The discourse around climate change can lead to anxiety, detachment or resignation because it often stretches language in ways that make the world feel distant.

Global averages and abstract temperature thresholds make it harder for people to relate to climate change in their own specific location. And while the language of sustainable development appeals to rationality, it fails to engage people creatively and collectively.

But we have discovered that writing about local places that people are already connected to changes this dynamic and gives people a way to examine their own assumptions within a recognisable framework.

Read more: How stories of personal experience cut through climate fatigue in ways that global negotiations can’t

Across our research in the UK and Sweden, grounding dialogue in the environments people know consistently improved understanding of climate issues and shifted the tone of discussion.

When participants begin with places they care about, they move away from remote fears and towards more constructive reflection. They draw on memory, observation and the granular details........

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