Why is it sometimes difficult to raise the topic of climate change with family, friends or colleagues? How can we make conversations easier and more fruitful? The first Transition Café workshop in 2019 provided an opportunity to share thoughts and observations on these topics. We surveyed the kinds of opportunities for conversations which may arise - and which of them are most worth pursuing. We also considered the feelings and attitudes, in ourselves and others, which make things stressful. And we explored the kinds of moves which may put things on a better footing. The workshop was facilitated by Jane Heal. Jane has worked with Cambridge Carbon Footprint for ten years and been a Trustee since 2013. She has lived in Cambridge since 1986 and retired from teaching philosophy at the university in 2012. Fruitful discussions led to the following takeaway points:
- Honestly share personal experience, positive changes as well as struggles (e.g. what kind of exciting new food items you have discovered since you went vegan, or how difficult it is to find replacements for certain food since you went vegan)
- Use positive comments as opportunity to share personal, positive experiences (e.g. if someone compliments your dress, say that you found it during a fun charity shop tour with friends)
- Live the example and inspire people indirectly (e.g. if you went to Spain by train on holiday, tell stories of your adventures on the way)
- Be “manipulative” and plan (e.g. so that you are prepared if someone, with the intent to corner you, changes the topic to an area where you are less committed.
- Reflect on conversations and learn from them (e.g. to improve your conversation strategies)
- Find jokes to give the conversation a light touch (e.g. Two planets meet. The first one asks: "How are you?" - “Not so well", the second answered, "I've got the Homo Sapiens." - “Don't worry," the other replies, "I had the same. That won't last long.”)
- Sometimes it’s better not to do it all in one go (e.g. plant a seed/new thought and come back to the topic in a later conversation)
- Acknowledge difficult emotions and step back (e.g. to prevent the conversation from getting tense and heated)
- Ask questions and be a good listener (e.g. rather than talking uninterruptedly and sounding patronising)
- “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”, which means that the demand for perfection might decrease the chances of a good or favourable result (e.g. if you try to persuade someone to go vegan, you might decrease the chance of that person reducing their meat consumption or going vegetarian)