The feedback from the 77 gymnasium students who participated in the climate apology workshop is encouraging: 91% of respondents found it interesting and 80% would recommend it to others.
Empathy, both for the common struggles we face to do the right thing and for the impact our actions have on the climate future of our loved ones, is a constant theme in the workshop. A student commented: “I really like the approach of understanding instead of confronting.”
While discussing our feelings about climate change can be difficult, 80% of respondents appreciated the chance to do so. “It was really interesting to get another point of view on climate change because we normally only get the scientific explanation behind it.” Systems thinking is key to the workshop in understanding the climate impacts we have in our roles as citizens, consumers, students / professionals and loved ones.
A week after the workshop, 50% of respondents reported that they had noticed their own excuses not to do what they can, 49% found the word “sorry” coming to mind when thinking about a climate-related action, and 52% had spoken to friends or family about the idea of our armchair environmentalist. This characterisation of our excuses provides an engaging way to talk honestly about climate change, which is a key factor in changing behaviour and influencing those around us. “It left me more hopeful about the future than other discussions and the news in general about climate change.”
Feedback has been incorporated to make the workshop more practical and interactive. In the first break-out session, participants brainstorm the actions they can take. In the last workshop, they managed to come up with a comprehensive list of almost all the actions recommended by the UN, except for responsible banking. This highlights that the common excuse of not knowing what to do is just that – an excuse not to change our behaviour.
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