Emily Cunningham

There's a link between alcohol and domestic violence. According to the WHO: "Strong links have been found between alcohol use and the occurrence of intimate partner violence in many countries" https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/factsheets/fs_intimate.pdf … 6/

Alcohol is a depressant and is used by many people to *numb* their feelings. When was the last time you heard of someone drinking in their therapy or counseling session? 7/

I'll push back on this one point: Among scientists, there are real sociocultural barriers that make it particularly hard to share emotions; a beer can help. At the end of the day, I'd call for climate cafe participants to be compassionate, aware, responsible adults.

Thank you for sharing, Peter. Many people also find smoke breaks to be a bonding experience with others where they can open up more. But I don't think smoking – or drinking – are actually (truly) helpful ingredients for people to openly share and be vulnerable. 1/

Having a drink may *appear* to help (quite convincingly!) because it suppresses the embarrassment and fear – the inhibitions – we can have of showing ourselves and being vulnerable. But those are legitimate feelings too, that are also good to feel and process. 2/

How can we create spaces for people to courageously share that doesn't rely on "liquid courage" but comes from who they really are in that moment, and at the pace they are at? 3/

How can we experiment with and explore ways to be vulnerable, open, and compassionate with one another that doesn't rely on a drug that makes us *less* present with each other and that is harmful? 4/

Drinking is so deeply part of our culture we often don't question it, or we fall back on it because it's what we know. Can we try things? Be creative? My hunch is that we'll find a lot of ways to connect with each other that will be even more powerful and profound. 5/