How to Effectively Communicate Climate Change

i was six years old when i moved to abu

dhabi

ever since i was little i loved cool

temperatures

but abu dhabi welcomed me with a

scorching

sun when i went back to school i was

introduced to the word

climate change a group of presenters

came into our class and talked about how

the ice caps were melting and the polar

bears were losing their homes

at only six years of age this caught my

attention

for i loved polar bears and i didn’t

want to live in a world without them

then the presentation talked about how

about the consequences

of our heedless actions and i felt

anxiety gripping my neck

they talked about the rising sea levels

extinction of species in the increased

rate of natural disasters

and i found myself completely terrorized

by climate change i thought to myself

if i can’t handle the heat here in abu

dhabi then

what would those cute polar bears feel

when they lose their entire habitat

as a mere consequence for what we did

looking back in 2010 i started believing

that the human race had

no hope i didn’t want to be roasted to

death

or devoured by the seas

and then the presentation grew on to

talk about the

simple solution so now everyone in the

room could make a difference

and save the entire world

and from that i decided to make a change

i confess the change within me was

short-lasted i went on to live my

indifferent life and completely avoid

the topic altogether

after all who wants to hear something so

hopeless

and then i grew up pathetic and i

believe i can

relate with many of you in the audience

who felt the same way

but then my connection to climate change

deepened

when i visited my homeland new delhi in

india

observing hazardous amounts of pollution

filling the clean air with

grief and disease brought me back to my

senses

people with face masks were scattered

everywhere

and this was even before covert 19.

people were helpless transportation

services were closed and schools were

shut seeing so many people in distress

showed me how climate change doesn’t

just affect the lives of

polar bears but is affecting the lives

of people

there in india and all across the world

and when i felt their pain i was able to

change

my attitude towards climate change from

negligent

to determined i started doing some

research

and i wanted to know a way in which we

can get people engaged

for if an audience is engaged we have

solved more than half of a problem

half of the problem but the question is

how let’s start off with a simple

experiment

notice the way i talk and tell me which

way you like the most

all right

according to the ipcc the average

concentration of carbon dioxide in the

earth’s atmosphere topped

411 ppm changes in the earth’s

atmospheric abundance in greenhouse

gases in solar radiation and

land surface properties is altering the

energy balance

we need rapid decarbonization of

approximately 800 gigatons to avoid the

rcp

8.5 scenario

all right let’s try something a little

bit different

we are heading towards an inhabitable

earth

we are gonna face severe droughts

intolerable

famine vast economic collapses

monster storms devastating wildfires

scorching heat waves that will cook us

under a blazing sun

we only have a limited amount of time

tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock

if not we may bring hell to earth and

eradicate

all our kind

all right which way did you like better

probably neither the first one confused

like

can you please speak english the other

fearful like please take me out of here

this simple solution this simple

experiment shows the flaws that we have

in climate change communication

and according to a study by purse

dokness there are three

main psychological reflexes that

kick in whenever we hear anything

related to climate change

the first reflex is distance

climate change feels abstract in terms

of both time

and space and this makes it hard to

grasp

it feels like a future problem making us

less willing to act on it in the present

climate communicators use examples of

polar bears which

are heartbreaking but nevertheless

irrelevant to our daily lives

next there is do the doomsday narrative

through which media has consistently and

constantly portrayed climate change as a

looming disaster

has affected the younger generation

leading to a new phenomena

of eco anxiety feeling like we’re under

a constant

threat that makes us fearful of that of

the future

and this isn’t a good way to motivate

individuals because

after that fear is gone we want to avoid

the topic altogether

and according to bbc after 30 years of

scary climate change communication

more than 80 percent still use disaster

framings

the media articles still use disaster

framings

this doom and gloom view on climate

change change is one-dimensional

and unproductive

next the next reflex is denial

people people start denying climate

change

climate science facts and climate change

science

to find inner refuge from guilt they

start feeling that why should they

bother if no one else does and that

their sacrifice

won’t make a difference and then they

avoid the topic altogether

and after much reflection i found out

that my attitude towards climate change

at the age of six

wasn’t my fault but the fault lied on

the individuals

that introduced me to the topic of

climate change

now these these psychological reflexes

kill engagement but how can we look

further

new research shows how we can

effectively flip

these three successful these three

defenses into

three successful engaging methods

first we can flip distance into personal

by connecting what people care about to

climate change

and the thing about climate changes is

it can be related to

anything from public health agriculture

economy and more

instead of using images of polar bears

in an arctic without

eyes we need to use images of people

that are affected by the climate crisis

even better yet we need to use images of

things and objects

that people value this could be their

homes

family and etc and by connecting what

people care about to climate change

it helps them have a sort of personal

connection to climate change and makes

them

even more motivated to take action

next we can flip doom into hope

by accentuating the positive

according to the world economic forum

india

france uk and china have announced

to ended the sale of fossil cars by

and according to internationalagency.org

germany generated 41.3 percent of its

electricity from renewable

sources more people are generating

electricity from solar panels than ever

before

these stories are the ones that fill the

audience

with optimism and hope they

show that the bright future is near

and that change is not only happening

around them

but it’s happening globally

next we can flip denial into tailoring

signals that

show our progress an app called ducky

is an app that motivates individuals and

businesses

to to show the impacts of their actions

in

everyday lives and motivate them to take

action towards environmental

take environmental action your choices

make a difference says says the

ceo who helped create the app and from

this app you and your friends can

compete to save the most co2

cool isn’t it now

as one could see these successful

engaging methods are the key in engaging

people with climate change

it is true however that individual

solutions are not sufficient enough

in solving climate change alone but they

do build a stronger foundation

for policies and solutions that do and

that is why engaging people with climate

change is

so crucial before

we tested two ways of communicating

climate change

but there is another way and that

reevaluates the way we think about

climate change the key lies in thinking

about

climate as something you will love

something you will never allow to change

and something that affects every single

person

climate change isn’t something that

isn’t about something that’s far far

away from us it is about

this thin living air that surrounds

7.4 billion people on this planet

and inside of this thin fragile

atmosphere

all of life is flourished and protected

the way we communicate climate change is

crucial to

change our perceptions and help us value

its importance

human values play an important role in

shaping our beliefs and concerns about

climate change

and these values can be portrayed in

stories that inspire us

to keep fighting the communication of

climate change

lies in letting go of feelings of

abstractions and doomism

but instead choosing to tell new stories

because facts they leave you

doomism frightens you but stories

they stick with you and they motivate

you

these stories are about the steps we

take in fighting climate change

as a society and in caring of the

environment despite strong resistance

will we ever find a way to live

sustainably on this planet

this story hasn’t been written yet we

are writing the story

right now together

thank you