There are lots of resources available on communicating about climate change—sometimes it seems like too many. Of course, that’s a good thing. There’s ample research and expertise to guide us and I see that it’s making for smarter, more compelling, and more effective messages about climate and energy. Still, sometimes, with all the tips and recommendations swirling around, a well-meaning climate communicator can feel a tad overwhelmed.

Happily, ecoAmerica and partners have boiled down the latest and greatest research to a manageable set of guidelines. They give us 13 messaging principles to live by, and, as I’m wont to do, I’ve distilled the list even more.

The top takeaways are nothing new, but good to keep in mind: Keep it personal and say why it matters and balance messages about the problem with hope and optimism about solutions that are ready to go, accessible, and meaningful.

As always, message discipline is critical. As ecoAmerica reminds us (tip #13), “simple messages, repeated often by trusted messengers are powerful…Be consistent, and don’t be afraid of repeating critical points.”

I couldn’t agree more. And that’s why lists like these are so important and worthwhile.

Here are my top 4 (I’ve taken the liberty to combine, paraphrase, and prioritize. The full list follows and you can also find it along with examples and references in ecoAmeria’s handy memo):

Users’ Guide: Climate Messaging

1. Start with people, stay with people. Say why it matters (to you and your audience). Connect with values—family, community, pride, working together for the common good.

2. Use facts wisely. Talk facts not science. You lose people with jargon and too many numbers. One or 2 memorable facts from a trusted source are far more powerful.

3. Make it concrete. Keep language vivid and familiar (wind and solar, not “alternative energy”). Start with personal (what we see at home) and scale up to the global.

4. Focus on solutions. The problem is paralyzing. Inspire and empower with hope and opportunity. Prepare, don’t adapt. Talk about meaningful solutions that are ready to go.

Here’s ecoAmerica’s full list of steps and guidelines:

1. Start with people, stay with people.

Doing homework on your audience and their work and concerns demonstrates respect. If you can connect what they care about to climate change in their own words, they will listen to you. If you research to understand their needs and relate to them where they are, it will open hearts and
minds. Start from their perspective, and infuse what they care about throughout the entirety of your conversation or communication.

2. Connect on common values.

Many people talk about the science of climate change, the causes and consequences, and what must be done to address the issue. However, if you want people to care and act, you need to make the issue relevant to them. Connecting on values that bring us together—family, community and America—opens up emotional and motivating bonds that humanize yourself and
form the foundation of a productive discussion on climate change.

3. Acknowledge ambivalence.

Not all of us have the same information on climate change, and many Americans are focused on other priorities. If you start out assuming everyone knows, or should know, or cares, or should care as much as you do, you will lose much of your audience. A simple line like, “Some people are
worried more about climate change, and some people are less concerned,” will allow people to be comfortable where they are, and listen to you with an open mind.

4. Scale from personal to planet.

People understand what they can see around them with their own eyes. If you talk about Superstorm Sandy or wildfires in the Rockies, people get that. Then you can scale up to other areas of the country or the planet. Starting with global catastrophe leads to fatalism, since many people can’t see how their actions could address such a big problem.

5. Sequence matters.

Research reveals that you can take the same set of six facts, arrange them in different ways, and end up with very different results. Connect on common values, acknowledge ambivalence, and scale from personal to planet. If you start with the negative and impersonal, it’s very hard to get to the positive, personal and relevant. Try going the other way.

6. Use “facts,” not science.

Every time you read about science, it’s refuting some other science. We have our scientists, and the other side has theirs. Everyone knows scientists argue, and that science can be mutable. Talking about science opens the door to question and debate. It’s better to assume the science, and talk about the facts. Over 80% of Americans notice that the climate and weather are changing. Talk about the facts of warmer summers and droughts. After all, you don’t talk
about the science of smoking cigarettes—you talk about health.

7. Inspire and empower.

The most important thing to do to get people to engage on climate change is to convey a sense of hope and potential. Many of us avoid the subject because it can be depressing. America has doubled the supply of solar energy in just the past 2 years. America has solved great challenges before, and we know we can solve this one too.

8. Be solutions-focused.

If climate change is as large of a problem as we say it is, Americans will expect us to offer (and will respond better to) practical solutions that match at scale. Even if you talk about light bulbs, it’s about what can happen when all of us change them. Show the path to achieve your solution. Will it seem realistic? Overwhelm problems with solutions, presenting five solutions for every 1
problem, ensuring you focus on solutions actively in place all around them. Doing so will quell any feelings of futility and fatalism, while at the same time motivating them on what is possible. Avoid suggesting people sacrifice. Americans have shallow tolerance for more problems; they are strapped for time, resources, and money. Offer a path to a better life, not a lesser life.

9. Describe, don’t label.

Labels are code words that bring up other, sometimes negative, associations. Abstractions don’t have the same power as do concrete terms. A lot of climate change terms, like “mitigation,” don’t mean much to Americans. Rather than talk about “alternative energy,” talk about wind and solar power. Rather than “ecosystem collapse”, talk about the plants and animals that we depend on to survive. The most persuasive language is vivid, familiar, and descriptive.

10. Have at least 1 powerful fact from a trusted messenger.

One or two facts with a lot of emotional power can add significant weight to your message. Highly trusted messengers—different for different audiences—lend credibility and importance.  Find a great, relevant quote from someone your audience knows and trusts.

11. Prepare, don’t adapt.

Adaptation is a disempowering term that leads to fatalism and resignation. You can’t do anything about it, so just adapt. Preparation, on the other hand, leads to action. Preparation implies there’s a problem that we can do something about. Americans know how to prepare, and part of preparation is risk mitigation.

12. Speak from the mountaintops, don’t fight in the trenches.

Focus on the big picture, on what’s important, on working together to achieve common good.
Arguing details turns off your audience and distracts from the important point. Whether the drought is the worst or the second worst ever is not the point. The point is the trend, the big issue, and the solutions.

13. Message discipline is critical.

Simple messages, repeated often, by trusted  messengers are powerful. Follow the rules above, be consistent, and don’t be afraid of repeating critical points. Explaining the same thing in different ways may be more confusing than it is enabling.
April 8, 2014