The Strategy and Language of the Gas Stove Culture Wars So you want to “ban” gas stoves? A firestorm erupted in January over the pollution of gas stoves. As climate activists, we reacted without a solid strategy and without testing the language we are using. Consequently, we may lose [...]
“We can no longer tolerate Republican’s bankrupt delay on climate.” Do you get an image or feeling on the quality of their delay from this sentence? If we want our ideas to spread, we must use words that create images and feelings and connect them to stories and narratives [...]
“We may not know what lies ahead, but it’s only human to search for it.” – Chevron This is the concluding sentence from a recent Chevron ad I saw. Seems innocuous. It’s lofty and inspirational and would likely slip past, except it raised my “cow waste” detector. Not many [...]
There are no magic words. Words that you can say that will make people suddenly understand and then prevent our rapidly unfolding climate chaos. Some words are better than others, but lots of them are just junk. Of course there is more to the climate crisis than words. But [...]
I was talking to a friend the other day and she said, “Can’t people see the climate crisis is real? Our forests are burning. We have the worst air from smoke in the Twin Cities ever.” Of course she was right to ask the question. But my friend was [...]
Folks, the coup attempt to overthrow our democracy on January 6th by Trump traitors is not over! Not by a long shot. The battle is now being waged in the words we use to describe what happened, and will determine what happens next. For those in the climate movement [...]
