VOLUNTEER GUIDE

This guide outlines how to hang posters in your community and have climate conversations along the way. Do this on your own or bring along friends to expand the community of action.

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HIT THE STREETS!

Bring the posters to the gathering places in your neighborhood—community centers, libraries, parks, shops, cafes, cultural centers, gyms, and anywhere else you can think of where posters are permissible. You can ask the shop owner, manager, or front desk attendant if you can hang them up or if you can leave a pile for people to take (if it’s an area with high foot traffic). Here is a script you can use as a jumping off point for your conversation:

Hello, how are you doing today? I’m volunteering with the Climate Museum’s Beyond Lies campaign to take action on climate change. These posters are a part of a participatory arts initiative focused on how the fossil fuel industry has worsened climate change, delayed solutions to fix it, and how members of the public can take action. If you’re willing, I would love to hang/tape/pin one of these posters up in [your space] or leave a few out for visitors to take. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me and have a great rest of your day!

START THE CONVERSATION

Does the person seem open to hearing more?

Starting out small and then gradually building the conversation to the big picture can help engage community members, especially those unsure about climate change or civic action. Here are some suggested approaches for deepening your conversations that can help achieve the campaign’s ultimate goal: spreading climate information far and wide and motivating others to take action:

Discuss the meaning of the posters. You can start with what these posters are about and then ask what these posters make the person think about or how they feel about the poster content. Keep conversation starters open-ended to be inclusive of all views, political backgrounds, and levels of climate awareness. Do you both share any similar points of view on this issue? You can make these connections by asking about their personal interests, what they do for work, or what they like to do for fun. You can connect what they share to things that are issues in your community and/or things that you care about.
Talk about your own experiences. Sharing your experiences, why you’re involved in this campaign, why these posters matter to you, and how these issues may connect to others in your community can help to motivate others to join you in taking climate action.
Be an engaged listener. Ask the person you are talking to if they have any questions, thoughts, or feelings they’d like to share. Remember: listening is an important part of every climate conversation! You might be surprised by all of the things you learn from the questions, ideas, and concerns you hear while out distributing posters!

Here are some more questions to help begin the conversation:

Did you know you’re not alone about your concerns about the climate crisis? (64% of Americans are worried about the climate crisis!)
Have you ever wondered “What can I do?” when thinking about the climate crisis?
When someone brings up the fossil fuel industry, what comes to mind?
- If they feel it has a negative connotation, connect this to how a majority of Americans—57% as of a recent study—now believe that the fossil fuel industry should be held accountable for the damages caused by global warming.
When you think of where responsibility lies for climate change, what comes to mind?

KEEP BREAKING THE CLIMATE SILENCE

Want more climate conversation tips? Check out our Climate Ambassador Cards! Designed to fit in your pocket, this tool will give you the information you need to feel confident starting climate conversations in your community. Download and print your own at www.climatemuseum.org/ambassador.

Still have questions about volunteering? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page on the Beyond Lies website! You can find it at www.beyondlies.org/volunteer

If you would like to learn more about fossil fuel disinformation and the research that went into the Beyond Lies campaign, please visit www.beyondlies.org/explore-the-campaign.