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The fate of climate programs and policies, both in terms of adoption and implementation, depends in large part on the level of public engagement. Regrettably, the overall lack of widespread buy in among the American public has doomed numerous efforts in recent years.
It is important to understand why this is so; it is difficult to overcome barriers if you don’t know what is getting in the way. The nonprofit Resource Innovation Group’s Social Capital Project has been focusing on climate communications and behavior change for the past seven years. In our experience working with nonprofit, government, academic, and business leaders from across the U.S. and Canada, we have identified the following seven primary reasons for why the vast majority of the public have yet to actively engage in addressing climate change.
In the coming months, Climate Access.org, the Social Capital Project’s new climate communications and behavior change practitioner network will break these reasons down, one at a time, through analysis and dialogue, including Roundtable discussions about how to address and overcome each reason.
1. We’re Facing an Unprecedented Risk. A risk that is not visible, yet will have profound negative implications for our lives the longer it goes unchecked is the worst type of risk imaginable and presents new public engagement and behavior change challenges. This makes it difficult to draw upon what has worked in addressing other critical issues.
2. We’ve Overwhelmed the Public. With a cacophony of groups, agencies and companies competing for attention, it is hard for the public to be clear on what the overall solutions are, who is responsible for implementing them and whom they should trust. The constant ask to make endless personal consumer and behavioral changes in the name of the environment is frustrating for individuals, especially when there aren’t clear feedback mechanisms, community reinforcement, and an understanding of what it all adds up to.
3. Fatalism Has Set In. Even when people accept that climate change is real, if they don’t know what can be done about it and how they fit in to the solutions, the problem will seem especially overwhelming and catastrophe inevitable. There has been insufficient focus on preparing for local impacts—which can create a realistic hope for the future—and the various co-benefits of taking action to address climate are often not made clear.
Why did you delete my comment
Why did you delete my comment yesterday morning?:
"Odd post for the day after 12,000 people surround the White House to protest and urge President Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline."
The only comments we delete
The only comments we delete are spam or duplicates. Your comment must not have been entered or submitted correctly the first time around.
- Mgmt.
Communication is not the
Communication is not the problem! People ignore climate because they have been lied to. The truth is that the USA doesn't really matter anymore. People see China rocketing past the USA and already emitting 150% the level of US GHGs with continued growth expected to bump that figure to 400% by 2017. There is a trust issue with the UN/IPCC as IPCC climate models are approaching falsification at the 95% level as they continue to diverge from reality to the point that even the climate scientists are now arguing about why the models went wrong.
There is also new information like the independent research by the Japanese that indicates that the USA absorbs (due to forrests and land use) more GHGs than it emits on a "net" national basis. In fact the data also shows that it is poor countries that are the "net" producers of CO2. As Richard Muller (Physics for Presidents) stated, in recent comments, the USA is a non-factor in future GHG emissions reduction. People are learning the truth that the USA doesn't matter. You will never get Americans to accept a carbon tax if the Japanese results are reproduced and it is found that the USA is already carbon neutral.
Stop wasting time on useless communication campaigns and strategies that are doomed to fail. The only real solution is to focus on develping energy that is cheap and clean and remove green politics from the discussion. Until the USA (or anyone else) develops the means to produce GHG-free energy at 5 cents/kWh on a worldwide basis there is no possibility of preventing 3rd world developing nations from using dirty fuel. You will look insincere in wasting time with the USA when it is China, India and developing 3rd world countries that are causing the imbalance of GHGs.
This is a great piece, but
This is a great piece, but there's another angle that's missing here that has two parts: Fatalism has set in because people don't know what to do (how to take action) and if they are actively doing what they can, they are often criticized (even by environmental leaders) for "not doing enough."
We can't have it both ways. The simple fact is that we need to convert anxiety and awareness to action by making first steps easy, accessible (and popular) at the community level. Achieving this successfully depends on rigorous research, testing, and the identification of barriers to action, but also on a willingness to make mistakes.
There's enough information out there. People need tools to act, and we need to reinforce them and congratulate them, when they do.
You're right on with 7 great
You're right on with 7 great reasons that the grass(roots) just won't seem to get any greener. We are so easily swept up in the latest drama. For a while, climate change was the most compelling and exciting story, but that tragedy is just too big and vague, and seems so far away. As soon as a more immediate, personal drama came along (the economy, my job, my retirement account, my lifestyle), we forgot all about the environment.
Perhaps that is Reason #8: It isn't personal enough. We have a collective delusion that climate change is something that will happen to other people (and polar bears), far away, in some distant future.
"As soon as a more immediate,
"As soon as a more immediate, personal drama came along (the economy, my job, my retirement account, my lifestyle), we forgot all about the environment"
Yes Reason #8 the climate change isn't Personal. My question is how does the green movement develope simple common issues using the K.I.S.S. principle? Climate change is a very complex issue which impact the economy, my job, my lifestyle, etc yet many people live comfortably with their "short term thinking".
Two major environmental disasters the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill and 2011 Nuclear Power Plant Melt down faded quickly main stream media Top concerns. Yet the long term impact on our global environment merit attention for 20 plus years.
My question is will a) the focus on Social Media b)an agreement on the common good and common purpose from the numerious organization(one clear message K.I.S.S.) c) the appeal to broad based social/moral values and d)linking the Green Movement to the universal "Human Experience" cause the general public to change behavior?
Or would a Carbon Tax be more effective?