Finding your climate story

In a time when facts and figures surrounding climate change are too ubiquitous and ever-changing to keep track of, Sarah Harding advocates for a climate story, an emotional foothold for the world’s changing climate or a personal connection that propels you to action.

For her, it was a realization during a surf trip to Indonesia.

“We’re in this super remote area, 10 hours on a boat to this remote island chain in the middle of the Indian Ocean. And then we pull up to that beach and swim in, and it’s covered in plastic,” she says. “It was literally heartbreaking to see that.”

Harding will share her story and advocate others to find their own during her “How to Tell Your Climate Story” at the fifth annual Free the Seeds! event on Saturday at Flathead Valley Community College in the Arts and Technology Building.

In Harding’s case, her Indonesia experience spurred her to find a way to reduce plastic consumption, which she and her sister-in-law did by starting Coconut at Sea Shop Co., a soap and shampoo bar business that eliminates plastic containers.

The business is a small drop in a big bucket when it comes to acting and living more sustainably, but those small drops add up, Harding says.

“That’s part of why we don’t do anything about climate change, it just feels so big that we feel like, ‘I’m just one person, what can I do?’” she says. “But doing the little things helps us feel like we’re making changes and doing something. If millions of people do the little things, then they do matter.”

Harding got started advocating for climate stories when she began writing for Montana Woman magazine, starting with a story called “It’s time to get uncomfortable.”

In the magazine, she shared her Indonesia story, as well as a story about a family reunion in Idaho where she was confronted by climate change deniers. Instead of bringing up facts and figures related to the Earth’s changing climate, she folded up.

“I turned bright red and was frozen, I had no idea what to say,” she says.

That experience changed her view on those difficult conversations.

“I’m not going to even put that pressure on myself to tell my story, I’m just going to listen and breathe and get curious about where they’re coming from, where they’ve heard that,” she says. “I’m finding that common ground of like, ‘I’m willing to listen to you and respect your opinions and your stance. Let’s look for what we can agree on and start there.’”

Emotion is an important part of the equation, she says, not for arguing but for calling yourself to action.

That’s why a climate story is important, and why Harding advocates for exploring the negative ways a changing climate can affect you.

For her, the dreams of travel are falling apart quick. Vacations by plane are turning into family camping trips in much closer locations.

For others, maybe the way of living one has dreamed about needs to take a backseat to a more sustainable way of life.

“We’ve all been hearing facts and figures for 30 years. We’ve known this is coming, for my whole life. The facts and figures don’t do anything to change people’s behavior. But connecting and sharing our hearts and helping each other to uncover that emotional motivation — for some people it’s an experience. For other people it might be their future. They might have some grief abut what their future could look like, or things they’re going to have to give up,” she says. “We can’t all keep doing this.”

Free the Seeds! is an annual community-led event focused on real seeds, real food and real skills, with this year’s focus on reducing and recovering waste to build a better food system. Topics include composting, seed saving, gleaning, repurposing, recycling and vermiculture.

Free the Seeds! is a program of the nonprofit Farm Hands — Nourish the Flathead. More information can be found online at freetheseedsmontana.com