The Climate Whisperers
Environmental groups and their allies have seen two of the bedrock statutes of modern environmental law (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act) eroded through recent decisions from the Supreme Court. At the same time, political polarization around climate policy—the gap between Republicans and Democrats on whether worsening global warming merits a response—is wider than it has ever been.
Despite these dispiriting headwinds, there are some encouraging counterpoints of recent climate progress in politically conservative communities. The heart of this essay is simply sharing these stories so we can learn from them. I label the advocates who succeeded in promoting solar-energy development in Batesville, Arkansas and Evansville, Indiana as “climate whisperers” for their talent in bringing unlikely allies to the table. What they seem to have in common is that they excel at listening for listening’s sake—by which I mean listening to community members’ concerns with humility and without judgment.
Finally, I conclude that these climate whisperers have important lessons to teach lawyers and law students looking to work on environmental advocacy. Building off of the work of the community lawyering movement, I recommend that the most immediate task for climate lawyers is to develop the skills of good listeners. While the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct have largely overlooked these skills, they strike me as essential to ethical lawyering in this context.