UNEP communicators learn how weather events can enhance climate action
15 May 2024 unsplash.com
The heavy rains and flooding experienced by those in Kenya, Brazil, Tanzania, and other countries remind us of the responsibility communicators have to promote climate action.
“One of the few advantages of these tragedies is that they do get the attention of the public, media and policymakers and, as a result, they are an incredible opportunity to help people connect the dots between climate change, which for most people is a very abstract idea, and what is actually happening,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, Founder and Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
He delivered these remarks at the 2024 Comms Academy of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which brings UNEP communicators together to discuss current strategies, modalities, and workflows, ensuring clear messaging across their communications.
Simply communicating the definition of climate change regularly, he said, can be an important first step toward climate action. His research shows that many in developing countries may not know that what they are experiencing is related to global warming, even though they are the most affected by its consequences.
“Once people are given the definition, and especially if you can connect it to the weather patterns that they’ve been experiencing, they are very easy to convince that this is a real and serious problem,” said Mr. Leiserowitz.
For climate specialists, communicating that climate change is human-caused is crucial to giving people hope that global warming can be reduced if governments, individuals, and organizations take collective action.
Communicating on climate action is about taking the abstract issue of climate change and connecting it to the experiences of people and places impacted. There are many stories to be told.
“Let’s go to the emotional heart of why we care about climate change, and I’d argue that this is ultimately rooted in love. We have love for people, places, and things that are now being threatened by climate change,” said Leiserowitz.
“If you can’t come up with something that people can care about…you are not creative enough.”
