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