WHAT WE DO
COMMUNICATIONClimate communication is damn tricky to get right. Fortunately, there’s proven social science out there to help guide us.
COMMUNICATION
The key to a well-functioning democracy is a well-informed public.
Communicating the complexity of climate change is a fraught process.
While the basics are well known — that the world is heating up due to increased levels of greenhouse gases emitted by humans — the urgency, the risks and the opportunities are not. Many people still lump climate change in with other environmental problems (such as plastics) when in fact it’s as much an economic, social and security issue as it is environmental.
Climate change opinion is also spectacularly divided. Not because of the unavailability of information, but because of the way we filter that information through our biases and identities. Of course, how our media chooses to present it to us also matters. Effective communication with people — who range from dismissive to indifferent to alarmed — starts by understanding what works, and what doesn’t.
Check out Climate Outreach. They make climate change and its impacts understood, accepted and acted upon across the whole breadth of society.
Case Study
PURE ADVANTAGE
John researched, wrote and designed Pure Advantage’s 2018 advantages update: AgTech, Biodiversity, Bioproducts, Built Environment, Renewable Energy, Smart Systems and Waste-to-Value. The challenge of climate change informed and underpinned all seven advantages.
Pure Advantage is New Zealand’s leading green growth organisation. A registered charity led by business leaders and supported by a collective of sustainability experts, they investigate and promote the long-term strategies, strengths and solutions that are required for New Zealand’s environment, society and economy to flourish.