1. Welcome! Frank Niepold, NOAA
Michele Archie, Harbinger Consulting Group
Bora Simmons, NAAEE
Each person introduces self and mentions connection/role with EIF/Kettering
9/18/2018

2. Environmental Issues Forums
EIF provides tools, training, and support for engaging adults and students in meaningful, productive discussions about sticky issues that affect the environment and communities.
Partners
North American Association for Environmental Education
National Issues Forums Institute
Kettering Foundation
A nationwide network of Centers for Public Life
The Harbinger Consulting Group
Local forum sponsors, facilitators, and participants
BORA

3. What we’ll cover today What do we mean by deliberation?
How are forums structured?
Climate Choices
What’s next for EIF?
BORA Here’s a roadmap to what we’ll be covering today. (CLICK TO START ANIMATION)
Moderating a deliberative forum is a little different than other kinds of facilitation. But if you’re comfortable working with groups, you’ll quickly get the hang of this.
Questions

4. What do we mean by deliberation?
MICHELE OK, so what do we mean when we talk about deliberative forums?

5. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “DELIBERATION”?
The process of carefully weighing options against the things we hold valuable in order to make decisions.
NOT a debate or simply a discussion
Considers advantages AND trade-offs for each option
Asks people to recognize that every action will have a downside, and to consider which trade-offs they are willing to accept
Explores what people hold valuable (“what SHOULD we do about this?” and not just “what’s the solution to this problem?”)
Deliberation comes naturally to us. We deliberate over problems at home, in coffee shops, at public meetings, and in forums. (CLICK TO START ANIMATION)
Deliberation means simply the careful weighing of options against the things we hold valuable. When citizens deliberate together about important issues, they can reach decisions and take action together on problems that confront them.
In deliberative forums, we are encouraging a particular kind of conversation. (CLICK TO START ANIMATION)
This conversation explores what people hold deeply valuable and how these underlying concerns and motivations can create common ground for decisions and action. In a deliberative forum, people weigh different options, approaches, and actions, considering the advantages and tradeoffs of each.
This is more than just a discussion of pros and cons, and asks people to consider this question: If this action or approach worked PERFECTLY, what might the downsides be? And which of these trade-offs are we willing to accept?

6. 6 Democratic Practices
Essential building blocks of democratic community life

7. Where does EIF fit?

8. SOME POSSIBLE FORUM OUTCOMES
Deeper grasp of the issue and its tensions
Insight into different points of view and less polarization
Which tradeoffs your group is willing to accept—or not
Starting point for citizen action
Guidance for decision-makers
Forums are held for different reasons. Forums can be used to build awareness, as an educational tool, as a way of exploring issues that opens up new possibilities for action, to provide guidance on specific policy decisions, and more. Knowing the WHY behind your forum can help you encourage participants to reflect on the most useful questions and focus on outcomes that reflect the real accomplishments of deliberation.
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9. How are forums structured?
BORA How do we organize forums to encourage deliberation to happen?
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10. HOW ARE DELIBERATIVE FORUMS STRUCTURED?
WHO — Anyone can organize a forum: community leaders, neighborhood activists, educators, youth groups, librarians, book clubs, concerned citizens…and you!
WHAT — Formats vary: single forums, series of small study circles, sustained community dialogues, classroom use, and more. Large groups often start and wrap up together, but divide into smaller forums of 8-12 participants for most of the deliberation.
WHERE — Neutral and comfortable places like libraries, meeting halls, churches, community centers, schools, homes.
WHEN — Forums typically last about two hours.
HOW — Use available supporting materials. Try to invite a diverse group of participants, but deliberation can happen even among people you think would agree fully with each other.
Anyone can organize a deliberative forum. (CLICK)
Commonly, forums are organized by community organizations, teachers and other educators, faith groups, neighborhood councils, public officials, librarians, youth groups…you name it. (CLICK)
There are a variety of formats including single forums, study circles where small groups deliberate about the issue over several sessions, sustained community dialogue efforts involving many forums over time, and classroom use where forums are combined with issue investigation and other activities.
Large groups can be broken up into smaller forums to encourage deeper deliberation. These smaller forum groups can come together after their deliberations to share results and talk about community action. (CLICK)
Forums are held in a variety of settings from libraries and meeting halls to churches, community centers, and schools. Look for a neutral place where participants will feel comfortable attending, and where you’ll be able to hear each other and speak freely. (CLICK)
A typical forum lasts about two hours—although that can vary depending on the format—and is held at a time that will encourage participation. (CLICK)
Organizing forums relies on many of the same common-sense rules used with other public or community events, like inviting a diverse group of participants, making sure the setting is comfortable, and preparing in advance. And don’t worry too much if your forum doesn’t reflect as much diversity of viewpoints as it might—a deliberative dialogue can happen anyway. A variety of supporting materials is available to help you organize and conduct your forum.

11. WHAT MATERIALS CAN I USE?
Issue guides and issue advisories
Moderator guide
Video discussion starter
Participant and moderator questionnaire
Find the materials you need at: naaee.org/eif & nifi.org
These materials include: (CLICK)
Issue guides and issue advisories that provide a framework for deliberation. Issue guides are booklets that lay out 3 or 4 options —like the 28-page Climate Choices guide, which we’ll look at next. An issue advisory is a condensed version of the framework, usually about 4 pages long.
Moderator guides that offer general guidance as well as questions specific to an issue.
Video discussion starters that you can use to kick off your forum.
Participant and moderator questionnaires to gather insights at the end of the forum.

12. WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS? A CONVENER Brings people together to talk
PARTICIPANTS The real drivers of deliberative forums
A MODERATOR Helps participants weigh choices together
A RECORDER Records themes, concerns, and questions
The key players in deliberative forums are: (CLICK)
A convener, who organizes the forum and invites people to come together to deliberate
A moderator, who helps guide participants in a productive dialogue
Participants, who bring their interest in working together to solve shared problems, and
A recorder, who makes sure the group can keep track of the main areas of commonality, concerns, and questions that come up during a forum.

13. WHAT DOES A MODERATOR DO?
Encourage an exchange of views
Press participants to focus on tradeoffs
Stay neutral
Bring in points- of-view that may be missing
Keep conversation respectful and on-task
Moderating a deliberative forum might be a different experience for you. A moderator’s role is not to be an expert or an educator, nor is it to tightly control the discussion or even to lead it. A moderator is a neutral facilitator who helps get the conversation started and keep it on track.
Your main responsibilities as a moderator are to: (CLICK)
Encourage an open exchange that includes everyone in the forum (CLICK)
Help participants focus on the tradeoffs—the push and pull between the things they hold deeply valuable (CLICK)
Don’t take sides—be an advocate for the process of deliberation rather than taking a position on the issue (CLICK)
Bring in ideas and viewpoints that may be missing from the discussion, even playing devil’s advocate when needed (CLICK)
Help participants consider the issue fairly by keeping the conversation on track and respectful

14. WHAT DO PARTICIPANTS DO IN A DELIBERATIVE FORUM?
Look at different ways of thinking about a problem
Exchange views with others
Weigh benefits and trade-offs of different approaches
Listen and reconsider in a safe environment
Deliberative forums are neutrally moderated in a way that encourages positive interaction between people who are not expected to agree, but are encouraged to find a shared direction. (CLICK)
In a deliberative forum, participants:
Consider different viewpoints about the underlying issues and approaches to addressing them. (CLICK)
Share their own perspectives and points of view with each other. (CLICK)
Look closely at the benefits and the risks and trade-offs of different options for addressing the issue. (CLICK)
Test their own thinking with others who are also committed to listening, learning from each other, and reconsidering their initial thoughts.

15. CLIMATE CHOICES

16. THE CLIMATE CHOICES ISSUE FRAMEWORK
A structure for a deliberative dialogue that describes the problem and three or four approaches to resolving it in public terms.
1: Sharply reduce carbon emissions
2: Prepare and protect our communities
3: Accelerate innovation
HAVE FRANK WEIGH IN ABOUT WHY THIS IS AN INTERESTING MODEL
MICHELE
An issue framework is a structure for a deliberative forum that describes an issue and why it’s important to talk about, and then offers three or four distinct approaches to addressing the issue that reflect unique public concerns and important drawbacks. The purpose of an issue framework is to make it easier to fairly consider the issue without one-sided lectures and polarizing positions. (CLICK)
Here’s an example from the Climate Choices issue guide. The guide presents three options for addressing climate change that are based on the views and concerns of people from across the country. Climate change, and how we choose to respond to it, puts these essential values into tension with each other. (CLICK)

17. Sharply Reduce Carbon Emissions
We need to take aggressive action right away to reduce our energy consumption and other climate-changing behaviors, or we risk catastrophic effects that we cannot handle.
The tradeoff for this kind of security could be limits to our personal choices and freedom, as well as unfairness, as some people, communities, and businesses will be affected by the required changes more than others.

18. Prepare and Protect Our Communities
We should focus on protecting and preparing communities and businesses for the most likely effects of climate change like flooding, drought, fire, health problems, and social unrest.
The tradeoff for protecting the vulnerable could be accepting greater damage from climate change, and asking some people and communities to make bigger changes and sacrifices than others.

19. Accelerate Innovation
We must invest in rapid innovation to develop new, cleaner fuel sources, new ways to influence Earth’s climate, and even new societal arrangements.
The tradeoff for this self-reliance could be failing to make progress quickly enough to avert the worst climate change impacts, and the risk of causing other environmental problems and economic disruptions while we solve this one.
Here are some questions and ideas to get you started as you prepare to moderate each segment of a forum.

20. An issue framework also provides examples of actions that fit each approach and help reveal the important conflicts and dilemmas that an issue raises. Considering these approaches and actions helps people consider what tradeoffs they are willing to live with as they search for common ground.

21. REFLECTIONS AT THE END OF A FORUM
Individual reflections
Group reflections
Next-step reflections
Once the options have been fairly, it’s time to wrap up the forum with some reflections on the big picture and talk about how they are thinking about the issue now that they’ve had a chance to deliberate together.
In general, forums focus on three levels of reflection:
First, individual reflections. These are questions about whether and how each person’s thinking or perspective has changed, or even their thinking about other people’s views. (CLICK)
Second, group reflections, which are questions about shared purpose or direction, and tradeoffs that everyone can live with or are unwilling to make. (CLICK)
Third, next-step reflections. These questions help the group focus on what might come next, the value of what they learned during the forum, and how they might use that new understanding.

22. COLLECTING INFORMATION AND FURTHERING REFLECTION
PARTICIPANT QUESTIONNAIRES
• Help participants reflect on how they are thinking about the issue after the forum.
• Provide insights for local forum reports.
• Underpins research and reporting that the National Issues Forums Institute or the North American Association for Environmental Education does on this issue to officeholders, members of the media, and others, including those who took part in the forums.
MODERATOR RESPONSE FORMS
• Help forum moderators reflect on forums and outcomes.
• Provide insights that add to participant questionnaires, and help EIF partners fine-tune our materials and training.
Download surveys at nifi.org or answer online at nifi.org/questionnaires
Many moderators take the last 10 minutes of the forum for participants to fill out the forum questionnaire, which is at the end of the issue guide. This form can also be downloaded or filled out online, but doing it at the end of the forum is one more way to help participants reflect on their personal experiences and views.
Questionnaire results can also be used locally or by NIF and NAAEE to offer policymakers guidance on the public’s voice on key environmental issues like climate change.
There is a separate questionnaire for you to fill out. Information from forum moderators helps NIF, NAAEE, and other partners in the Environmental Issues Forums understand more about how, where, and why forums are conducted, and fine-tune our materials and training.
On the forms, you’ll find instructions for submitting them by mail, , or online. And these surveys can be downloaded as PDFs or answered online.

23. SOME POSSIBLE FORUM OUTCOMES
Deeper grasp of the issue and its tensions
Insight into different points of view and less polarization
Which tradeoffs your group is willing to accept—or not
Starting point for citizen action
Guidance for decision-makers
FRANK — WHY HE’S INTERESTED IN THIS, WHAT KINDS OF INFORMATION AND LEARNING COULD COME OUT OF FORUMS AND HOW ADDING TO OUR ARSENAL OF TOOLS
Forums are held for different reasons. Forums can be used to build awareness, as an educational tool, as a way of exploring issues that opens up new possibilities for action, to provide guidance on specific policy decisions, and more. Knowing the WHY behind your forum can help you encourage participants to reflect on the most useful questions and focus on outcomes that reflect the real accomplishments of deliberation.
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24. What’s next?
BORA So, what’s next?
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25. WHAT’S NEXT FOR EIF? www.naaee.org/eif
Environment and Society Series issue guide and supporting material available on:
Climate change
Energy (summer 2016)
Water (fall 2016)
Teacher’s Modules for Climate Choices
Moderator Training at the NAAEE Conference
Online/on demand moderator training
If you need help, ideas, and forum materials, both the National Issues Forums Institute and the North American Association for Environmental Education can offer support.
NIF offers guides and advisories on a broad range of other issues, including some affect both the environment and society. You can also publicize your forum at NIFI.org.

26. Common Ground for Action (CGA)
Online forums run on any browser
6-8 participants
Same basic setup, goals and outcomes as in-person forums, with visuals that show how your group’s views are evolving
Learn more at: NIFI.org/en/common-ground-action
Join a regular Climate Choices CGA forum (dates to be announced) or host your own
EIF will provide periodic training for CGA moderators
MICHELE
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27. White House Climate Action Plan
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is releasing a new, free issue guide, Climate Choices, which enables students to explore the advantages and disadvantages of multiple options for addressing climate impacts. Developed in cooperation with the Kettering Foundation and with input from NOAA, Climate Choices guides students through analyses of the costs and consequences of different climate solutions. NAAEE is working to have the guide adopted by at least 100 classrooms across the country by the end of this year, and is creating an online forum for teachers so that they can share lessons learned.
FRANK
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28. FOR MORE INFORMATION
North American Association for Environmental Education naaee.org/eif
Issue guides and supporting materials • training and networking • online discussion groups on environmental education topics, conservation and behavior change, and sustainable communities
National Issues Forums nifi.org
Issue guides and supporting materials • Common Ground for Action online deliberation • background about deliberation • a listing of planned forum events • a network of people and organizations engaged in deliberative democracy
Kettering Foundation kettering.org
Research about deliberation and other democratic practices
Here’s how to get more information from three of the main partners in the Environmental Issues Forums initiative:
NAAEE is the home for all things EIF, from issue guides to information, from training and networking to online discussion groups on a range of topics
The NIF website is a portal to information about, and supporting materials for, deliberative forums.
And the Kettering Foundation’s website offers written resources and insights about deliberation and other essential democratic practices and skills.

29. Thank You!
Let us know if there’s any way we can be helpful as you get started moderating deliberative forums. (CLICK)
Thanks for your time, your enthusiasm, and your commitment to helping people work through tough choices on environmental issues.