Research Hub · A field guide from the Effective Climate Justice Conversations report, 2025
Effective Climate Justice Conversations
How to have climate conversations that actually shift hearts and minds, how to train others to have them, and how to build a conversations program that lasts. Drawn from ten in-depth interviews with experienced Australian organisers, ten campaign case studies, and the research evidence.
Two ways to use this guide
Conversations are how the Australian climate movement shifts beliefs and grows: neighbour to neighbour, kitchen table to kitchen table, doorstep to doorstep. Pick the path that fits you. Everything on this page comes from the report, the interviews and the evidence behind them.
I want to have better conversations
The shape of a good conversation, the words that land, what to do when someone pushes back, how to finish with an ask, and which format to choose.
Start with the shape of a conversation → Path BI run, or train people for, a conversations program
Why people say yes and stay, how to train by doing, how to scale without burning out, and how to know whether it is working.
Start with why people say yes →Four questions, four answers
The project set out to answer four questions about climate conversations, drawing on peer-reviewed studies, grey literature, ten in-depth interviews with experienced advocates, and a review of public guides and toolkits. Practitioner experience and the research converged strongly. Click a question.
What we found
People are most motivated to join when they feel connection, purpose and agency. Programs that offer clear asks, supportive communities and visible impact are far more successful at engaging new volunteers. Once involved, people stay when they can grow into leadership, feel supported by peers, and see how their effort contributes to a larger movement.
What it means for you
Recruit through relationships, make the first ask concrete and low-stakes, get people practising on day one, explain plainly why conversations matter to the win, and celebrate progress out loud. See Why people say yes.
What we found
Effective conversations are values-based, emotionally resonant and rooted in trust. Peer-led and relational formats such as kitchen table conversations create deeper shifts in belief, while door-knocking offers scale and visibility. Programs that focus on the persuadable middle, use shared values, and structure conversations to build both identity and action have the greatest success.
What it means for you
Open with common ground, not climate. Tell your story, not the data. Aim your energy at people who are unsure. Always finish with a specific ask. See The shape of a conversation and Pick a format.
What we found
Scaling needs decentralised leadership structures, ready-to-use toolkits, and both emotional and logistical support. Not every format is equally inclusive: door-knocking can be inaccessible for people with disabilities or caring responsibilities, so offer several ways to take part and a ladder of engagement. Partner with existing community groups and trusted networks, especially in remote or harder-to-reach places, and invest early in understanding local issues.
What it means for you
Build a leadership ladder, hand people a kit that is ready to go, keep the support human, and anchor the program in local institutions. See Scale it.
What we found
Rigorous evaluation of impact is rare, especially in grassroots models. Layered approaches that combine story, data and self-reflection show the most promise for ongoing learning and accountability. Partnering with researchers to test messages, movement-building strategies and evaluation techniques would strengthen both impact and the evidence base.
What it means for you
Track a few simple numbers, capture stories, build reflection into every debrief, and measure confidence and relationships rather than expecting instant behaviour change. See Know if it works.
The shape of a good conversation
Short, flexible structures beat rigid scripts. The most used structure across the interviews was the 4Cs: it starts personally, links to climate, invites one action, and offers the keen a next step. Click each step to see how it sounds.
Connect
Start with the person, not the planet. Find something you genuinely share before climate comes up. Volunteers who opened with a question about everyday life found people relaxed and talked.
Not "Are you concerned about climate change?", which asks people to take a position before they trust you.
Context
Link what they have noticed to the larger pattern, through your own experience rather than statistics. You do not need to be an expert, and admitting that builds trust.
Personal, place-based stories outperform fact-heavy explanations. They activate emotion and trust, and they cannot be argued with.
Commitment
Every conversation includes one specific ask, matched to where the person is: pledge to vote for climate action, sign a petition, come to a community event. Conversations that stop at concern rarely lead to action; the ask is what turns agreement into movement.
Catapult
If someone is clearly engaged, offer an escalating next step there and then: a yard sign, a pack of stickers or information to share, coming to a training, volunteering next time. This is how conversations recruit as well as persuade.
See the full ladder of asks below.
Two more structures worth knowing
The Three Cuppa Tea Rule
From the Climate Justice & Resilience Toolkit for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: trust and understanding are built gradually, over roughly three real conversations, before any formal ask is made. Cultural safety, trust-building and respect for relational ways of working come first. It is good advice for any community you are new to.
REAL TALK (Climate Outreach)
Respect your conversational partner and find common ground. Enjoy the conversation. Ask questions. Listen and show you have heard. Tell your story. Action makes it easier (but doesn't fix it). Learn from the conversation. Keep going and keep connected.
"Doing it in a trusted group of people creates the environment where change can happen in quite a transformative way, much richer than if you have a five minute conversation on the phones or on the doors."
Kitchen table program organiser, interviewSay this, not that
The research and the practitioners agree on the words. Click a card to flip it.
Do
- Name the impacts up front. Loss frames beat gain frames; people do not like losing things.
- Lead with shared values and identity, care for community, fairness, your kids.
- Speak in the first person: "I feel", not "you should".
- Let people tell their own stories, and listen more than you talk.
- Acknowledge the urgency, once, without doom.
Don't
- Bombard people with emergency and doom messaging.
- Lead with data, jargon or acronyms.
- Pretend to be an expert. "We're just community members who really care" works better.
- Argue the facts with someone who is defensive; go back to values.
- Make assumptions from appearances; open with a question instead.
When they push back
Two tools. First, decide whether this is your conversation at all: organisers rate people on a spectrum from strong support to strong opposition, and spend their energy in the middle. Click where the person sits.
Neutral, undecided, or a weak oppose: this is your conversation
This is the persuadable middle, where peer-to-peer conversations work best. Slow down. Ask what they have noticed, listen, share your story, and finish with an ask sized to their energy.
An organiser's advice"If you're trying to flip someone's vote, you're looking for a 3: a neutral, or an undecided, or even a weak oppose."
Then, if they raise an objection, use LEAP
Listen
Actively listen to the objection without interrupting. Use silence as a tool: most people will expand on what they really mean if you give them room. You are not losing the argument by staying quiet; you are learning what the argument is.
Explore
Ask open-ended questions to find the root of the objection, so it becomes a mutual process of discovery rather than a debate.
Acknowledge
Express empathy and validate the feeling without immediately agreeing or disagreeing.
Value-bridging like this, practised in role plays, is how one regional alliance trained volunteers to de-escalate.
Propose
Deliver a tailored response that speaks to their specific concern and connects back to what they want. Then return to your ask. If it is going nowhere, you are allowed to leave, kindly.
"There's more people that care about climate than there are people that don't. And there's more people that can be persuaded than not. So we just reiterate that to volunteers."
Youth climate organiser, interview"You still want to be humane and polite and kind to those people. If it becomes apparent that you cannot really persuade them, it's fine to say, really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you, and wish them a good day."
National campaigning network organiser, interviewAlways finish with an ask
Conversations reliably raise concern and knowledge; they only lead to action when they end with a specific, doable step. Match the ask to the person's energy. Click a level to see the asks organisers actually used.
Small, thirty seconds
- Sign a pledge or petition
- Scan a QR code to send a letter to local candidates
- Join a mailing list or leave a contact for follow-up
- Take a sticker, badge or candidate scorecard
Visible, an hour or two
- Put up a yard sign
- Take an information pack to share with others
- Come to a candidates forum, community meeting or climate hall
- Join a table talk or focus group
- Come to pre-poll booth activities
Joining, ongoing
- Join a local climate action group
- Come to a training workshop and bring a friend
- Host a kitchen table conversation
- Become a facilitator, conversation captain or leader
- Train others and recruit new hosts
"You've always got to have an ask."
National conservation organisation organiser, interviewPick a format
No format is best at everything. Face-to-face conversations in trusted settings are the most persuasive; kitchen tables go deepest; door-knocking reaches furthest. Tell us what you are after and we will highlight the fit.
Face to face, in trusted settings
Consistently the most persuasive method. Deep canvassing, long empathetic conversations among peers or known community members, shifts opinion on hard issues.
Trade-off Slow, and depends on trained people.
Kitchen table conversations
Small, hosted groups in a home or known setting produce the deepest, values-based shifts and can turn guests into hosts and hosts into facilitators.
Trade-off Hard to scale: needs facilitator training and reliable hosts, and most of the work is getting people in the room.
Door-knocking
Broad reach and quick data, ideal for time-bound pushes like elections, and it reaches people no other format does.
Trade-off Shorter-term engagement, volunteers fear it most, and it is inaccessible for some people.
Market stalls and street presence
People self-select into conversations, so they are often the most powerful. Repeated presence in the same places builds familiarity and softens sceptics.
Trade-off Attracts the already-interested unless you return again and again.
Texting and digital
Efficient for outreach, reminders and younger audiences.
Trade-off Good for activation, weak for persuasion or dialogue.
Phone banking
Useful for mobilising and reminding your existing base.
Trade-off Depends heavily on a prior relationship or base alignment.
Not everyone can door-knock: people with disabilities or caring responsibilities need other ways in. Offer several formats and a ladder of engagement, and the program is both more inclusive and more resilient.
Why people say yes, and why they stay
Five motivational drivers came up again and again across the ten interviews, and each is backed by the volunteering literature. The bar shows how many of the ten organisers raised it. Open the examples for what it looked like in practice.
1. Relational connection, not just the cause
Mentioned by 10 of 10 intervieweesPeople come to see themselves as volunteers when they belong to a group. Peer-based approaches beat top-down engagement.
Examples from the interviews
- Fortnightly in-person meetings at consistent venues
- Pizza nights with guest speakers, shared meals, bringing food to events
- Buddy systems pairing new volunteers with experienced ones
- Group debriefs after every action, with coffee and hanging out
- "Taster" events: half an hour of door-knocking with no long-term commitment
- Bush rambles and slow stitch sessions as conversation entry points
2. Clear, values-based requests with a tangible goal
Mentioned by 10 of 10 intervieweesTime-bound, scaffolded asks outperform vague calls for commitment.
Examples from the interviews
- Framing conversations as volunteers' "biggest asset" and "the most strategic thing we do to win"
- Clear time-bound commitments: come to a retreat, learn the skill, take it back to your group
- Explaining "why this is worth their time" and "how it is going to make a difference"
- Appealing to both the connection piece (making friends) and the impact piece (seeing change)
3. Confidence through practice, not theory
Mentioned by 9 of 10 intervieweesPeople will have conversations when they feel capable. Practical training, team learning and early wins build that.
Examples from the interviews
- 70-20-10: 70% doing, 20% coaching, 10% classroom
- Beach conversations in threes straight after the workshop; 50 conversations the same day as training
- Door-knocking straight after training on a brief, do, debrief model
- Always working in pairs, so no one does conversations alone
- Role plays with common objections; FAQ sheets rather than expecting expertise
- See one, do one, teach one
4. A clear theory of impact, not busy work
Mentioned by 6 of 10 intervieweesVolunteers stay engaged when they can see how the tactic could create change, even if not immediately.
Examples from the interviews
- Explaining how conversations influenced elections or pressured parties
- Positioning conversations as central to the theory of change, not one tactic among many
- Framing the work as "building a climate movement", a story to belong to
- Showing how conversations serve both persuasion and recruitment
5. Public celebration, not invisible work
Mentioned by 4 of 10 intervieweesVisible metrics and celebration of progress keep volunteers motivated and reinforce collective momentum.
Examples from the interviews
- A Slack bot auto-posting conversation counts by region so people can cheer each other on
- Weekly WhatsApp shout-outs: "thank you for doing 50 conversations last week"
- Leaderboards and regional dashboards, "photo or it didn't happen"
- Team celebrations and coffee after actions; group reflection and story sharing
Making the pitch
Do
- Lead with shared values and identity: "help shape the future", not guilt
- Make the ask concrete, time-bound and easy to start: one event, three conversations this week, a half-hour taster
- Recruit peer to peer, friends asking friends, each person brings one other
- Make the first step social, supported and non-intimidating: group training camps, shadowing, buddies
Don't
- Rely on urgency, morality or crisis to recruit; it lowers conversion
- Send people out alone or into stranger outreach with no social anchor; that is where dropout happens
- Over-prepare people with technical information: the more you give, the less confident they feel
- Ask for more than someone is ready for; build the muscle gradually
The three barriers every program hits
The terror of door-knocking
The biggest barrier in every interview. Volunteers are terrified of approaching strangers, then find it easier than expected once they try. Tasters, pairs and immediate practice are the cure.
The knowledge burden paradox
Volunteers feel they need to be climate experts. But the more information you give them, the more overwhelmed they feel. Keep training simple enough that people keep their own authentic voice.
Enthusiasm versus turning up
People say yes and pull out at the last minute. Most of the organising load is getting people to the conversation, not running it. Plan for it: reminders, buddies, low-stakes first steps.
"People came for the climate, but they stayed for the community."
National campaigning network organiser, interview"We framed it as a taster. You come in, we go through the training with you, and then we just go out for half an hour of door-knocking."
Regional environment centre organiser, interview"The reason I stayed involved was because I felt like I was learning and growing."
Youth climate organiser, interviewTrain by doing
Brief training improves confidence; real-world practice with follow-up is what builds lasting skill. The organisers' models all share one shape: a short brief, immediate practice in company, and a debrief. Here is a first shift for a new volunteer. Tick them off as you plan yours.
- Brief: 30 to 60 minutes on the 4Cs, the ask, and two or three common objections. No policy pack.
- Frame them as community members who care, not experts. Hand out a one-page FAQ as a safety net.
- Pair every newcomer with someone who has done it before. Nobody goes alone.
- Practise inside first: role play one opener and one objection.
- Go out the same day: a half-hour taster on a friendly patch, in twos or threes.
- Name a conversation captain who is around for moral and practical support.
- Debrief straight after: what worked, what didn't, one story each. Coffee helps.
- Make the next ask before they leave: the next shift, and one friend to bring.
- Celebrate publicly the same day: the count, a photo, a shout-out.
- Check in within the week, and again before the next action.
Training models the organisers used
Brief, do, debrief
Pair people up so some debrief happens in the moment, then bring everyone together at the end for a quick what worked, what didn't. Each round of feedback improves the guide.
70 / 20 / 10
Seventy percent doing, twenty percent coaching, ten percent classroom. Retreats that end on the beach having fifty real conversations built confidence in a day.
See one, do one, teach one
Shadow an experienced volunteer, then lead with a buddy, then bring the next person along. The teaching step is where the skill sticks.
Incremental responsibility
Support people to go just outside their comfort zone, never far. Build the muscle gradually and nobody takes on more than they are ready for.
"If someone's new, they're going out with someone who's done it before. If you're doing it for the first time, it's nice to do it with someone who knows what they're doing."
Independent campaign volunteer lead, interviewScale without burning out
Scaling works when it is decentralised but supported: local leaders empowered, with strong coordination, training infrastructure and a shared culture behind them. Passion is not enough; it needs scaffolding, digital infrastructure and shared ownership.
The leadership ladder
Snowflake, not hub and spoke
One organiser deals with ten group leaders, and each of them with their own team. Hosts recruit guests, guests become hosts, hosts train as facilitators, so everyone is only ever one step removed from a social group.
Tight, loose, tight
The centre sets targets, holds the curriculum, data platform and support; local teams adapt scripts and methods to their community; the centre keeps quality through training and feedback.
Kits that are ready before you need them
Conversation guides, session agendas, FAQ sheets, template emails and reminders, all done before volunteers go out. User-tested so they work without an expert in the room.
Support that is human
Emotional, moral and logistical: check-ins, debrief circles, captains on the ground. Ongoing peer networks and prompts sustain action far better than one-off training.
Anchor in local institutions
Churches, sports clubs, schools, councils, playgroups. Working through existing community hubs brings built-in trust and logistics, and reaches beyond the already-engaged, especially in regional areas.
Nothing about us without us
Communities must feel the program is theirs. With First Nations communities: fair remuneration, Country centred in decision-making, and Indigenous people leading climate justice efforts.
"Run workshops, pull together people, go out and do the tactic with them, then identify leaders through that process and build them up."
Youth climate organiser, interview"You need people from that community to lead these activities. That way it's really genuine, I'm genuinely speaking neighbour to neighbour."
Regional community organiser, interviewKnow if it is working
Most programs count heads and stop there. The ones that learn use layered monitoring: a few simple numbers, plus reflection and stories, built into ordinary volunteer practice rather than bolted on as an audit. Measure confidence and relationships, not instant behaviour change. Pick a horizon.
Tools that grassroots groups actually kept using
- A short form after each round: how many conversations, one comment, one story
- Debrief with a standard three prompts: what worked, what didn't, one thing you learned
- Photo of the event with a caption
- A shared sheet or a Slack bot that posts the count so everyone sees it
Watch out
Even scanning a QR code after a conversation proved too much in the field. Make logging almost effortless, or let the captain log for the team. Debriefs can be dominated by extroverts; give quieter people a written or one-to-one option.
Tools
- Weekly check-in: "How confident did you feel in conversations this week?" (1 to 5)
- "Who new did you connect with this month?" (relationship mapping)
- Monthly pulse via a three-question form: location, number of conversations, one learning
- Buddy pairs interview each other after events; peer coaching circles
- Local group health: attendance, satisfaction, cohesion
Why these
Training reliably lifts knowledge, confidence and intent, but rarely produces measurable behaviour change within weeks. Self-efficacy and relational outcomes are the honest early indicators of a program that is working.
Tools
- Three and six month follow-up with core volunteers
- Track who became a captain, facilitator, trainer or leader
- Annual retention count; exit interviews with people who step back
- Most Significant Change: volunteers name their most meaningful conversation
- A follow-up call to a sample of the people you spoke with, to test whether the conversation stuck
Why these
Long-term retention and deeper engagement are almost never evaluated, and they are what movement-building depends on. Even one organisation that phoned ten percent of contacts three months later learned more than most.
Stories over metrics
Groups that tried rigorous quantitative evaluation found it expensive and hard to sustain. Those that collected qualitative stories and organic feedback did better with both volunteer retention and funders. Get photos and short vox pops of volunteers describing a conversation that moved them.
"Do not fall into the trap of showing metrics, because metrics can feel small. But if you tell stories they can be really powerful."
Kitchen table program organiser, interviewHow real programs did it
From hyper-local place-based campaigns in regional Queensland to national election mobilisations, structured kitchen tables to informal market-stall presence. Click any campaign to read how they did it, what worked, and the lesson they took away. Case studies are anonymised.
Resources and further reading
Guides and handbooks
Training
Read the full report
Effective Climate Justice Conversations was prepared by the Advocacy Research Network for the Climate Justice Coalition in June 2025. Our companion articles on the Commons Library: