Traditionally, the July & August issues of this newsletter are my time to replenish – where content is slim & rest time large – to relax & reconnect with a larger meaning & purpose. As an experiment this year, I’m focusing on the theme of conflict & the Environment for these two summer issues. Always like to hear what you think. Enjoy!
It’s heartwarming to think that talking helps with climate change!
A colleague friend of mine, Aaron Leakey, sent me an article about the role of conflict resolution in encouraging dialogue about climate change. According to the climate scientist quoted in the article
That same article mentioned a few organizations sparking citizen dialogue across political divides. Percolab Coop in Montreal hold public workshops on collaboration, conflict resolution and citizen issues. They call their gatherings Conflict Cafes.
On the West Coast of Canada, Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue encourages citizen dialogues, having hosted a series of such conversations about energy and our future. They’ve also collected a list of other dialogue initiatives around the world.
The political left and right seem increasingly polarized, which makes dialogue impossible. So, what can you do and what can I do?
I called up a dear friend of mine in preparation for this article. She’s been in my life for 40 years. In an earlier identity, she was decidedly left in her politics and one of those people who would chain herself to a tree if it would save one. As time went on, she started identifying more with the right, such that she and her family are now my only friends who clearly identify with the right. I don’t know if I would even have that privilege if we hadn’t know each other for so many years before her political shift.
So, I called her to ask what she thought about this increasing polarization of politics and dialogue. I love to hear what she has to say. I find her thoughts, more closely aligned with the right, often stretch me and challenge me with our differences. I appreciate her perspective because it gives me a broader, more nuanced and complex view of issues.
This time, she surprised me because of our alignment.
She too does not like the polarization and believes that’s not what we need for a healthy civilization. We had common ground in thinking we need our opposites to be balanced – we need the multitude of perspectives. She bemoaned the lack of listening and desired the capacity for us all to have the freedom to speak.
Of course, free speech starts to move us into the domain of the right and yet to move towards more dialogue in the political arena, we need to focus on how we can understand each other more, despite the political/regional differences in language.
We all want to be able to express ourselves and to be listened to.
Practices like Non-Violent Communication (Marshall Rosenberg) and circles gives us tools to be able to listen more deeply to find the common ground and build up based on common values. There are plenty of resources too that will tell you how to host a dialogue.
All the religions of the world share commonalities. I learned that early on through my own interest in spiritual perspectives that spanned from Catholicism, Anglicanism, Baptists to Buddhism, Bahá’í, the Quakers, Unity, Spiritualism, and the Unitarian Universalism approaches. Linda Popov’s Family Virtues work identifying the 50 most common values in all religions is another wonderful resource to build up a common vocabulary and refocus us on what can create common ground.
Is there anyone in your life you can talk with whose world views are not the same as yours? Can you search for common ground and agree on those? Can you partner with someone and together host a circle to hear multiple views on a political or environmental issue like climate change?
One of the core challenges facing us humans is whether we can hold the tension of differing views while not exciting our fears and threats about each other. Let’s get talking. The world depends on it.
“Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” … Jane Goodall