How To Talk About Climate In A Polarized Culture – Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University & Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy

“We have to begin our conversations with what really matters to the person or people we're speaking with. And if we don't know what that is, we have to get to know them and build a relationship and then start the conversation where they're at…The second common misconception I see is that we have to load up our wheelbarrow with the biggest load of scary facts we can possibly find and just dump it on people because not enough people are worried about this.…But if we haven't connected the head to the heart, my life, the places I love, the people I love, the things I love my home, the price of my groceries, the price of my insurance, the quality of the air I'm breathing, or my child's breathing, if we haven't made the head to heart connection, people still see this issue as being distant and remote from them.”

Katharine Hayhoe on Electric Ladies Podcast

Signs of climate change are all around us, from ferocious and more frequent hurricanes, and in unexpected places, to massive wildfires and floods, as well as cracking roads and bridges. But many still don’t believe it or don’t want to take steps to avoid it or become more resilient. So, how can we reach them, especially in the very polarized culture we have today?

Listen to Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D. acclaimed climate scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy in this enlightening conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson. Katharine is also the author of several books, including “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.”

 

You’ll hear about:

●        How to talk about climate issues even without even talking about climate.

●        What we can learn from the faith-based community about talking about the climate crisis.

●        What is happening to the vitally important climate science data that was defunded and taken offline by the Trump administration…and so much more

●        Plus, career advice, such as:

 

“(W)hat am I uniquely good at? So there's certain things that I'm a lot better at than other people. So that's the filter that we should apply. But then my favorite's the last filter, which is what genuinely gives me joy, what charges my battery rather than depleting it. Now, of course, don't get me wrong, we all have to do things that deplete our battery every day. But if our work does not give us joy or if it gave us joy at some time in the past but is no longer doing so now, that's a sign to us to think differently about what we're doing….(And invest) in making our own lives sustainable is so important. It's something I feel like we often neglect and it falls by the wayside in our focus on everything else that needs to be sustainable. But really I think it starts with US.” Katharine Hayhoe on Electric Ladies Podcast

 

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

 

You’ll also like:

·       Unique Urban Climate Actions – Joan’s panel at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona with three top urban leaders from around the world.

·       How Climate Modelling Affects Everything – Maria Caffrey, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, UK’s National Physical Laboratory

·        Critical Minerals 101 – with Abby Wulf, Former Head of Critical Minerals at the Dept. Of Energy, & Center for Critical Minerals Strategy

·       The Politics of Climate & Energy – with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus

·       Climate Is A Security Emergency – Svitlana Krakovska, top Climate Scientist from Ukraine and Mirian Villela, head of Earth Charter International and the Center for Sustainable Development with Joan Michelson at The Earth Day Women’s Summit 2025.

 

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