Green Conversations

Green Conversations is a project of NLEN that aims to bring NLEN members and the wider community together to share information about environmental-related topics in Newfoundland and Labrador. People with particular knowledge and expertise on the various topics are invited to participate as conversation starters/ resource people. All welcome. All respectful views welcome.

Recap NLEN Green Conversation II: Promoting Personal and Environmental Resilience

May 15, 2025 / Whale Atrium, Core Science Building, Memorial University, St. John’s

Resource People: Rita Anderson (Cognitive Psychologist, MUN), Marty Day (Social Psychologist, MUN), Kim Todd (Social enterprise, thegreenrock/Guide to the Good)

Participants: 12 – 20 in person, several on Zoom; Teens through seniors. Extensive, enthusiastic discussion by all – hard to summarize.

Opening conversation
“Dealing with Fake News, Disinformation and Misinformation”.
- Pay attention to source of information, author, date, biases;
- Fact checking; Social media (Facebook/Twitter) posts need critical evaluation;
- Beware of exaggerated headlines in news;
- Rage bait efforts to start arguments;
- AI summaries are biased by frequency of occurrence.
- Personal contributions: Often stuck in our group, confirmation bias è silo effect where we read/hear what we believe.
Actions:
- Don’t forward questionable posts;
- Don’t argue, but consider asking “Why do you want to believe that?”
Climate Actions, Advocacy:
- How to get people engaged?
- - Assessing awareness of the problem, attitudes, emotions, biases;
- - Changing attitudes è changes in behaviour;
- - Life experiences influence present actions;
- - Many feel that problem is too big for personal actions to count.
- - Need concrete examples of how small things we can do can make a difference;
- - Some environmentally good actions also save money.
- Some actions:
- - Support sustainable businesses;
- - Buy locally;
- - Connect to community and nature;
- - Grow your own—community gardens;
- - Challenge car culture, bike paths;
- - Inspire others by doing something;
- - Assess personal carbon footprint;
- - Do what you can.
Some “excuses”:
- Too busy, money worries, burnout/emotional exhaustion; lazy; failure to consider implications of actions; expect new tech to solve problems; climate anxiety …