A few weeks ago, I was the “speaker” for the Lean Culture Meetup, interviewed by Sean Murphy. I shared a bit about how Climate Companion got started, skills that founders need, and tips such as taking a customer discovery mindset. Here is a link to the video. Please enjoy and share your reactions in the comments.
Category: Communication
The 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day is this week, on April 22. The idea of the original Earth Day was that human health and planetary health are tightly linked: to protect one, we must protect the other. What might our planet be like 50 years from now, on the 100th Anniversary? In this post, I’m putting out my vision of that 2070 future, and some steps we can take now to get there, even in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
One of the reasons I started this blog was to practice talking more about global warming, and about actions I’m taking to reverse it. I hope that by doing this I can educate and inspire others to also act, and encourage and support those who are also already doing what they can. This crisis needs all hands on deck, and a diverse set of solutions.
Along the way, I’ve been inspired by the youth climate movement, starting most recently with Greta Thunberg’s school strikes and her wonderful speech at the UN Climate Change Conference last year. I agree with her and many others that the more we talk about and make visible the crisis, the easier it will be to continue to reverse it. Later this week, we all have a chance to take a stand, by participating in the Global Climate Strike. The youth have invited everyone to join them in striking on Friday September 20 and 27. As the web page says, “This is a global moment to show politicians everywhere that our movement is growing from strength to strength and we won’t stop until we get climate justice for everyone.”
As the effects of global warming increase in severity, many of us understandably want action. Multiple organizations focus on climate change communication and persuading people to act. But in many ways, this effort has hit a wall: the percentage of Americans who think that global warming is happening has held steady over the past two years, at around 70%. Furthermore, belief does not always incite action. How can we speed up progress in persuading people to act?
What if we take another communication approach? What if we communicate about a topic less likely to face the challenges faced by focusing on climate change? What if we do not even mention global warming or climate change? Why would we make this change in our communications strategy? Because if people act on it as a result, we also contribute to reversing global warming. The topic I’m referring to is simple living.