Depending on your audience, talking about climate and energy technologies to address climate change can lead to uncomfortable or charged conversations. At Energy for the Common Good, we often navigate issues such as the perceived risks of fusion energy, the urgent need to fund fusion research and development, and the dire implications for climate change, if we don’t find alternative solutions to fossil to complement the renewables we count on. Talking about fusion is not always easy. Hosted by the American Physical Society, Energy for Common Good led a webinar on June 29th to explore different tools to productively engage in controversial topics. Our aim was to help others gain confidence when entering difficult conversations.
ECG enlisted a diverse team of experts from the intersection of the renewable and fusion energy spheres, communication, and public engagement. Our five panelists included Laban Coblentz, Greg De Temmerman, Dr. Stephanie Diem, V. John White, and Jane Hotchkiss, who each brought their own unique perspectives to approaching difficult conversations. (We include their short bios below.) A core part of the meeting included breakout sessions led by the panelists in which participants actively engaged in different challenging scenarios and in which participants and panelists learned from each other’s experiences.
With this talented host of panelists, ECG facilitated a conversation describing multiple useful tools for approaching complex conversations—ranging from finding common ground to understanding data and trends to recognizing the importance of knowing and listening to your audience. Three main themes resonated throughout our conversations:
Knowing your audience is perhaps the most important factor in approaching a difficult subject. Being conscious of potential biases and adjusting the conversation to account for another’s previous experiences can go a long way toward engaging your audience.
Understanding your purpose is also crucial to having a productive conversation about a controversial topic. Laban Coblentz encourages people to ask themselves if they are hoping to use a conversation to “inform, inspire, or tell a story.” In many situations, attempting to provide someone with raw information, however credible, is not nearly as effective as describing the emotions you experience in response to the topic you are discussing.
Telling your story and listening to your audience—be it an individual or a group—is a remarkably effective approach to advancing a conversation and to do it well requires employing the first two themes. By conveying how you came to your beliefs and asking about the story and background of the person/people to whom you are talking, shows mutual respect in a conversation which helps both parties understand and “hear” each other’s perspective. Steffi Diem suggests keeping the conversation going by asking questions to understand where the other person is coming from – their values and their sources of information—and noted that memes or simply stating facts often has the effect of shutting down a conversation.
In working through the APS, we recognized that our audience for the webinar would primarily consist of people studying or teaching physics. Since conversations about science and technology inherently involve facts and data, ECG sought to highlight approaches that went beyond proof to encompass empathy, storytelling, and shared experience. Empowering others to communicate more effectively directly translates into a broader, more publicly accessible conversation—and that’s exactly what we need for fusion. John White noted that as the head of an organization focused on renewables, the reason he came to fusion was timing. To answer the question of how we meet atmospheric deadlines we need more solutions—not just for electric, but also for liquid fuels, including hydrogen, and industrial and manufacturing applications. Jane engaged the group with worst- and best-case histories in clean energy development, initiating debates about what kind of information the public needs and how soon this outreach should start in order to support fusion’s deployment in time to make a difference. To maximize the impact of the APS webinar and the contributions from panelists, participants, and ECG staff, we will continue to gather feedback and share conversations from the webinar as we shape the discussion to advance fusion energy as the best clean vehicle for addressing climate change soon enough to make a difference.
Laban Coblentz entered his field as a researcher at US Nuclear Regulatory Committee and transitioned to a nuclear diplomacy consulting position at the International Atomic Energy Association. Currently, he is the Head of Communication at ITER, the largest ever international research project which is working to develop net positive fusion energy. He recently joined the Board of Directors at ECG.
Greg De Temmerman is a material scientists and plasma physicist who worked at multiple fusion laboratories before joining ITER in 2014. Departing ITER in 2020, Greg is now the managing director of Zenon Research, a non-profit raising awareness about the energy transition and the interconnectedness between energy, the economy, and human development.
Dr. Stephanie Diem is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she is researching the use of microwaves to heat and drive current through plasma. Throughout her career—first as a researcher working on the DIII-D fusion device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and now as an Assistant Professor at UW—Dr. Diem has actively engaged in scientific outreach of for students, congressional staff, and the public.
V. John White is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT), a nonprofit coalition formed from the nation’s leading environmental groups and green businesses. Mr. White has been a political consultant for almost his entire career, contributing to the adoption of significant legislation and green energy technology ranging from the California Clean Air Act to the zero-emission vehicle mandate. He serves on the Board of Directors at ECG.
Jane Hotchkiss is the Co-Founder and President of Energy for the Common Good, recently established to advance the acceptance fusion within a growing clean energy economy. She has over 30 years of experience within the clean energy sphere, working on advocacy, policy, and regulatory work in many forms ranging from challenging the fossil fuel industry as part of the Clean Air Task force to developing wind projects with PG&E and large scale solar backed by JPMorgan as the Managing Director of CEI.