If climate change is so urgent, why are we so stuck?: Part 4

By Meg Kinney

This article is the fourth of a 4-part series that is adapted from an independent study by Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) alumna Meg Kinney. The project titled “Finding New Climate Messengers: cultural context for the breakthrough narrative we need” can be accessed here. (A breakthrough narrative is a forward-looking mindset that invites collaboration and shared possibilities for addressing wicked problems; it is the opposite of a declinist mindset).

Ask anyone at a dinner party why Americans cannot seem to mobilize at scale to address climate change and you will likely get a patchwork of answers. Some will reference policy hurdles and the inhospitably polarized political arena. Some might point to economic interests and influence of the oil and gas industry. Others will pile on and add that our infrastructure is built around fossil fuels and that green alternatives are slow and costly. Most people around the table will acknowledge that eroded trust in the media landscape has muddied our sense of truth and trust. And the thing is, everyone would be right. We cannot point to one culprit to punish or one moonshot investment that will fix the crisis. Climate change is a wicked problem. Addressing it demands trade-offs everyone must accept; one person’s version of winning is another person’s version of losing. This is all very disheartening. It saddens us and angers us. It surely doesn’t do much for the vibe at the dinner party either. What. Do. We. Do? 

In this blog series, the underlying thesis has been that what we have is not a science problem, but a people problem.  

The public’s “stuckness” has been explained in a variety of ways:  

• We’re paralyzed by the complexity because climate change is a Hyperobject
• We’ve created a social ledger that scoffs at incremental steps a company takes and we judge the environmental progress of others through an impossible lens of perfection 
• The 24/7 news cycle favors dystopia and obscures the innovations and discoveries worthy of real optimism, the necessary ingredient for collective action 
• Our focus on past sins and sinners is inhibiting our ability to create a shared vision of the future where we are in it together 
• All the while modern life is taking us further from our visceral connection to nature, the physiological and psychological benefits of awe, and indigenous wisdom 

We’ve been in this liminal space for some time—the uneasy transition between what got us here and knowing that we must change how we go forward. It’s true, addressing the climate crisis at scale is about transforming institutions and large interdependent systems. But what is also true is that these systems are all constructs made up of people, or what my professor Kathy Miller Perkins refers to as “self in the system.” None of these systems will change if we as individuals are not willing to change too.  

You can change without transforming, but you cannot transform without changing.

I hear the word “transformation” thrown about a lot in business, but without a deeper, truer understanding of what it is asking of each of us individually. Transformation begins by believing that we are all interconnected and that you as an individual matter to the whole. It is about our own emotional intelligence, capacity for change, and belief in our potential. Transformative change asserts the importance of the connection between our outer work and our inner work; uniting what we do with who we are. This is what I mean when I say that climate change is a people problem. 

It's time to start sharing a different story at the dinner party. We need a breakthrough narrative, but what is that exactly?

It’s not another TedTalk. It’s not another weather event in the news cycle. It surely won’t be our 2024 election. So, who is the bravely optimistic messenger that can ride shotgun with science and help get us “unstuck?” The messenger is you. And you matter. You are the vast majority in between the experts and the small minority of the willfully disengaged. You are an agent of transformation. And so am I. Nearly every day, we encounter some form of a climate conversation. Each conversation can be a spark toward collective action that moves us toward infinite possibility.

Here's how we get started...

• Let’s unleash our imaginations. Capitalism may be part of the problem, but it also plays a huge part in the solution. There are incredible climate technologies and social innovations being funded today by the private sector that have both the environment and environmental justice in mind. Economists are nudging us toward a ‘growth within limits’ mindset.  
• Shift your gaze. Be disciplined and intentional about what you give your attention to. Pay attention to the artists, comedians, musicians, activists, and spiritual leaders helping communicate what the science cannot – belief in ourselves.   
• Give up the idea of perfect actors and perfect solutions. The moral ledger, the cultural takedowns, the sarcasm. It’s all got to go because it’s keeping the climate conversation stuck in second gear. It’s ok to be dissatisfied but we must acknowledge effort and appreciate when creativity is trying to lead us someplace new. “Yes, and!”
• Fall in love with the natural world, from wherever we are. Which is to say, we fall back in love with the world – there is no life without nature. If we lose connection with nature, we lose connection with ourselves. 

Nobelist and author Karen O’Brien insightfully sums up this point in time: “We need to approach complex and urgent global challenges, such as climate change, from a different perspective. Climate change is more than just an environmental problem. It’s about how we relate to each other, how we relate to nature, how we relate to the future, and how we relate to change itself.” 

Let’s give ourselves and each other the grace to be fallible and change. The societal transformation we need to effectively address the climate crisis is not possible if we are weighted by judgment and fear. We can be the breakthrough narrative. We decide the story that will be told.

About the Author:
Meg Kinney is an ethnographer and cultural strategist as well as a 2023 graduate from Virginia Tech’s Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program focused on leadership for global sustainability. She works with brands, sustainability leaders, and social innovators helping them understand the context of progress and telling relevant stories to inspire change.