1) Conversation is enough.
In a society that continues to isolate us from one another through individualistic, fast-paced lifestyles and work environments, conversation with one's neighbors allows us to slow down and focus on human relationships. This practice helps to break down barriers and build empathy with one's neighbors. The connections you form in climate conversations are something you can draw from when building and imagining climate resilience in your community. Additionally, our conversations are not one-sided or transactional, but mutually generative. Our goal is to find connections and build something together.
2) Climate resilience relies on a strong community.
When climate disaster or anxiety strikes, we need community to support us - to share food and electricity and to check up on one another. Climate conversations allow us to begin building community with one another, united by a common desire to know that we are not alone. Listening helps us build empathy by making space for others and learning where they are in their climate journeys. Finally, a focus on imagination and creativity in our conversations encourages us to find hope and abundance in a world that may at times seem lost. Together, we can think outside the box and build for a better future.
3) We can make change together.
Though at times we may feel isolated, we are not alone in the fight against climate change. Climate conversations give you the opportunity to realize that people all across your community are working toward climate resilience in their own ways. From reducing your plastic use or planting native flowers, to working on racial justice or migrant advocacy, each of these actions are a part of the bigger push toward justice and resilience - for ourselves and for the future.
4) Individual change supports structural change.
While we know that climate change is a product of large structural issues, we also believe that individual and structural change aren’t in conflict with each other, and individual change can lead to structural change. Therefore, we maintain that having personal conversations isn’t a distraction from working towards structural change. Rather, every conversation has the potential to open ourselves and others up to making and supporting small and big changes that we might not even have thought about otherwise.