How to talk to people about climate change

Newswise — Several times a year the topic of climate change makes its way to my family dinner table. After we finish our meal and clear the plates, the conversation moves away from the safety of discussing the weather or the latest sports game to climate change. Before we realize it, we are suddenly in a treacherous storm out at sea. We find ourselves in the middle of a dialogue steeped in politics, values, complexity, and uncertainty. Each one of us brings to the table our own experiences, beliefs, and worldviews, without so much as an oar to help us steer towards meaningful conversations that lead to attitude or behavior change.

As someone who studies how people think about environmental change, I see the dinner table as my laboratory. My family members become subjects for experimentation. While I attempt to move my family members’ beliefs and behaviors, I carefully watch how over time their attitudes have changed, and with it, their actions.

When the topic first arose years ago, I used what is commonly known as the information-deficit model of communication. This approach assumes that an individual’s lack of climate action is a result of them not having enough information. In other words, if we simply tell people the facts, those people will change. After spending much too long explaining greenhouse gases and carbon isotopes, my family was no more concerned about climate change, nor willing to change their behaviors.

Since the 1980s there has been an awakening in the field of science communication. Research consistently shows that giving people more information does not motivate action. It was therefore not surprising that the use of the information-deficit model on my family at the dinner table was uninspired. That is also one of the reasons why in a recent survey conducted by Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, 72 percent of people in the U.S. perceive climate change as a threat, while only 58 percent support reducing fossil fuels, and 4 percent belong to an organized group for climate action.

Understanding that climate change is a global threat does not always mean that an individual perceives climate change as personally relevant or harmful, nor a priority in need of addressing. Talking about climate change in a way that fosters meaningful engagement is increasingly important to move individuals towards action.

BRI’s scientists rely on many effective approaches, based on communication research, that lead to success when talking to people about climate change. These approaches account for individual values, experiences, and abilities, in addition to the many ways people interpret and act on information. BRI’s scientists are on the cutting edge of climate change research, exploring places and interacting with wildlife the rest of the world may never see. Iain Stenhouse, director of BRI’s Marine Bird Program, describes how few people even see the most common bird on the planet. “Some of these birds live over deep ocean for much of the year and then they breed in the Arctic. One of the most common species in the world is the Storm Petrol. And probably 98 percent of humans have never even heard of it.” Therefore, making connections between individuals and the environment can be challenging as people may not always have the same experiences. However, Iain uses a powerful communication tool to connect people’s everyday experiences to birds. Employing a strategy known as synecdoche (where a part is made to represent the whole), Iain points to more common birds that people often see to get them thinking about larger ecosystems. “Birds are important indicators of the health of a major ecosystem that we all rely on for life,” says Iain. “And I’ve seen that resonate with people.”

Scientists and journalists have used a similar approach on a larger scale. Consider the animal that comes to mind when you think about global warming. For many (myself included), a polar bear floating on an ice sheet will likely forever be the image they associate with a changing climate.

Ed Jenkins, avian biologist who helps run BRI’s River Point Bird Observatory, uses visuals to communicate the importance of bird conservation. “I just thought posting loads of cool pictures on social media with everyone to see, with a little blurb about the conservation issue that species faces, would help support BRI’s goals and raise awareness of the work that we do.”

Visuals are a powerful communication device that can appeal to people’s emotions. Through engaging both in-person at the bird banding station as well as on social media, Ed shares a piece of the planet with the world that captivates audiences, while drawing attention to some negative impacts of climate change on the migratory birds. In this way, people feel connected to nature and more willing to act in ways that help the environment.

Tim Tear, director of the Center for Climate Change and Conservation, constantly considers climate change communication in relation to BRI’s work, emphasizing the importance of engaging with people’s personal experiences. He offers this example from his own life, “Growing up, we used to have to scrape bugs off our windshield all the time. And sometimes you would go to a gas station when you didn’t even need gas just to clean your window. That rarely ever happens at all now.” This experience provides a concrete example of environmental change.

While the impacts of climate change are all around us, the long-term nature of climate change makes perception difficult. Drawing on real, vivid examples, Tim lasers in on an important component of climate change communication: the use of personally relevant stories and experiences. By attuning individuals to the world around them, through all their senses, Tim believes that we can talk about climate change in a way that shapes attitudes and actions. He says, “Best to have things that people relate to in everyday life—that’s what makes it real.”

The art and science of climate change communication involves understanding the ways people interpret, process, and act on information. Since my unsuccessful attempt talking about climate change with my family using the information-deficit model, I have evolved in my approach. At one family dinner, I used message frames—powerful structures that people use to understand environmental change—to emphasize the personal economic costs of not mitigating climate change. “Continuing to use fossil fuels now will only result in larger costs to come,” I told them. Like Ed and Iain, I’ve shared images and information about wildlife they are interested in, describing the impacts of climate change on moose and loons in Maine. Like Tim, I’ve employed personal stories and narratives that bring the impacts of climate change close to home.

As people engage with science now more than ever, the people that communicate climate change play a critical role in society by shaping the direction, value, and meaning of climate science and policy. BRI continues to study and document long-term environmental change. This research, however, is supported by their communication work. Whether it’s conversing with people at the River Pont Observatory bird banding station, engaging audiences on social media, or creating captivating videos and imagery, talking to people in a way that motivates action is a necessary part of addressing climate change.

Tips for talking to people about climate change:

1. Know your audience: Understanding individual worldviews, beliefs, and social and cultural norms is the first step in communication. If you know your audience is conservative, yet the views of their close friends and family are important to them, try talking about how climate action could benefit their relationships.
2. Understand their barriers to climate action: If you hope to inspire change, there may be a financial, social, or other barrier to action. Do what you can to alleviate these obstacles.
3. Use personal examples, including stories: When possible, connect climate change to something very real and important in a person’s life. You can draw on your own experiences to appeal to emotions as well as ask them about their own experiences with environmental change.
4. Talk about climate change in a way that resonates with what a person cares most about: If people care deeply about wildlife, emphasize actions they can take to help wildlife. While those actions may also help to mitigate climate change, a person doesn’t necessarily need to believe in anthropogenic climate change to take action.
5. Emphasize the short and long benefits of climate action: It can be easy to consider the short-term costs of mitigating climate change; for example, by installing solar panels. People often weigh the short-term costs over the long-term benefits. Consider the immediate short-term benefits when discussing mitigation actions and focus on these aspects in conversations.
6. Bring impacts close to home: Use examples of climate change impacts that are both immediate and geographically close to an individual. This helps reduce what is called psychological distance, which can lead a person to care less about threats that are far away and in the future.
7. Inspire hope and efficacy: Climate change can be scary and intimidating. Using scare tactics is not always an appropriate approach; rather, people need to feel hopeful that they can take steps to address climate change.

More stories on https://briwildlife.org/bri-blog/.