HOW TO TALK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Navigate those difficult conversations without things getting heated

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If you've ever thought you're not a good speaker or writer, you're among friends: this is the top barrier to action identified by the 24 per cent of Australians who are most alarmed about climate change, according to research by government body Climate Compass. Dr Rebecca Huntley, author of How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference, made the call that this is one of the hardest topics to talk about - more difficult than sex and politics, and more on the level of death and depression.

"The silence around climate change in our daily lives works to decrease our sense that it is a real and imminent threat, which in turn affects everything from our voting decisions to our purchasing choices and general behaviour," Huntley writes.

So how do we go about it? What does it take to have a productive conversation on climate change? Is there some secret sauce that has the power to transform friends, family members or work colleagues?

The author of Together We Can, Claire O'Rourke, tells us how...

STEPS TO STARTING THE CONVERSATION