Making Climate Cool Again ReExciting the Movement

we kept performing

the other five thousand screaming fans

didn’t notice either

at first we continued to sing the lights

continued to flash

the music continued to play it was only

another

few seconds before we realized something

was very wrong

a chatter spread through the arena it

wasn’t excitement

it wasn’t anticipation it was something

else

we felt it too between the flailing arms

and stumbling legs we glimpsed the body

of a young girl on the floor we stopped

the show

she was having a seizure

we had never stopped a show before let

alone for something like this

but then something incredible happened

silence

fell across the room like a single

organism with us at the head we parted

the crowd to guide the paramedics to the

injured girl

5 000 people all had a single purpose

to ensure the well-being of one of their

own and it worked

it took a few songs to bring the energy

back up and after knowing she was okay

for the rest of the show the audience

jumped and sang along but there was

something else

all together we had lived through

something unique

something so much more than a concert

something that made us a community

it was on that night in salt lake city

that i started to think about the power

of that community

to be diehard ajr fans who at the drop

of a hat could mobilize for something

greater

even when the tour was over and i

returned to school as i worked on my

dissertation my mind continued to wander

toward this idea of community

and the thing that brought them together

having lived and breathed the music

industry for the last 15 years

has given me some insight into how

building a fan base works

especially one as tight-knit and

dedicated as ours

and yet as i wrote about climate

devastation across

asia and africa and the human rights

abuses occurring as a result

i started to make a connection between

the two

now when you hear the phrase climate

crisis

many people’s first inclination is fear

fear of the future fear of rising waters

fear of

wildfires fear of losing your homes your

cities your countries

the entire movement has been built on

fear

now this has worked to inspire some

people it’s helped to mobilize a youth

movement unlike

anything the world has ever seen but

this is not nearly enough for the

concrete change that we need

now when you hear the names beyonce

or bts or the beatles many people’s

first inclination

is excitement there’s an immediate

dopamine rush of course music is fun

it fills you up it’s everywhere but it

also builds a community in a very unique

way

think of it as a ladder there they’re

music fans that are on the first

rung when they hear a song in the

supermarket they may recognize it but

not necessarily know the artist

if they go home and listen to it again

on spotify or apple

they move up a rum they may listen to

three or four other tracks save them to

their library up another rung

they may follow a band on social media

buy a piece of merchandise go to a show

up up up it just keeps going

this ladder is built on one thing

excitement

the more excited someone gets the higher

up the ladder they’re willing to go

the music industry has crafted their

ladder in a

brilliant way to align with monetary

gain

over the last few years i’ve spent

countless hours thinking about how to

build this ladder of excitement in a

different space

i borrow techniques and strategies from

music from

incentives to creative partnerships to

community building in order to construct

a new ladder

today i share with you something that’s

already helping to reinvigorate the

climate movement

the ladder of engagement

now this is not necessarily a new

concept

every charity campaign and business has

tried to get people more engaged

forever but since we don’t have endless

time together i want to share a few of

the

pivotal rungs of this specific ladder

on the left side we have some of the

music strategies for bringing in new

fans and partners

and moving them up the ladder on the

right side we have some strategies for

bringing

people businesses charities and

governments

into the climate movement now these

climate strategies are not

one-to-one across the ladder music is

really successful at being bite-sized

shareable emotional but the strategies

on this ladder are deeper

more engaging and highly inspired by the

type of engagements we use in music

to get people excited

the first run on our ladder is

incentives

in the music industry we create all

different types of incentives for

participation

pre-order an album and you get a

discount or a bonus song

platforms for exclusive content

join our text list to get access to

things before anyone else

all of these strategies are designed to

move fans

up the ladder and put them in groups

with other

more engaged like-minded people

if they do follow us on social media or

join the text list

we have easier access to them for future

campaigns or even rewards

let’s pause here and look at a simple

and easy incentive

in the climate space sustainable

partners

a non-profit organization that i founded

focuses on creating

incentives for engagement with our work

at the

simplest level much like following on

social media

in exchange for subscribing to our

podcast planet reimagined

we plant a tree now a tree

to most people feels huge it’s something

permanent visual and so clearly

connected with climate

that why wouldn’t i subscribe even if

i’m not listening to the podcast

now this may seem really simple one

subscription one

tree but we as an organization now have

access to these potential climate

activists

these people who are on the very first

rung but have the potential to move up

think about it this way we’re now inside

their phones with important messages

while educating them about the climate

movement discussing

food artificial intelligence sports

fashion

all related to climate these subscribers

are proud that they planted a tree

did something good for the world so

proud that they may share the podcast

with others

not just for the content but because of

how the incentive

made them feel much like with music

where many of the incentives focus on

making people feel good about themselves

this does the same thing they can wear

their planted tree like a badge of honor

but we get the better end of the deal we

move them up the ladder

okay so those incentives focused on

individual engagement

but let’s look at another run on the

ladder

creative partnerships in the music

industry we do creative partnerships

all the time from travis scott’s

partnership with mcdonald’s

to major car brands sponsoring tours to

us creating a hot sauce named after our

song bang

there is endless creativity to co-brand

co-market

and co-build something as long as it

makes sense

especially when touring is not an option

creative brand partnerships are a

huge revenue source for musicians and

a great way for partners to reach new

audiences

thinking back to who the partners are in

the climate movement

we came up with a concept that was

unique

creative and allowed every partner from

individuals to businesses to charities

to get something out of it

the campaign is called time for change

imagine you click to watch a video on

youtube

before the video plays there’s an ad of

course

after five seconds you have the option

to skip it but

if you don’t skip it and watch the full

20 seconds

you could provide a meal to a child in

need

pay off medical debt for the poorest

communities donate school supplies to

young girls in haiti

or even pull carbon out of the

atmosphere

that 20 seconds of your time meant

something good is happening for someone

or something in need to give you some

examples

we’ve run multiple campaigns using this

simple idea

and the results have been extraordinary

a campaign with ticketmaster in 2020

allowed us to plant a hundred thousand

trees in just

three weeks from people viewing these