How do you package the moral imperative to act on climate in with the political opportunity for leadership on climate when people are looking for solutions? You follow this guide from Betsy Taylor and Kathy Washienko.
WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK
Because the information deficit model of communicating climate change doesn’t work and communicators need to make sure they’re doing everything they can to be as persuasive as possible.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The Message Triangle – should inform all of your communications thinking and include a threat, the villain and the solution, supported by key facts and local examples.
Stress urgency – emphasise that we’re seeing climate impacts now and talk about kids growing up today, not abstract ‘future generations’.
Global weirding – don’t just talk about heatwaves, talk about how strange the weather has been getting and how much those disasters are costing us.
Keep it local – ground the threat in people’s own experience of strange weather, not in abstract ideas of distant ice caps (unless you’re in the Arctic/Antarctic of course!).
Empower people – clean energy is about taking charge of our own energy and empowering communities – creating local jobs, stronger communities and a more stable climate.
Comms 101 – Keep to core messages that are tailored to your audience and grounded in stories about people and local places. Use plain language and don’t overload with facts and figures.
End with hope – Climate change is overwhelming unless you empower people to think that they can act on the solutions. Inspire people with hope and opportunity.
image via Bold Nebraksa
