How to be a climate leader. Yes, you.

Taylor Kate Brown
Aug 22, 2017 · 6 min read

It’s been almost a year since I started this newsletter. One of the major things I wanted to explore was how individuals fit into the the big shift fighting climate change would going to take. What does a single person do in the face of an overwhelming problem?

It’s still very much an open question, and one that’s been asked for all kinds of big, messy problems. One of the people that’s thought about this in a lot of different contexts is Tom Bateman, a professor at University of Virginia who studies behavioral change — basically, why people change their habits and behaviors in all kinds of contexts. And recent he’s gotten very interested in how people do or don’t change their behaviors in the face of the big, messy problem of climate change.

He has some surprising answers about how we think about who’s leading the climate change fight.


But first: Do you know someone making a small or big change in the climate fight I should interview? I want to find them. Reply at tkb@taylorkatebrown.com.

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What drew you to study behavioral change as it relates to climate change?

I realized the theoretical thing I was studying in the work place, being proactive, was exceptionally relevant for climate change. My theoretical interests merged when in class, I realized how little students knew about climate change. I thought they’d been thoroughly educated about it. I saw jaws dropping and eyes popping open and people amazed how big the problem was and how little is being done now.

You had a commentary in Nature called “The supply of climate leaders must grow”. Who’s a climate leader in your mind?

So most people think of leaders as people who are at the top of an organization: the boss who tells subordinates what to do. That’s kind of the same thing with political leaders, and we have to live with what they do.

I see leadership much more broader than that: anyone who engages with people to create constructive change — and that means anybody, everywhere.

Example?

A lot of people demonize business because they think of extractive industries, but private businesses are ahead on this. Or it’s community leaders, be it mayors or just citizens to take it upon themselves to do it. Teachers who teach science and add knowledge about climate change. Anybody who talks to their friends — who urges to get friends to get out of vote on the issue.

Are there certain kinds of people who can be leaders with a bigger impact that aren’t the obvious kind?

Of course there are environmental groups, NGOs, famous people. But I will say that the net of it all, at this point — it hasn’t been enough. There’s a failure of supply and demand here: there’s not enough supply. We need more people to step up and those who are stepping up to rethink their level or effectiveness of what they’re doing now.

Such a common thing is to just get pissed-off at politicians. You can know in your heart that you truly care about something. But its a long way to take action. The bridge between caring and taking action is a big step. I like people thinking about how they can ratchet up what they’re doing.

How can people take the step between talking about the problem and taking action?

I’ve seen optimistic articles — that Trump is unleashing this wave of change. But for most of this most of the time its still in pledge territory. I worry pledging that’s just making ourselves feel better. It’s still leaving it in other people’s hands — hoping and counting on others.

But how to do it? First off to realize that caring or being angry is all fine, but not nearly enough. One thing that holds people back is not considering themselves as leaders. But engaging in person is a first and easy step in climate leadership. Leadership is working with other people. It’s not just me recycling — I have to talk about recycling with other people.

People hold back because its a just a vast complex thing — where to start? I suggest picking one thing — or one zone — and talk to one other person. Start to educate yourself and start to educate others.

In my case, I didn’t have any knowledge base [on climate] — other than an interest from a distance. So read one article, start wading into it. Don’t feel like you need to be an expert in the beginning. Even the experts keep learning.

Do you think people, especially Americans have to push themselves outside their comfort zone to make progress on fighting climate change?

Yeah — and the whole comfort zone thing is pretty useful — it’s one reason there’s not enough action — people have a bias towards the way they’ve always acted. Relating to the leadership thing — you can walk to work — but those who get others to walk with you is the leadership move. If leadership seems daunting, I’d like to think of people as explorers, explorers of new ways of being, or taking action — the self-image of explorer may be more fun for some people.

One of the things my teens respond to is: you don’t need to be an extrovert to be an highly effective leader. That sometimes holds people back, but it can be a strength. Fundamentally when I talk to groups of executives — sometimes about leadership generally — what do they want most in their bosses? Listening is almost always the first one mentioned. Introverts are most likely to be listeners.

One of the problems that inhibits climate action is that it has been stereotyped as only an environmentalist issue. People who especially don’t worry about this issue stereotype it as a left-wing treehugger thing. As I learned more, what became more clear to me is that everyone has a good reason to care about climate change right now. If you’re a hunter or fisher; if you’re military, you are probably aware the Pentagon is deeply concerned about climate change. Business is for sure — we will lose business leadership to other countries. We’re losing leadership to China. I don’t understand why that doesn’t change more conservative minds.

I’m a person who doesn’t focus on climate change full time. Am I better off spending my limited time on reducing my own carbon footprint or advocating for local or state or business-based policies? Why?

I would imagine that a lot of people are already doing at least something with respect to their own carbon footprint, and if they are, then they are likely to continue. We all need to do more and should think about how we can. And then choose something new to do, something we believe can make a difference, and/or will make us feel good about making a contribution, and/or that we are most likely to stick with over time.

All else equal, I’d suggest focusing on policy changes. One’s place of employment is one place to start, and one can find like-minded colleagues and initiate change from within.

Political activism likewise can have collective impact beyond the sum of individuals’ carbon footprints. This activism can be a single issue, can be at the local level, and at all levels can take the form of voting people out of and into office based on their level of climate concern.

I think that’s where individual citizens can have the biggest impact with the least investment of time and effort: getting out the vote based on the most important causes has the most leverage for the average citizen I think the time is ripe for this and 2018 offers a big opportunity that must be seized.

To add a couple of specific local examples: 1) attending to how climate change is (not) taught in schools, and 2) fracking, which sometimes can be prohibited locally or can be agreed to but only with certain emissions and safety controls put in place.

Consumer behavior, meaning buying, or not buying, based on companies’ climate/environmental practices, can be highly effective.


Many thanks to Lauren Bateman, Tom’s daughter and member of my husband’s exercise cult, for tagging both of us on Twitter.


The Planet You Save May Be Your Own

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Taylor Kate Brown

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All things features for @BBCNorthAmerica. Human🤔. Ex-@wheatonmdpatch @columbiajourn. 📰 http://tinyletter.com/theplanetyousave

The Planet You Save May Be Your Own

Stories and links from your neighborhood climate heroes

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