How To Talk To Strangers About Environmental Issues

Talking about environmental issues can sometimes feel like walking through a landmine, particularly when it’s with strangers. The potential to offend, provoke or polarise lurks behind every sentence.

Yet despite this, something powerful happened at our April event, Catalysing Conversations for World Earth Day…

We removed the labels people give to themselves and others.

“I’m a liberal” | “I’m a vegetarian” | “I’m a banker”

In fact the only label we asked people to reveal was their name, which they put on a sticky label.

After that, we prevented identity-revealing probes like “so what do you do?” from entering the conversation by leading attendees through a Conversation Menu packed with curious questions to consider together (sneak peak below).

And it was by this simple act of removing the labels we too often use to symbolise our identity and values that we were able to powerfully change the nature of the conversation, despite the sensitive topic.

How? Because being label-less gives you permission to explore your thoughts without being held to account.

No longer are you expected to conform to one rigid perspective or police yourself to speak as a particular dogma. Instead you are free to play with new ideas, dream or doubt and ultimately widen your understanding of the world.

Our challenge to you

Society today can feel polarised by creed and politics and for many this experience of talking to strangers about challenging topics like environmental issues is very new.

But we need more conversations like this ✊

The world *needs us* to approach our fellow humans more often with fresh eyes.

Which is why we challenge you today to meet strangers with curiosity, not judgement and to question to understand, not rebuke.

🔥 Do you think you can do it?

(We’ve shared below some of the questions on the Conversation Menu. Feel free to use them as conversation triggers!)

What was on the Conversation Menu

We’ve shared some of the questions from the event because not knowing what to say is often the biggest hindrance to starting conversations around important, but challenging topics.

When using these questions, it’s important to remember that the best conversations…

Question to learn

Listen to understand

Play to remember you’re free

Laugh to feel good

And lastly, are just curious.

We hope these questions catalyse change with your friends, family, organisation, school or even with strangers.

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Catalysing Conversations for World Earth Day

Canapes

- Light Tummy Ticklers -

What ecosystems are you part of? What impact do you have in them?

Starter

- Getting Heavier -

What features of our working lives disconnect us from the natural world?

Main Course

Meat

- Deep & Thoughtful -

To what extent do we need to rebuild our social fabric first before we can successfully tackle environmental issues?

Fish

- Controversial -

What privileges would you be prepared to sacrifice in order to save the planet?

Vegetarian

- Nourishing -

What might we learn from ancient wisdom and indigenous traditions to help urban dwellers connect more deeply with and care for the environment?

Dessert

- Sweet & Delightful -

Which sustainable values, behaviours and qualities do you want to see in your community?

Cheese

- Playful -

Name 1 sustainable goal you’d like to work towards. Offer advice and resources to help one another achieve them.

Coffee

- Reflective & Stimulating -

What one action will you commit to today?

What Happens When You Adopt a Neophile's Mindset

In National Conversation Week, we invited 40 strangers to explore, using our conversation menu, the serendipity of neophilia – or in other words, the wonderful surprises that arise from new conversations with strangers. And here’s what happened…

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At the end of the evening, someone announced:

“I usually probably would’ve avoided a lot of you!”

And a sound of knowing laughter rippled the room.

Only 2 and half-hours earlier we’d been total strangers. We’d each arrived knowing (mostly) no one and possibly had had similar thoughts run through our own minds.

Yet despite our biases (conscious or not), we witnessed around the second course that it was difficult to draw everyone away from their conversations. 

Maybe it was because of the brilliant questions (evidently!) or maybe it was something deeper… that people were discovering the empowering joy that comes from skipping the small talk and stepping outside their comfort zone in order to connect with the world around them.

Unlearning the Advice: “Don’t talk to strangers”

I believe we need to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable - but it’s hard to when the world daily presents us with unpredictability that shakes our stability.

From a young age we’re told, “don’t talk to strangers” and it’s a warning that unconsciously seeps into our being and shapes our interactions with the world.

Instead of being exciting doors to unlock, strangers are unknowns to be avoided; unidentifiable bodies that threaten to challenge and disrupt the world around us.

So rather than going to greet the unknown, we alternatively retreat and search for islands of predictability that confirm our beliefs and make us feel safe. 

But I wonder, who ever grew from predictability?

Diversity Helps Us Grow

Studies have shown that exposing yourself to diversity expands your thinking: it challenges your biases, widens your understanding, creates more empathy and unleashes creativity.

Of course it can feel vulnerable or be difficult for the ego to challenge its beliefs, but when we become willing to embrace the unknown we open ourselves up to an array of wonderful possibilities.

And that’s exactly what we did at our March event, Trigger Conversations on the Serendipity of Neophilia.

The Serendipity of Neophilia

‘Neophilia’ is a lover of the new – the kind of person that would swap repeating their elevator pitch for novelty, change and discovery any day.

It’s the mindset we (the Trigger team) try and approach the world with everyday. We believe there’s magic in the mundane, we just have to look for it. And when we go looking, we often engineer serendipity too.

Serendipity is the art of making discoveries by accident. Whilst we can’t plan these moments, we can develop the conditions for them to evolve by opening our eyes to the unexpected.

Everyone is interesting. Yet too often we walk around expecting others to prove it to us. But it’s not up to them to prove it you – it’s up to you to find it in them.

And it’s by approaching the world with this open-mind that you can start to shake up the mundane everyday and find new serendipitous excitements anywhere – because it’s everywhere.

It’s with this philosophy that our question curator, Derek and chief curioso, Georgie, developed a conversation menu for our March event.

The Result?

40 strangers who discovered that when you skip small talk and have meaningful conversations with strangers, it can lead you to:

· Discover a new idea

· Have a fresh perspective

· Reflect and reshape how you see the world 

· Connect deeply with someone new

· Discover you are more similar than you are different

· Turn a mundane Thursday night into something magic

· And ultimately, remind you that you belong, everywhere

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Oh, and curious what was on the menu? Here’s a taster… 

Canapés

- Light Tummy Ticklers -

Talk about a characteristic of yourself you most appreciate.

Starter

- Getting Heavier -

What is something you enjoy now that you never used to? 

Meat

- Deep Conversation -

Is there a value or principal you don’t currently hold that could substantially change your life and the lives of others around you?

Fish

- Controversial Conversation -

Do you feel the world is heading in a generally positive, or generally negative direction? 

Vegetarian

- Nourishing Conversation -

What kind of people would you like to meet more of? 

Dessert

- Sweet and Delightful -

How have you surprised yourself this year? 

Cheese

- Games! -

Take turns to say things you have never said out loud before, true or made up! 

Coffee

- Reflective & Revitalising -

What insight from this evening would you most like to take action on?

A Short Story On: The Serendipity of Being a Neophile

I’d like to offer you a short story…

Along the path of life we each collect a rucksack of interpretations, experiences and perspectives.

Then one day something magical happens.

We meet another human and decide to dig into our rucksack, pulling out a piece of our inner world.

The other human looks at it curiously, pausing with consideration before pulling something out from theirs.

Some minutes pass by as you both stand there hands outstretched offering each other your piece of the world.

Finally after some looking, playing and questioning you each put back your pieces - except this time they’re slightly different.

Before turning to part ways, you look at each other and smile in the delight of experiencing real human connection and knowledge that you’ve just learnt, grown and evolved a little more.

The moral of the story?

When you take a moment to share your inner world with another human you embark on an adventure of discovery into who you are and how you see the world. Thereby making life just that bit richer.  

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In National Conversation, Trigger Conversations is inviting 30 curious strangers to come and experience our much-loved Conversation Menu themed around the serendipity of neophilia - or in other words, the wonderful surprises that arise from new conversations with strangers.

Why celebrate this?

Conversations with strangers can be more than just boring responses to the same old question: so what do you do? They’re an adventure into the unknown filled with untapped discoveries, insights and opportunity.

Yet, too often we let this potential go to waste.

We choose not to talk to strangers because it’s uncool and not normal or when we do we let ourselves get stuck in small talk.

But what if we started taking risks?

Curious? Book your ticket now

Trigger Conversations on the Serendipity of Neophilia

Thursday, March 21st

6.30 - 9.30pm

Work.Life Camden, London

Talking to Strangers About the Dark and Light of Love

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, 33 curious strangers committed to leaving small talk at the door and enter into a world of deep and meaningful conversation on the theme of love.  

Their quest? To listen, laugh and understand a little better their fellow human. Their discovery? That they belong anywhere - all it takes is a conversation.  

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Why talk to strangers about your intimate desires?

Love is more than just a matter of swiping right. It’s complex: a word that encompasses not only one’s love for a partner or child, but that of a friend, the world, an inanimate object or even the self.

And for such a complex subject too often do we turn to Google, Hollywood or a close confident to help us understand the intimate affairs of the heart.

But at Trigger we like to do things a bit differently!

See we believe that with the power of conversation you can grow a little more, understand a little deeper and ultimately, feel that you belong just the way you are.

But we don’t mean any kind of conversation. We’re talking, conversations with strangers.

So doing what we do best, Trigger Conversations invited 30 strangers on the eve of Valentine’s Day to leave their work labels and small talk at the door and surrender their whole-self to our conversation menu.

Curated by our conversation coach, Georgie Nightingall and experience designer, Derek Kirkup, the 10-course menu was designed to explore the dark and light of love.

The menu began with soft conversations-on-love-you’d-have-with-your-mum and slowly progressed into deeper topics, including more taboo subjects like polyamory, sex and BDSM. It ended – like all good meals do – with coffee to revitalise and stimulate the mind to consider how we’d like to act on our learning’s this evening.

To ensure each stranger was exposed to a myriad of different thought and character, we paired them with a new person at each course.

What was the result?

Well, we could tell you the bland response – that 100% of participants surveyed would recommend us to a friend or that we had a customer satisfaction score of 92% - but that’s not particularly interesting.

Instead, I’d like to let this one comment from a participant do the talking:

“My expectations were exceeded! So much honesty!”

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So, what makes Trigger Conversations so special?

It’s simple really.

Too often we allow our labels to define us.

“I’m a lawyer” | “I’m a runner” | “I’m a mother”

When we use these labels (both to ourselves and others) we define who we are and how we must behave.

And it’s by defining that we confine who we can become.

We nip our wings and prevent ourselves from flying as high and as randomly as we dare.

However.

When we enter into label-less spaces with strangers and explore new conversations, we become free.

We are no longer expected to act in a certain way. You’re presented with an opportunity free of judgment to be and explore who you want to be.

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Oh and you’re probably curious as to what was on the menu? Here’s a peep…

Trigger Conversations on the Dark and Light of Love

Canapés

- Light Tummy Ticklers -

What are the different kinds of love you have experienced?

 Starters

- Getting Heavier -

 What forms of self-expression have made you feel most free? 

Meat

- Relationship with our Parents -

What do we tolerate from our family that we might not tolerate from friends or a lover? 

Fish

- Open-Relationships & Polyamory -

What would a polyamorous society look like?

 Vegetarian

- Is love a game of Strategy or Serendipity -

How has serendipity related to your love life? 

Gluten-Rich

- Technology and our Relationships -

How has technology affected the depth of your relationships? 

Vegan

- Sex, Masturbation and Power -

Should all forms and expressions of love be accepted in society? 

Desert

- Other Expressions of Love -

Have you ever felt more passionate about a topic, object or activity, than you have about someone close to you?

Choice of Two Cheeses

Blue Cheese

- Risqué Tasks -

Take turns to share something you would like to do with or to the other person. The other person must answer ‘yes’ or ‘ok’ to your request. (Important: No one takes action on what is said). See how it feels! Then take turns to answer ‘no’ each time.

Mozzarella

- Playful Tasks -

Describe 3 attributes you love about yourself to your partner.

Coffee

- Revitalising, Stimulating Reflective -

What aspects of yourself do you need to express more freely?