Lessons from the field: Takeaways from 2013 and the challenges that lie ahead

May 9

excerpted from Climate Access; to see full article by David Minkow and takeaways from several other great climate communicators, click here.

What do you consider to be this year's most significant development this year in engaging the public on climate? What is the most important lesson relating to climate outreach that you've learned in 2013? What do you think will be the biggest challenge to building public support for climate action in 2014? We asked these three questions to a handful of leading climate voices, and here is what they had to say:
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Joylette Portlock, Don't Just Sit There - Do Something!

Most significant development: Honestly, the most significant development is the willingness of more and more public officials who accept climate science to finally say as much, and call, loudly, for action. President Obama's climate speeches and plan are the best example. It's a testament to the amazing amount of outreach that has been done on the subject in the past many years, and it bodes well for the future. The more leaders we have calling for action, the easier it will be to remind the public that climate change deserves their attention, too.

Most important lesson: This answer is not terribly academic, but I recently saw organizing guru Marshall Ganz speak about social change, and a lot of what he said really seemed relevant. If our goal is to change people's actions, then we have to create a way for people to identify with those actions. I'm not saying we need to change people's beliefs--the opposite, actually. We must, instead, affirm the things they already believe, as they apply to climate.

Right now, we suffer from an image problem, where people insist you must drive an electric car, eat vegan, hate electricity (except for the aforementioned car), wear nothing but hemp, and wax poetic about the plight of toads in the Amazon at dinner parties (vegan ones, presumably the only ones you get invited to) to properly consider yourself an environmentalist. We need to expand the definition, make the tent bigger, and remind everyone that conservation is a value we all (well, most of us, anyway) share. Once the identity--that, say, of the everyday environmentalist--has been uncovered, involvement and action on the part of the public will follow.

In a nutshell, instead of saying, "Hey, American People, you're doing it wrong!" it's probably a lot more effective to say, "You know as well as I do that we've got to fix this. Are you with me?" As it applies to my own work at Don't Just Sit There - Do Something!, where we use humor and the short video format to make climate science and news more easily digestible, there are so many exciting ways we might try to invite people to see themselves as supporters in the climate movement! I foresee at least one new public engagement campaign in our near future.

Biggest challenge: I'm surprisingly upbeat, like I said--momentum may once again be on our side. But I thought that in 2007, too. So, I would posit that our biggest challenge is in consistency and staying power. We still have to work as hard as we ever have, and work together and more strategically than we ever have, to see the job done. Even though we've seen the first inklings that we may be breaking through the denial, misinformation, and complacency, there absolutely will be pushback from those protecting the status quo. If we let up, then that pushback will certainly undo the gains we've made. And we don't have time for that.

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DON'T JUST SIT THERE - DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

6/7/2013

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by Joylette Portlock
Reposted from Mom's Clean Air Force

The profound changes humans are causing to our climate, are of great concern for everyone – women, men, the young, the old, and everyone in between. Since mothers are traditionally the protectors and nurturers of the next generation, climate change is of special concern for all us Moms out there. We spend so much effort, time, and money carefully creating the highest quality life that we can for our kids, only to have it put into jeopardy by climate instability. I’m a scientist by training (Ph.D. in genetics) and a science communicator by profession. Being female and a parent are not what brought me to work on this issue years ago. But, amusingly, the idea for a video series did indirectly come about because of motherhood.

Cocooned at home after my second son was born, I was reading climate news online and watching network news fail to cover the huge climate stories in fall of 2011, while totally unable to do anything else besides blearily change newborn diapers, read stories aloud, or feed children all day and night. Don’t Just Sit There – Do Something!, which was suggested and is co-created by my husband, Bryan Pendleton, is thus as much a way for the two of us to take action as it is for all our viewers.

When it comes to climate change, there’s a lot of bad news: every year, the effects are more and more obvious in the world’s water, land, biodiversity, and air quality (as warmer temperatures contribute to worsening respiratory ailments like asthma). Media coverage of the topic in the U.S. is still far lower than its peak in early 2007 — at the same time that all the world’s systems are increasingly disturbed because of carbon pollution in the air.

Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus about climate change and its causes, 65% of adults in the U.S. say they need more information before making up their minds about climate change. There’s a clear gap between what the scientists understand and what the public needs to know for an informed debate.

Good news: filling that gap is our mission at Don’t Just Sit There – Do Something!, an ongoing series of funny, short online videos about all things climate. We don’t believe you should have to be a climate scientist to understand the basics of climate change, and we don’t believe you should feel like you need to hide under the covers and worry yourself to sleep every time you learn something new about climate change, either.

Learning should be fun, even when the topic is serious; our videos are designed to land somewhere between theDiscovery Channel and The Daily Show.

Each short episode covers a small piece of the climate puzzle and targets a general audience. We give you reliable, basic climate science information and news. With humor. Climate change requires us to act and, as it turns out, depressing people into action doesn’t usually work. Each episode ends with two easy actions the viewer can take, one to make a difference in your household, and a larger action to push for bigger change, and we list all our sources on our website if you want to read more.

Our newest episode does rapid-fire coverage of five common misconceptions held even by many who accept that climate change is real and man-made.

We didn’t start Don’t Just Sit There – Do Something! to benefit our kids specifically. We started it because as a society, we need to get past denial and overcome despair. We need to roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done for all of humanity’s kids, who will have to live in the world we are creating with our pollution. We can do better for them, and since we can, we absolutely must. And you know what? It is A-OK to laugh along the way.

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