Don't try to decide whether others should care, but talk about climate because you care

"But how do you get people to care," someone asked yesterday.

"You don’t," Katharine Hayhoe replied. "The idea that we personally decide what everyone else needs to care about is one of the central barriers to effective communication."

On that note, she shared her 2018 TEDWomen talk.

The whole talk is great. If you're most interested in not deciding what everyone else needs to care about and you only have three minutes, listen to 5:00–8:00
There, Prof. Hayhoe says essentially: First, know why climate matters to you. Then, when you talk about it, start with the values you share with the other person. If you don't know what values they might share with you, build that relationship and find out. Then, talk about why climate matters to you — those reasons are probably also salient to the other person.

Relatedly, on Caring

I wrote about The Importance of What We Care About by Harry G. Frankfurt (on Medium, paywalled).

Worried about the climate convo with your uncle at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow? Jimmy and I have you covered.

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— Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) November 27, 2024 at 7:43 PM

People often claim that scientists are soft-pedalling the issue. Here is the proof that we’re not.

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— Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) November 27, 2024 at 7:49 PM

Senate Climate Hawks Aren't Ready To Stop Talking About It “We need to talk about it in ways that connect directly to voters’ lives right now,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a top environmentalist, said of global warming. Igor Bobic, HuffPost, Jan 3, 2026