Lessons in cross-cultural communication about climate

The impacts of climate change in the Arctic extend to the core of communities’ well-being, affecting their food security, safety, culture and sovereignty. As Chole Nunn tells us, this demands that discussions of climate solutions cut across scientific disciplines and be conducted with respect for multiple ways of knowing, being and doing. Her educational journey across marine ecology and social science uniquely shaped her graduate research, and she is now using an ever-growing understanding of different disciplines and perspectives to broaden the climate conversation.

When I arrived in the tiny island community of Uummannaq, Greenland in July, the sun had been up since March. It glinted across the sea, reflecting off icebergs and leaving them bright white in the bay. The sound of sled dogs and Greenlandic polka filled the air. A car drove down the crumbling road on its way to a Kaffemik, a traditional coffee and cake event with dancing and singing. The heart-shaped mountain for which the town is named created a backdrop for the celebratory fireworks.

Once I’d gained my bearings in Uummannaq and discovered the joys of covering my windows with tin foil to get a full night’s sleep, I was able to turn my attention to my research. The first step was to present my proposed questionnaire to my local collaborator. I had been thinking of the questionnaire as something of a lifeline: I’m a quantitative marine scientist, and it would provide me with numbers. So I experienced a quiet panic when my collaborator convinced me to change my methodology on the spot and use interviews only.

But I deferred to her local knowledge—and ultimately, it was the right decision, not to mention a lesson in research adaptation and on-the-ground flexibility.

The next lesson I learned was that not only do our individual needs and desires shape our perspectives on the climate crisis, but that our values and worldviews shape the language we use to talk about it.

Chole Nunn

The importance of relationships

Taking the time to build trusting relationships was key to my research, particularly because it forced me to work at the pace of the community. I ended up taking the time to reflect on my own relationship with climate change impacts.

I come from an economically, ethnically and politically privileged background and have generally lived in climatically stable, temperate locations. Until I began my research in the Arctic, the conversations and education I’d had about climate change were typically in academic or political settings. They were much more abstract than, for example, the fact of unsafe sea ice preventing hunters from bringing food home to their families. Worsening storms, heat waves and coastal erosion—which are all tangible climate impacts in the UK—don’t seem to elicit urgent action to mitigate climate change. Perhaps the intangible language we tend to use keeps the topic at bay.