Weather Autumn 2006

Whatever the weather Connecting the public with climate change issues Alex Palman talks about Defra’s Climate Change Communications Initiative, identifying key ways to engage the public.

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limate change it has been said is the most serious issue facing the world, more so than

terrorism. We now read and hear about the problem almost daily – yet for many it’s an issue they can neither see, nor are affected by or even care about. So how do we engage those with an issue which is both perplexing, overwhelming in scale and almost invisible on a daily scale?

The Climate Change Communications Initiative The Climate Change Communications Initiative (CCCI) set up by Defra in 2005 aims to shift public attitudes to climate change so that people are better placed to take action. It takes its direction from an evidence-based strategy which recommends a local and regional approach among several other key insights. While the science is what we rely on for our understanding, most people don’t react in a rational and logical way. This makes the communications of the issue all the more complex. If we were all completely logical we

Giving a human face is central to engaging the public. The Climate Change Champions recently travelled to Switzerland to investigate two glaciers. Here they are standing where the glacier would have been in the year of their birth.

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The edge Autumn 2006

should be able to present the facts of the issue and everyone would jump at it. But we aren’t rational. We do what’s convenient, we follow the considered norms and prioritise things based on a massive array of competing factors. Research has also shown that people are not concerned about the future of their children when it comes to climate change. This is because they perceive the impacts to be in the distant future and in reality there are more urgent current concerns, such as education.

Keeping it positive Climate change is an issue which is about people. As we know, temperatures are increasing and a raft of devastating effects will continue to be felt. Sea level rise, increased frequency and potency of storms, accelerated desertification, increased propagation of tropical diseases just to name a few. But this is where the problem begins. These overwhelmingly negative impacts are exactly why people switch off. It’s just too difficult to deal with. What could I do to solve this/these problems?

Change the channel, watch something else; its easier and less depressing. Taking a positive approach which engenders involvement and empowerment are two cornerstones to the CCCI approach. So how do you make a seemingly disaster-strewn topic positive? Firstly by showing that the problem can be surmounted and secondly by showing that people are tackling it. The holy grail is to make those actions aspirational, high status and cool. We’re not there yet, but that’s the goal. For example, in Germany the social status of behaviours associated with recycling are very high – if you don’t recycle, you’re a social leper. A positive development is the shift in the media that took place about a year ago. The balance of media reports up to around September last year would always caution that climate change was unproven and still being debated by scientists. The tone now is that this issue is upon us and has been researched and proven to a level second only to Newton’s second law of motion.

Keeping it local Keeping the issue ‘home not away’ is also key. Research shows that when an issue is situated in another country or on the other side of the world it’s easier to just change the channel thinking, ‘that’s terrible, somebody should do something about that.’

Making climate change a local or regional issue gives it more relevance. More importantly, by having a human face the issue is moved from one of graphs, tables and computer forecasts to something which is more tangible and real. The CCCI has recently funded 80 local and regional communications projects across England. Each project is picking up the issue in a way that makes it more accessible to people from those areas. In some cases specific audiences have been targeted; youth, ethnic groups, educators, to name a few.

Keeping it personal

emerge naturally and gain credibility from their efforts rather than their celebrity status. Unfortunately there are no Sir Bob Geldof’s or Nelson Mandela’s leading the cause. So before well known faces emerge, we decided to grow our own. The Climate Change Champions Project kicked off in January 2006 with a youth competition to find nine champs – one for each region of England. Entrants had to prepare a news report about climate change in their region, and those that made the semi-finals were interviewed. The winning champions have since visited 10 Downing Street and asked questions of Sir David King, met the Secretary of State for Environment and the Prime Minister. More

By associating climate change with people and keeping it very much a local and regional issue people in the regions have been engaged. The plan

Red Earth: Geograph (Trace) 2005

Another insight which has fed in to our strategy is the need for faces and personalities to champion/lead on the issue. This is a difficult challenge as most respected spokespeople tend to

recently they travelled by train to Switzerland to investigate climate change effects on two glaciers. They are now back in their own regions actively taking the issue to a broad range of groups including schools, local authorities, and community groups. The media uptake has been phenomenal – between them these 10 -17 yr olds have been on a huge range of regional radio and TV stations, and in most of the regional press – resulting in the issue being portrayed positively and with a sense of purpose, that is both important and relevant for locals.

now is to keep up the momentum by providing more useful information and resources for people to tackle the issue. Alex Palman is Climate Change Communications Manager at Defra. For more details of the CCCI, go to www.climatechallenge.gov.uk

Quick summary Points to keep in mind for organisations engaging the public with climate change: v As low tech, low science as possible. v Keep the issue ‘home, not away’ – tap into local/regional issues. v Always positive – only use fear if you provide a means to address the problem. v Make the issue relevant to the audience on their terms. v Don’t rely on concern for children/human future.

The visual impact of using the coast The coast gives a visual immediacy to climate change that’s often difficult to achieve in other areas of people’s lives. This was exploited well in the low tide event at Birling Gap, 2005. Working with a group of environmental artists (Red Earth), the National Trust demonstrated in a very visual and dramatic way, the effects of coastal erosion. A line of pebbles were used to mark where the cliffs stood 1978 years ago giving an immediate physical and local impact of climate change.

The edge Autumn 2006

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