Climate Vocabulary: A Language for Accountability

Climate policy and negotiation is often difficult to understand, and is in desperate need of clear terms and catchy phrases that convey the urgent reality of the crisis we’re facing. But the climate vocabulary we do have must also become common knowledge if we hope to accelerate advocacy, youth leadership and community action. In this session, we will define terms like “carbon neutral,” “carbon offset” and “net zero” within the context of climate policy, exploring how we could expand or reshape our current climate vocabulary with terms that feel more meaningful, and which people can easily integrate into their daily lives.