How Should We Communicate about Climate Change?
I am writing from Bonn, Germany where I am participating in the 23rd Meeting of the Adaptation Committee (AC) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The AC members have been discussing the Committee's efforts to communicate about adaptation, both generally and about the work of the Adaptation Committee. I participated in this discussion, noting that a good communication effort involves four basic steps. First, what is the purpose and message of the communication - inform and educate, shared learning, joint problem solving? Second, who are the people involved - the audience(s) and the authors? Third, what is the process of and platform for communication - social media, face to face, mediated (e.g, you tube), blog, webinar, virtual? Fourth, what is the desired pproduct or outcome of the communication activity? These Ps - Purpose/Message, People/Audience/Author, Process/Platform, and Product/Outcome - can provide a framework for developing and implementing a climate change communication plan.
What should we communicate? How? For Whom? And Why? And how do we evaluate the impact of our communication efforts?
You might consider how we can communicate about climate change with our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors...
I think that in today's society, we can take advantage of social media to raise awareness of climate change. Billions of people turn to social media in their daily lives, and it is essential that we go to our social platforms to check the news or what is going on in the world. However, it can be a challenging task because it is a heavily controversial topic in today's society as some agree that something needs to be done while others oppose it. But one way is to make sure that we communicate to the audience that targets them in a certain way. For example, Californians are suffering deadly droughts in the summer and dangerous rainfall in the summer, we could argue that climate change is significantly affecting their lives and action should be taken immediately.
ReplyDeleteHi Kevin!
DeleteTo add onto your comment, while social media can be a powerful tool for raising awareness of climate change, a disadvantage I thought about is that it can be challenging to ensure that the information being shared is accurate and reliable. Because social media platforms are open to anyone to post content, there is a risk of misinformation or fake news spreading quickly and widely. Another disadvantage I for-see is that social media tends to be highly polarized, with individuals often seeking out and sharing content that aligns with their pre-existing beliefs and values. This can make it difficult to reach audiences who are not already interested in or supportive of climate change initiatives.
Hello to both of you! I do agree that social media can be valuable, and that misinformation tends to spread quickly. While social media tends to be highly polarized, I do also think that it can provide valuable opportunities for people to hear differing viewpoints -- especially for people living in very homogenous areas. There might not be in-person opportunities for them to readily access differing viewpoints.
DeleteOn the other side of that coin, the way that social media promotes polarizing content for clicks and ad revenue is definitely dangerous. While it can provide a platform for discussion, it can just as easily provide platforms for people to disparage others and create an "echo chamber".
And, as another point entirely, I think that in-person communication is just as valuable, if not more valuable. Online communication has a habit of amounting to a lot of people philosophizing at each other without any real action being proposed or taken. People can talk for pages and pages about what they want to see for the world without ever taking material action. A mixture of the two is probably best. Some sort of balance could be beneficial to maximize the unique benefits of each while working to minimize the weaknesses.
Hello everyone. I am continuing to add on to this conversation as I think its an interesting topic. I think social media is the best bet for sharing climate change information. While yes fake news is a very real issue, its pretty easy to see something THEN google for credible sources. If we use social media information can spread very fast and efficiently and we could also implement the news although that can aslo be unreliable.
DeleteIt seems that the value of the four Ps serves to improve communication between parties. I am curious as to how exactly language barriers may effect the establishment of the four Ps as it seems a large part of a message could be lost when the message is translated from one language to another. Seeing as Dr. Walker was working with the United Nations, there would be a vast number of different cultures and personal identities within the room that counter that of their neighbor. How would the language and different in experiences and culture effect how easily the four Ps can be applied in a argumentative environment?
ReplyDeleteI question this myself too. Communication is such a broad topic itself, especially when you take culture, experiences, and even the attitude in conveying a sentence would be so vastly different from person to person, not to mention different languages. When participating in events such as the meeting of the AC involving different countries with different languages and cultures gathering together; you're going to have to compensate in ways that allow the other opponent to get your message. Yes, we can convey or portray what we want to say about the matter through social media such as a post and using a certain image to get an individual's attention. But that image can mean different things within a different culture. So I'd say, to better the communication between countries and even between one another, you first need to understand one another's culture and look through their lens first.
DeleteEffective communication about climate change requires not only understanding the technical details but also considering the emotional and psychological factors that influence people's perceptions and behaviors. We need to engage with people on a personal level and create a safe space for open and honest dialogue. While I believe that the four Ps can provide a helpful framework for developing and implementing a climate change communication plan, there exist cultural barriers and other challenges that must be addressed as well. By being open-minded, empathetic, and willing to learn, we can work towards more effective and inclusive communication about climate change.
DeleteMost importantly, I believe that it is not just about understanding each other's culture, but also acknowledging other perspectives, especially those that disagree with ours. So, being open to learning from others and actively listening to their viewpoints is extremely important to their and our own personal development as well as the development of actionable solutions pertaining to climate change policy.
It's wonderful to hear that you were participating in the 23rd meeting of the Adaption Committee of the United Nations Convention on climate change in Bonn, Germany. The topic of discussion, communication about adaption, is an extremely important issue that requires a lot of attention and effort from all of us. I completely agree with your input on the four basic steps for effective communication. It's essential to consider these steps when developing a communication plan for any issue, especially climate change. The purpose and message of the communication should be clear, and it's important to consider who the audience is and who is delivering the message. The [process and platform used to communicate are also critical factors, as is the desired outcome of the communication activity. We must find ways to communicate with people in a way that resonates with them and is relevant to their lives.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the purpose, process, and product must be expressed while communicating about the issue of climate change, knowing your audience is the most significant when it comes to correctly educating society on such a critical topic. When I have previously talked to my peers about climate change, it became apparent that the discussion of such a topic grants strong feelings for most, with those feelings being incredibly vast. Understanding the varying levels of knowledge and opinions on the subject will allow us to reach a broader audience and ultimately produce a more effective solution to the issue of climate change.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I have noticed as well with the discussion on climate change. As with any argument, a thorough understanding of your audience can make a drastic difference in the effect. However, this is even more apparent with topics such as climate change. If you approach that audience trying to educate them like they are stupid or close-minded, it is an immediate turn off for any convincing or changing opinions.
DeleteI think that the four P's are very important to be able to effectively communicate one's ideas. Especially when it's such an important issue such as Climate Change, I think it's essential that one's ideas and arguments are fully and clearly explained. For example, there are a lot of different ways that we can tackle climate change, and the avenue that we take can permanently change our futures. I think an important way we can communicate about climate change is through educational systems. Teaching our children from youth through college is vital because climate change is not an issue that will be resolved in days, months, or even years. It may take decades of continued effort, so I think educational systems should value and teach its students about the issues of climate change and the efforts that we should against it. From there, students can spread their knowledge to family and friends.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the four P's, I further understood the importance of adaptation and how it relates to spready awareness to audiences. Adaptation clearly relates to all 4 of the P's. It relates to the First P, Purpose, because in order to establish good communication you have to adapt the purpose to the current stage of the problem. For example when climate changes status changed from a topic of concern to a topic of extreme issue, people had to adapt their purpose to account for the current and daily situation. Secondly, The second P, People. you should adapt your communication in terms of people by understanding who you are talking to, this means you will have to adapt your communication and argument based upon who you are communicating to. You will talk to someone differently if they are an elderly conservative person vs a young person with liberal interests. Thirdly, the Platform, you must adapt how you are communicating based upon who you want to target, and how you want to spread awareness. An example of this is social media. Since it is a lot more popular than for example newspapers, you will want to adapt your platform in order to spread better awareness. Lastly, Product, adaptation relates to this one because you will have to update and change your style of communication based on your desired outcome. If you want to spread awareness your communication style will be different then if you want people to donate or do a task. I think that adaptation is extremely important when communicating anything, especially something as important as climate change, and proper adaptation and communication can completely change the levels of awareness and outcome of a topic or stance on an issue.
ReplyDeleteClimate change communication is essential for raising awareness and promoting action. When communicating about climate change with our families, friends and peers, it is essential to consider the 4 P's. We should make out message specific to the audience, communicate using accessible and relatable language, and emphasizing the local impacts and solutions to climate change. There are many different platforms that can be used to spread the awareness including, social media, community events, and even normal 1 on 1 conversations. Finally, we should evaluate the impact of our argument through feedback and comments. By using the 4 P's, we would be able to develop effective and impactful arguments about climate change that would influence individuals and communities to take action.
ReplyDeleteDue to technological advancements in the world of communication, today’s world is more connected than ever before. However, while many have spoken about the use of social media in how we should communicate about climate change, I believe there should also be a focus on interpersonal communication. When communicating about climate change on an interpersonal level, it may become easy to stray away from effective and civil discourse. Ideally, the discussion stays rooted in the topic at hand, climate change, and does not move away towards one’s individual moral character due to disagreements about climate change. Using the four basic steps of good communication ensures that the discussion about climate change stays civil and informative, allowing for effective communication and understanding of the climate issues we face as a society.
ReplyDeleteI believe that communicating the fact that we can contribute meaningful change against climate change is super important. Too often, in the communication of climate change this element is lost and climate change instead often feels like something that is distant, that someone else has to do something about it, or that it doesn't really matter here on the local level. This is false, and I think we can really start changing attitudes here on the local level. I think having these discussions in our local city halls is a good start. We need to convince our local leaders to take action and implement policies to meaningfully work to reduce the human impact on the climate. The City of Eugene for example, fairly recently instated a ban on natural gas appliances in new buildings fairly recently. How do we go about communicating this message of action on the local level you might ask? One method is by showing examples of other cities doing it, we could point to Eugene for example, or other municipalities that have implemented policies to help halt climate change. We need to frame our argument of combating climate change like this, in terms of action on the local level, because the local level is most likely where our individual voices are to be heard. Stating how many local authorities implementing policies, will collectively result in massive action in preventing climate change could also be an effective argument. Evaluating success in this regard is quite simple, we just have to ask a question, did the local government implement policies that work to reduce human caused climate change?
ReplyDeleteI think when we go about communicating climate change, I think it's best to approach the topics as a means of educating audience's about climate change, but also giving notes of an importance to advocate for expert's views and states as we go about creating solutions together as a society. When we talk about who can potentially be involved in the as our audience, it is important to recognize that climate change is not just affecting the air quality in our country for example, but it is affecting those halfway across the world in Africa as an example, who's people rely on the natural rain patterns for agriculture. Expect those patterns of rain are starting to turn into droughts that are affecting communities everyday. With that, everyone in the world is inherently affected by climate change, and we as a global society need to advocate for change that will push our world into a better place environmentally. Next, social media has had and will continue to have an important role in the way we communicate about climate change. I say that because I remember back during 2018-2019 where advocates like Greta Thunberg inspired many people like me when I was 16 at the time and kids around the ages of 14-17 who did many school walk outs around the world calling leader's attention to start to create action for combatting climate change. For me, I'll never forget seeing kids from Europe, Asia, and Africa all having a unified message to call our leaders to fight for climate change all through one lenses of social media. It's something that truly made me and many others feel connected to this message in a global society like ours. Lastly, when we think about the outcome and impact of our communication towards climate change we want the message to be centered around saving our world. Expanding off this idea, topics about saving our ecosystem and making the world livable for future generations for example are some of the outcomes we are looking for when discussing about climate change. When we think about those outcomes, those possible outcomes have a possible impact on leaders shaping the policy around climate change today. In result, that impactful communication should drive change for world to fight for climate change, and thus, a positive future to look on as one.
ReplyDeleteHey Luca, I totally agree with your approach here! Just to expand on what you've said even further, on the topic of environmental advocacy and how to get involved on the local, national, and even global level, something I discovered recently is the citizens climate lobby (I'll link it here) https://citizensclimatelobby.org/ which is an international grassroots environmental group that is almost entirely volunteer run and focuses on communicating with legislators in the US to advocate for climate justice and things like carbon taxes, healthy forest initiatives, and so much more! Recently I was thinking about the same thing and really wanted to get involved with environmental justice and cultivating a healthier planet and I got involved with the Corvallis chapter of the group and it's been awesome so far! It's a way for people just like yourself and I to open up new doorways into communicating with others about environmental crises and to get the point across even with policy makers. Super cool stuff!
DeleteCommunicating climate change is a difficult task as its an idea that is very controversial. There are people who believe in it and people who deny climate change. That being said, when reading and learning about the 4 P's, I feel this is a good way to educate the audience about climate change. It gives them a chance to learn what the topic of climate change is really about and how to react to it. Being able to show that climate change isn't a nationwide problem, but a global problem as a whole can change how people perceive the idea. Also, with people living in the era of information, it is easier to share problems with the world than in previous years as most of the world population uses a platform of communication; those being social media, news media, or regular communication.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is a great place to start in my opinion. However, we may be able to offer more classes here at OSU and/or at other universities that dig deeper into the reality of climate change. There is still a good portion of our world that is skeptical about climate change, and education may be able to break this mindset. In fact, talking about the magnitude of climate change and its effects at an earlier age may spark up more interests for our future generations to participate and do something about this crisis.
ReplyDeleteA typical question that some parents may ask their kids from school is what they learned from school, and kids may be able to explain to their families about climate change as well. From teachers to students to families to their friends and coworkers, communication can do more than enough in even just raising the awareness of the issue presented by climate change. By incorporating the 4 P's, we can create an idea as presented above. In fact, social media may not effectively communicate the necessary ideas for some people, and so mandatory education on the topic of climate change can help form a framework to the communication of climate change issues.
In the article below, the importance of climate education is portrayed:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/climate/middle-school-education-climate-change.html#:~:text=Education%20experts%2C%20too%2C%20say%20it,at%20Washington%20University%20in%20St.
Hey Daniel!
DeleteI totally agree that offering more classes at institutions will help educate many more people about this topic. Though to add to what you have said I think that by incorporating both social media and school classes together would help spread education on climate change. By publishing what students learn and write about with climate change on social media it would reach a farther audience and be educational. It would allow those on social media to read informational posted by different students and stop the spread of misinformation surrounding the topic.
I think communicating about climate change is important, even if it's just acknowledging it or doing certain actions that promote the health of the environment. I think more recently there has been an increase in conversation surrounding climate change which is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible to me that there are large swaths of the world that are skeptical of climate change and the crisis unfolding around us. Their attitudes cannot be written off as pure ignorance however, it has been a conceited effort by the largest of corporations to convince the least educated that attempts to refocus our society to avoid the rapid warming and destruction of our planet is somehow a plot to restrict their basic rights. I think a successful strategy for communicating to such people is essential in furthering climate understanding and starts with localized community based meetings in which the direct and noticeable effects of climate change in the surrounding are pointed out and addressed. By visualizing the crisis close to home and affecting everyone I think climate awareness could be spread rapidly.
ReplyDeleteClimate change is a problem that we have known about for years. It continues ton affect our world and our future generation and yet it doesn't seem to be showing signs of stopping. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets to the point where we start teaching about climate change and that we can do to stop it in our mandatory public education. People in middle and high school will most likely be taught this stuff in the near future because the biggest thing we can do for the cause is educate those who are unaware that climate change affects everything and everyone and should not be ignored by the majority. Speaking of middle and high school, another way we can spread the word of the severity of the climate change issue is by making full use of social media. These days, social media can send messages to millions of people in minutes and what better use of this technology than to spread the word. Here is an article about how teaching the youth about climate change can make a real difference.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-solutions/education-key-addressing-climate-change
I believe that the second point brought up in the main post is the most relevant to the discussion on climate action. The research and science behind climate change is massive and irrefutable. However, that is not the part we are stuck on. Communication on climate change requires that we fully understand and are able to play to the ears of the audiences we wish to convince. Approaching them like they are lesser or ignorant will be an immediate turn-off that won't garner any thought or action change. Here is a short article from the UN talking about how to educate people on the effects of climate change.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-solutions/education-key-addressing-climate-change