Limitations of old climate change messaging

Discourses of Climate Delay 🌎 Discourses of climate delay subtly undermine urgent climate action by framing it as either unnecessary, too disruptive, or impossible to achieve. These narratives don't deny climate change but instead promote inaction through complex messaging, effectively slowing progress toward meaningful environmental goals. One common approach is to redirect responsibility. This discourse suggests that the burden of action lies primarily with individuals or other entities, rather than addressing the systemic changes required from industries and governments. By focusing on personal responsibility alone, broader, impactful initiatives can be sidelined. Another tactic is to emphasize the downsides of change, portraying climate action as a source of economic hardship or social disruption. This discourages support for essential policies by highlighting potential challenges rather than long-term benefits, impeding collective progress. The push for non-transformative solutions is also prevalent. This narrative often suggests superficial fixes, like minor fossil fuel improvements, as adequate steps. By promoting incremental changes rather than systemic transformation, these approaches can delay necessary shifts in energy and resource management. Finally, surrender narratives frame climate change as an unsolvable problem, encouraging resignation rather than action. This viewpoint implies that adaptation is the only feasible response, discouraging mitigation efforts. Addressing these delay discourses requires a clear focus on accountability, transformative solutions, and sustained commitment. Recognizing these tactics is critical to advancing genuine progress in climate action. #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange #climateaction

Lately I’ve been obsessed with this question: Why do some climate messages move people—and others don’t? In a new episode of Bloomberg Television's new show Quantum Marketing by Raja Rajamannar, Pranav Yadav (CEO of Neuro-Insight) breaks down how the brain actually responds to storytelling—and how that applies to climate advocacy. Around the 17-minute mark, he analyzes a well-produced climate ad and explains, through neuromarketing data, why it doesn’t stick. The key insight? Psychological distance. The ad talks about climate change, but not in a way that connects to people's personal context—what they care about in their day-to-day lives. And when something feels distant—geographically, emotionally, or temporally—the brain tunes it out. It fails to encode in memory, which means it doesn’t influence behavior. What does work? Stories that activate memory encoding by making the stakes immediate and relatable. That connect to identity, not just intellect. That meet people where they are—then move them. This kind of research lights me up. It’s why I believe we’re at an inflection point in climate storytelling. At TIME, we’re working to reframe climate not just as an environmental issue, but as an economic one. A human one. A business one. If you're doing research in this space—neuroscience, behavioral design, storytelling strategy—or want to help us build a better framework for climate narratives, let’s talk. We need to scale these insights and we have the tools to do it. Watch the whole video but especially the last bit after 17 min if you're thinking about how to communicate urgency, value, and impact in this moment. 🎥 https://lnkd.in/et_uK4c6 #climatecommunications #neuromarketing #behaviorchange #storytelling #TIME #climateaction #businesscaseforclimate

In a world bombarded with existential threats, the narrative of doom has become a familiar refrain. Yet new research involving over 255 behavioral scientists and climate change experts tested the effects of 11 common messages meant to boost climate change beliefs, policy support, and concrete action. Their extensive study reveals that while doom-laden messages capture social media attention, they fail to inspire real-world action against climate change. Among the various strategies tested, one particularly effective approach stood out: emphasizing the impact of one's current actions on future generations. This intervention involved asking participants to write a letter to a socially close child, who would read it in 25 years as an adult, describing their current efforts to ensure a habitable planet. This strategy not only personalized the issue but also framed climate action within the context of legacy and intergenerational responsibility. This result highlights how effective it is to present climate action as the legacy we're creating for future generations. It connects with our basic wish to be remembered positively, to make a meaningful contribution, and to safeguard our loved ones. This method goes beyond the immobilizing effect of doom and gloom, encouraging a feeling of responsibility, optimism, and a drive to take real action. Moreover, the research highlights the importance of tailoring messages to diverse audiences, acknowledging the complex landscape of climate communication. What resonates in one country or culture may not hold the same power in another, reminding us of the need for nuanced and context-sensitive strategies. The study also reaffirms the effectiveness of messages that emphasize scientific consensus and moral imperatives, suggesting a path forward that is both hopeful and grounded in shared ethical responsibilities. Fear alone cannot drive sustainable change; we need narratives that empower and unite us in collective action. #climateaction #climatecommunication #climatecrisis https://lnkd.in/dGzgMCyY

In an increasingly fragmented cultural landscape, what stands out as "universal" in storytelling? I was asked this as part of an AMA for Sharebird awhile back and it was my favorite question of the lot. Frankly an astounding amount has changed in that cultural landscape since I first answered it, but I think there's enough in my answer that holds true to share it again here. My answer: People want to become better. They want to move from pain to solution, from being mediocre to being their best selves. The drive to "become" is, as far as I can tell, universal. Whether in a novel or a 30 second spot, the stories that speak to us the most make us feel like we're in the midst of a positive change somehow. If you focus too much on the positive -- the value prop -- or too much on the negative -- the painpoint -- you lose the transformation which is pretty much the whole point of the story. I work in climate tech. In the early days of communications around climate change, a lot of the messaging was driven by fear. It makes sense. People had failed to pay attention to climate change for so long that the shock of showing how dire the situation was became necessary. We needed the doomsday clock. We needed the jump scare. The problem with only telling stories based in fear, however, is that the fear begins to paralyze. People get overwhelmed into a standstill when action is what it needed most. I think the best story telling in climate is happening right now, all around us, despite the fear. Over the last handful of years some outstanding storytellers have begun to emerge. They lay out, in painful detail the complexity and breadth of the challenges facing us, and then, in practical tangible terms, show you how to break down that tangle into something you can address. I'll leave a few here if you're interested... 📘 Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and her book, "What if we get it right?" 📕 John Doerr whose book Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving our Climate Crisis, breaks down climate change into a set of major levers that are so elegantly simple they can be written on a napkin 🎧 Christiana Figueres -- all of her writing but especially her podcast Outrage and Optimism (because you need both). None of these experts are overly idealistic or naive to what's ahead of us. On the contrary, they see the challenge better than most, but they are more interested in walking toward it than cowering before it. That's how you make progress. It's also how you make a good story. I talk about it from the standpoint of climate because that's my world right now, but this was just as true when I was marketing for other industries. Are there cases outside of this? Sure. I'm not going to argue that there's some great "becoming" in a bag of cheetos, but when I worked in AI, CRMs and other fields, the the thing that was often universal is that people wanted to become better. And it was the becoming that held the most interesting story.

I am glad to have been featured in the CIRCULAZE Mag with takeaways from my spoken word piece "Talk Hotter To Me - How to communicate about the climate so people don't just listen but act" Climate communication is at a critical crossroads. The dominant narrative has focused on problems, statistics, and alarmism for decades. While this approach has successfully raised awareness, it has also led to what I call “poly-problem saturation.” I argue that "reducing CO2 emissions" must be among the top three most unsexy propositions of the 21st century. It's abstract, hard to measure, and, for most people, also hard to understand. Instead, we must focus on tangible benefits—quieter and cleaner cities, better health outcomes, and the ability to have a beach vacation at your favorite location without plastic sticking to your legs. The old paradigm leads to PARAlysis Problems Avoidance Restriction Abstract incentives The new paradigm creates HOPE Hook Outcome Possibility Enthusiasm & Engagement To learn what's behind these big teams, watch the video in the comments or read the article by Circulate. 🍎 🍏 - M #climatecommunication #climatechange #climateaction