BaCCC/Module 7/Lesson 2/Part 3

Climate change communication

To be a climate champion means, in large part, being a climate change communicator. Let’s explore some of the communication arts and skills you will need, including event organising skills, using different modes of communication and available platforms.

Activity

How many terms do we have for “climate change”?

Before we get started, and just for fun, open your learning journal and write as many different ways to say “climate change” as you can think of. Go online and find some others that you have not thought of. (Hint: Look back to Module 2 Lesson 2.)

Powerful and compelling climate change communication means relaying messages efficiently and effectively. Clearly, no climate change action can be deemed successful unless its messages are accurately conveyed and widely disseminated (spread around).

Strategies for effective climate change communication

1. Communicate with appropriate language, metaphor and analogy. “When people see strength in stories of climate action, we overcome our limits and don’t descend into hopelessness.” (Matthews, n.d.) Research in the United States shows, for example, that people respond better to a war analogy (“we are fighting a war against climate change”) than a race analogy (“we are racing against climate change”). However, best metaphors are likely a cultural thing. If your country has never been at war, a war metaphor might not work to motivate your fellow citizens. 2. Focus on the framing and not just the facts. “The way we talk about climate change affects the way people think about it.” So, instead of talking only about the science of climate change, talk about the things that are important to your audiences (readers, listeners, watchers or attendees). Find out what they need to make a personal connection with climate change and to get motivated to take action. What resonates with each audience specifically? For example, do they care about their children, farming and food security, being able to still go fishing in the river or skiing during the winter, flooding of their community or the future? 3. Combine climate change metaphors with narrative storytelling. “Stories are how we make sense of the world we live in and help us to share facts, knowledge and experiences about the causes and effects of climate change.” “The narrative we use to describe global warming can influence people’s beliefs and actions.” People remember and respond to stories much more than facts. 4. Make it vivid and evocative through visual imagery and experiential scenarios. Make your communications (posters, videos, etc.) visually appealing and attractive, colourful and vivid. Furthermore, creating visual summaries of your climate change events is one way to include those who could not attend. See the UNFCCC’s Visual Storytelling – Climate Dialogues 2020: Visual Storytelling – Climate Dialogues 2020 5. Balance climate change stories with scientific information. “Evidence shows that the part of the brain that processes experiences has a greater part to play in motivating us to take action, but most climate change communication remains geared toward the analytical processing system.” Use simple, everyday language whenever possible. Avoid climate change jargon and complicated scientific terms – or clearly define any scientific terms that you have to use. 6. Deliver through trusted messengers in group settings. “Beliefs are shaped by the social groups that people consider themselves to be a part of and scientific evidence does sometimes contradict some groups’ values.” In other words, if you want to reach a religious audience, recruit their religious leader to help get the climate change message across. If you want to convince a business audience to take action on climate change, get a local business leader to participate in the campaign or training. — Adapted from Matthews (n.d.) and Hendricks (2017)

The main message for climate change communication is to tell stories. Climate Generation is a good resource.

We all have a climate story to tell. A climate story is a personal account of climate change from your experience and observations, ranging from despair to hope, from loss to resolve [and from inaction to action]. It is descriptive and makes an emotional connection to climate change.

While climate stories are individual perspectives, it is our collective stories that have the power to shift the narrative. Sharing climate stories personalizes climate change in a way that connects our communities rather than dividing us from one another. Listening, compassion, and personal storytelling are tools that can connect us and nurture a common ground where true change can begin. (Climate Generation, n.d.)

If you cannot present (tell stories) in person, an infographic poster (information or data presented visually), well placed in a shop window or on a public bulletin board, might achieve your climate change communication goal.

Here are some resources (there are plenty more online) to help you create effective infographics:

What Is an Infographic? Examples, Templates & Design Tips:

What Is an Infographic?

Here are ideas for making your infographic useful, accurate and meaningful: 7 Tips on How to Make a Good Infographic:

7 Tips on How to Make a Good Infographic

And if you have an artistic side, you might enjoy this article about infographic design: The Ultimate Infographic Design Guide: 13 Tricks For Better Designs:

13 Tricks For Better Designs

Activity

Write the following stages of this thought experiment in your learning journal:

1. Think of a climate change message you would like to get across to someone in your community. (It can be a big message or a small one, a local message or a global one.)

2. Choose an audience that you think might be receptive to this message.

3. Which influential person would you invite to help you get the message across?

4. Choose the “frame” that you think will resonate with this audience. (E.g., politicians might perk up if you speak to them about how to get more votes by taking climate action. Young people might be interested in hearing about ways to interact with other youth around the world through collaborative climate action. You might capture the attention of parents if you talk about the impacts of climate change on their children. And people with conservative views respond well to the safeguarding-the-things-we-love frame. See other examples above.)

5. Decide which medium you want to use to get this message across:

• through social media memes
• through a placard or banner for a march or demonstration
• in a presentation or other live event (see below for tips on organising events)
• during a television or radio interview
• through an appealing infographic poster
• in a video that you show in public or post online
• via a letter to the editor, an article or a booklet (published online or on paper)
• other

6. Next, create a rough draft of your climate change communication for whichever medium you chose.

Remember, as with most of the learning activities in this course, there is no right or wrong – although in this case, there may be wiser and less wise. Talk your ideas over with a trusted family member or friend to get some feedback.

Here is another resource, in case you want to dive even deeper into these ideas:

Principles for Effective Communication and Public Engagement on Climate Change: A Handbook for IPCC Authors

Principles for Effective Communication and Public Engagement on Climate Change: A Handbook for IPCC Authors

In the last learning activity, you had to choose between different modes of communication or media. Let’s look more closely at social media platforms that you might have access to. Social media platforms provide a space for three important domains of climate change communication: information, discussion, and mobilization.

First, social media platforms have been used by scientists, journalists, and ordinary people to share and receive reports about climate change. Policymakers and academics also use social media for climate change research.

Second, social media platforms provide users with a space to discuss climate change issues. Scientists and journalists use social media to interact with the public (who also use social media to criticize policies), as well as for media coverage.

Finally, social media platforms have been used to coordinate rescue and relief operations in the aftermath of climate change-related disasters, as well as to organize movements and campaigns about climate change. (Tandoc & Eng, 2017)

Activity

“Social media is powerful . . . it can make and break.” Read the article at the link below, and then, in your learning journal, answer the questions that follow. Bimo Andrio and Rika Safrina, The Power of Social Media to Fight Climate Change:

The Power of Social Media to Fight Climate Change

1. What social media platforms are you aware of? Tick those that apply.

2. Which are you on? To which do you contribute? If you are not already, can you start using social media for climate change communications?

3. To what extent is your newsfeed flooded with information on climate change?  Very great extent  Good extent  Moderate extent  Less extent  Least extent

4. Do you agree that social media can help to make changes and create actions for climate change awareness and mitigation? How? Give an example scenario.

Your Engagement with Social Media Platforms

	Aware	On it	Contribute		Aware	On it	Contribute
 Blogger (or other)				 Snapchat
 Facebook				 TikTok
 Instagram				 Twitter
 LinkedIn				 Viber
 Pinterest				 WhatsApp
 Reddit				 YouTube
 Other ________				 Other ________

“	Young people are now fully engaged and leading the way; we’re seeing remarkable activism in frontline and Indigenous communities. I’ve long accepted that we’re engaged in a fight, not an argument – and that the main way to counter the malign power of vested interest is to meet organized money with organized people.	”
—Bill McKibben (author, climate activist and founder of 350.org)

So, how do you organise a climate change event? To be honest, it is like any other event. There are some things that must be planned for ahead of time, and contingencies have to be in place for all the unexpected things that can happen on the day of the event.

Climate change event planning

To keep it simple, use the five Ws and how to get yourself started: Who (Who is the audience? Who will be involved in planning? Who will be responsible for each planning task and on the day of the event – communications and publicity, first aid, etc.?) What (What is the purpose of the event? What kind of event will it be? What elements do you want to include – speakers, entertainment, refreshments, lecture or interactive workshops, etc.?) When (Date, including the year? Is a rain date needed? Daytime or evening? Start and end times? When are the deadlines for the planning stages?) Where (Where is the venue? Is it easily accessible by public transit? Does it provide everything you need – which is sometimes just chairs in a room?) Why (What will a successful event look like?) How (How will you pay for the event? How will you keep the purpose of the event in mind throughout the planning? How will you thank your volunteers after the event?) For a deeper dive into event planning, check out the following resources: Jennifer Bridges, ProjectManager, How to Plan an Event: Event Planning Steps, Tips & Checklist at How to Plan an Event: Event Planning Steps, Tips & Checklist Guidebook, The Ultimate Event Planning Checklist: The Ultimate Event Planning Checklist

Lastly, below is a quick story to help you feel less nervous about planning your event.

You just never know . . .

Publicity for our Community Forum began in the conservation group’s newsletters 7 months before the date of the event, and climaxed with 2 weeks of local cable television advertising, newspaper listings and front page story, an article and listing in the community newsletter / calendar, space on the grocery store’s weekly advertising flyer, a notice in the school newsletter to parents, a three-dimensional display at the shopping plaza, personalized invitations to several community groups, and handmade paper posters posted around the community. Three months before the event, I had made a short presentation on sustainable development to the regional council of political representatives and invited all 23 to attend. As far as I know, I used every available form of promotion in our community. (This was before social media even existed.) Every mention of the forum asked people to phone me to register, to volunteer, or to sign up their child for childminding. I asked conservation group board members to talk up the forum with friends, and twice I visited the upper grades at the local school. Despite all this publicity, the day before the event I had only 17 names on my list of registrants. I was disappointed. Optimistically I made 30 copies of the handouts. The day of the forum was sensationally sunny and warm for the first day of autumn. I mention this because nice weather has been known to negatively affect turnout in this rural community. I greeted the first few participants as they arrived but quickly became overwhelmed as an astonishing 60-plus people showed up. (This represents a significant percentage of our community’s small population!) Flabbergasted and panicking as my handouts ran out, I turned to a friend who had come purely to support our endeavour. Her whispered response, “Quit your complaining and look on the bright side,” helped calm my panic and I scrambled to set out more chairs. One participant later commented how much she appreciated the “hodgepodge” of our seating arrangements: “I always look for that,” she said, “because if chairs are arranged in rows, forget it, the meeting’s going to be just awful.” I must admit that the hodgepodge was completely unintentional – I simply hadn’t expected that many people and was desperately pulling chairs out of the storage area and sliding them across the floor at the growing crowd. It turned out the event was a fabulous success and was talked about for a long time afterwards. — GreenHearted.org

Activity

In this lesson, you

• explored multiple intelligences and spheres of influence to help you engage yourself and encourage others in ACE;
• learnt some media literacy and climate literacy skills for dealing with denial of climate change and its impacts; and
• explored communication arts and skills, including event organising skills, using different modes of communication and available platforms (e.g., social media, television or radio, LinkedIn and public presentations).