As founder of Bouteco, I decided last minute to host an Earth Day 2022 Jeffersonian Dinner at Yeotown Sussex Gardens at Inhabit Hotel for Earth Day with the aim of a powerful conversation around how to make our world a better place.
What’s a Jeffersonian dinner?
It's a get-together over dinner where one meaningful conversation is shared, exchanging different perspectives. In our case, the topic to be considered was, of course, the climate emergency and how can we make our world a better place. These dinners began back in the 1800s in the home of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and two centuries later this format is fantastically helpful for those seeking a thought-provoking dialogue to help make sense of our world.
“The moment we stop listening to diverse opinions is also when we stop learning. Because the truth is we don’t learn much from sameness and monotony. We usually learn from differences.”
There is one important rule
It’s a single, structured conversation where only one person speaks at a time, and everyone respectfully listens and appreciates contrasting ideas.
Format
We invited 14 people from different backgrounds — you don't want more than that as it needs to be one intimate conversation, and you need at least 10 people who ideally don't all know each other for a fresh, original exchange of ideas.
It's important to have contrasting perspectives from the guests representing all ages and walks of life and it flows better with gentle, articulate contributors who have a strong well-informed point of view but who won't try and dominate the topic or stoke conflict.
A facilitator, or even better one at each end of the table, hosts and guides the conversation is ideal with a set plan of questions that were circulated in advance.
After short intros, a quick chat with the person to everyone's left about what we care about most in the world broke the ice.
We were seated around one long table for a single conversation, with half the table moving seats after the first course. We were lucky to have the soothing, calm dining room of Yeotown all to ourselves so that everyone could hear each person speak.
What do we consider the biggest threats to people and planet?
Answers included:
Humans.
A lack of connectivity with nature.
We have an inability to be present.
We need less shaming and blaming.
A lack of education.
Political oppression.
What are the biggest levers we can pull between now and the next Earth Day to make a measurable difference?
The solutions to the climate emergency that came up included:
A global carbon tax. Polluters need to pay.
Reparations required.
More action less talk and tell better stories.
We need to reclaim the positive meaning of the word radical.
We must train ourselves to find better quality information to not be susceptible to misinformation.
Reduce, reuse, recycle — in that order.
There was debate around whether we need top-down solutions vs bottom-up action — and it was agreed that governance is as crucial as individual behavioural change.
Another conclusion? Absolutely everyone needs to read Climate Change Is Racist: Race, Privilege and the Struggle for Climate Justice by Jeremy Williams.
My personal favourite quote in response to the theme of the evening when trying to make a decision when it comes to impact? ”Always do the right thing” — Da Mayor’s final wise words at the end of this trailer for Spike Lee's 1989 classic.
“Always do the right thing.”