This month, we’re exploring listening as a form of peace-building. So I’m re-releasing an episode from the archives that changed how I think about this work.

I recorded this before Everyday Ambassadors existed as a Substack, which means a lot of you haven’t heard it. But it might be the most essential conversation I’ve ever had about listening as a superpower.

Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist who has spent her career talking across political divides about climate change. And when I asked her how she actually reaches people who distrust her, who come in skeptical, who are defensive—her answer was disarmingly simple:

She listens.

Not as a tactic. Not to be nice. But because listening is how you learn what matters to the person in front of you. It’s how you understand what they care about. It’s how you find common ground that leads to positive change.

In this conversation, Katharine shares exactly how she does it. What she listens for. How she stays grounded when someone disagrees with her. How she begins every conversation about climate change by asking people about what they value.

Katharine’s approach isn’t complicated. But it requires something we rarely offer each other anymore—genuine curiosity. Real attention. The willingness to listen longer than we talk.

It’s a beautiful gift we can give one another, and one of the most important ways we build real peace.

If you’re thinking about how to listen—to your family, your community, people who see the world differently—this conversation is for you.

So have a listen! Then share it with someone who needs to hear that their listening actually works.

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