If January is the month of resolutions, it is also often an opportunity for reflection.
In a moment of global turbulence, it has never been more important to take a step back and confirm that we are on the right track, in spite of the frantic pace of 2026 so far.
That’s why Re.Climate invited five experts in the field to share their reflections on climate organizing and communications in 2025 and how they’re planning to approach the new year.
Author and policy researcher Seth Klein, My Climate Plan co-founder Jamie Biggar, Re.Climate’s executive director Amber Bennett, Canada’s National Observer managing editor David McKie, and Saskatoon Climate Hub co-founder Mackenzie Burnett shared their views on what to keep from the work of the past year and what climate communicators need to let go.
The conversation was lively. It’s safe to say that our panellists are not paring down their ambitions in these challenging times, nor are they backing away from the evidence-backed belief that talking about climate change and the available solutions loudly and with conviction is critical for bringing Canadians on board.
Although the discussion was wide-ranging, three themes emerged as particularly important for climate action in 2026 for our panellists.
1. The information environment has changed; we need to change with it
Though the 20th-century media landscape has been in decline, 2025 was the year when there could be no question: the way people get their information has fundamentally changed.
It is challenging to keep people’s attention right now. AI-generated content and synthetic images have muddied an information environment already filled with misinformation and disinformation.
Social media influencers are sharing news without the norms of legacy media, though still using legacy media materials as their primary sources. These shifts have eroded public spheres. There are no more “town squares” for news or public discussions. Audiences are segmented with young people getting their news from TikTok, while older demographics go to Facebook or TV news most often.
As a result, climate communicators must rethink their storytelling.
“We have a limited amount of attention, and it’s very hard to earn. When you get it, don’t spend it talking about how a policy works,” advised Amber Bennett.
A fragmented information environment also makes it difficult to determine the public consensus on climate action. This makes it all the more critical to find ways to break out of informational silos and break out of a pervasive silencing on climate change.
“We did see a silencing around climate, and that was both politically and in the media,” said Bennett. “We saw a decontextualizing of climate impacts, and that’s affecting how Canadians understand climate change and its solutions.”
“People are still very worried about the climate crisis,” said Seth Klein. “But they feel isolated in that feeling. So we need to signal to them that they’re not alone and talk about climate more, not less. We need to captivate people with exciting ideas, not incremental ones.”
Lastly, Jamie Biggar emphasized the importance of moving people out of digital spaces and into the real world. He and Mackenzie Burnett have both found that there is a hunger for more in-person engagements.
“I think especially after the pandemic, particularly Gen Z, are tired of online-only organizing. They want to be getting in person and having fun and building community,” said Burnett.
2. With things moving fast, let’s focus on our long game
One of the defining qualities of 2025 was the breakneck pace of news, events, and change, both nationally and globally. Climate change policy and solutions have not been immune to the endless narrative shifts.
As managing editor of Canada’s National Observer, David McKie succinctly put it, “we’ve been experiencing a bit of a whiplash situation in the media.”
Where there was once consensus on climate policies, suddenly, they are being clawed back. Where there was an understanding that Canada had moved away from pipeline politics, suddenly, the government is doubling down on oil and gas production.
With so many changes affecting Canadians, it can feel impossible to keep up with the ever-shifting moment.
For Biggar, this presents an opportunity to focus on deeper, more existential narratives that can focus on people and outlast the news churn.
“Heading into 2026, people are looking for leadership, strength and a plan that resonates with their values. The climate movement has answers for Canadians in these times,” he said.
“I think there are four questions that we need to keep answering: who do we serve, what do they need, what can we offer and how can we build power together?”
Amber Bennett also reminded the audience that levels of climate concern and demand for renewable energy have not changed significantly in recent years, despite the radical shifts in Canadians’ lives.
“We need to capitalize on this overarching narrative and build it out in the public, showing where Canadians are at on clean energy and thinking about how we can move them from this ‘no choice’ framing on fossil fuels, and change that from, ‘we have a lot of choice, that’s actually going to give us what we want,’” said Bennett.
At the end of the day, it isn’t always productive to try to speak only to the present issue. Sometimes, beating a familiar drumbeat is critical to reminding Canadians that climate change remains a critical issue we can tackle.
“We’re going to double down on our climate coverage,” said David McKie. “We’re going to keep reminding people that the climate is something to care about, that oil and gas are responsible for wildfires and these wildly fluctuating temperatures. We’re going to keep doing that.”
3. Climate communication needs imagination, solidarity and something people can do
In Seth Klein’s reflection on leading the Climate Emergency Unit, a five-year mission project of the David Suzuki Institute, he noted that one of the unit’s struggles was a failure of imagination.
“We’d hit this wall where we would run up against our collective loss of faith in our capacity to do great things together,” said Klein.
He pointed out that, rather than trying to steer people into climate activism, the movement needs to build better allyships.
“Don’t ask people to choose between the emergencies and crises that they face. Link them together. We have to make common cause.”
Mackenzie Burnett cited her own organizing efforts as evidence that we can no longer discuss climate change in isolation.
“To engage people in climate today, we need to be anchoring it and showing explicitly the connections between climate and these other crises. By working together and pulling people together from across these movements, we can begin to build more diverse and large coalitions that can really affect the changes that they want.”
Another key part of this solidarity-building process that panellists highlighted was the importance of giving people something to do.
“There is this possibility to blow open people’s sense of imagination,” said Seth Klein. “We have to stop boring people with all these technical details. When we make an offer to just roll up your sleeves and do something big together, people are like, ‘Yeah, I’ve been waiting for my invitation.’”
Doing something that makes a difference for others can also break the silence on climate change and show that others want to do this work too.
“Feeling like you can do something, feeling like other people care about this and want it too, are hugely important,” said Bennett. “And if we don’t talk about it, and we just let people sit in uncertainty and silence, the more we’re going to see disengagement.”
Climate communicators: Keep the home fires burning
The world is a hard place right now. It would be easy for climate communicators to disengage themselves, especially if they feel as though they’re yelling into a void.
Yet we can hold on to the knowledge and assurance that there are people who care, who want solutions, and who are looking for answers. And as people taking action in this space, we are not alone.
With their final words on what grounds them, the panellists invited everyone on the call to step back when they can, and remember that if we are dedicated to building a better world, then we’re in this fight for the long haul.
“The metaphor we use is of building a bridge, a bridge to that climate-safe future, and one that’s wide enough so that we can all get there as fast as we must,” said Jamie Biggar.
So, what should communications professionals do more of in 2026?
- The information landscape has fractured—storytelling has to adapt
- Talk about climate more, not less—and signal collective concern
- Anchor communications in long-term narratives, not news whiplash
- Lead with imagination, solidarity, and connection to lived crises
- Give people something meaningful to do—together, and in real life
