate change? Drop me a comment and let me know.