Hello! I’m about to tell you a story and then invite you to come to a conversation training.
If you don’t have time to read the story—perhaps, because oh I don’t know you’re a time-poor parent—I won’t judge you. Instead I'll just give you the details.
Here’s the RSVP links if you want to cut to the chase and then get back to cutting up apple or whatever it is your kids are asking you to do right now:
- Lunchtime conversation online training, 12-12:45PM AEDT, Thurs Oct 17
- Evening conversation online training: 8-9PM AEDT, Thurs Oct 17
“Wait, what’s a conversation training though, Mike?” I hear you say.
And I’m like, “Oh thanks for asking! It’s where you learn how to talk about climate issues in a way which builds bridges rather than getting people’s backs up.”
And then you’re like, “Wow that sounds great I will definitely RSVP for either the lunchtime session or the evening session! But now I have to go cut up some apple.”
And then I’m like, “Sweet, see you there!”, and bid you a fond farewell.
If you do have time, here’s the story.
I’m pretty good at talking to people about climate issues now, but it certainly didn’t come naturally.
First, I’m an introvert by nature; I also grew up not knowing I’m Autistic, i.e. the social cues of the dominant society I grew up in were frankly mysterious to me.
Second, I grew up delegating the work of social change to others. As far as I was concerned it was the job of better, nobler and smarter people than me to talk about social or environmental issues.
Third, people who love fossil fuels had worked hard to intimidate the rest of us out of feeling like we had the right to speak on climate issues. I was intimidated, anyway. I felt like I needed at least two PhDs to be able to say even that I was concerned.
And honestly, given all that, I might have stayed quiet for years longer.
But then my partner and I decided to have a child.
My daughter Mei is 10 now, full of life and love and jokes and a boundless desire for slices of apple, but back then she was just a hope. And one afternoon, walking through my loungeroom, a diagonal shaft of sunlight lighting up the dust motes just so, it suddenly hit me that my hope was incompatible with my silence.
That if everyone who cared as much as I did was as quiet as I was, there was no pathway to a liveable future for the child we hoped to have.
That moment changed me. I started learning everything I could about how to shift my society towards the liveable future I wanted for my child.
I have cut up so much apple!
One of the very first things I learned is that one of the things that most reliably changes someone's mind, or helps them move from passive support to actually taking action, is a conversation with someone they trust. And that the skills of effective conversations are teachable.
Where I’m going with all this is: it didn’t come naturally to me, I learned, and I can teach you how to do it too.
So come and learn how to talk about climate issues in a way that builds bridges rather than getting people’s backs up! To make it as accessible as possible to parents we have two online sessions scheduled for Thursday October 17:
- Lunchtime conversation online training, 12-12:45PM AEDT
- Evening conversation online training: 8-9PM AEDT
Thanks for all that you do,
Mike
Michael Pulsford
Campaign manager, Parents for Climate