Solutions to Climate’s Communication Crisis

The climate crisis is the defining story of our time. And yet, it only seems to be treated as such in ‘climate spaces’ – explicitly climate events, work environments, activist groups. It seems as though the rest of the world has somewhat of an allergic reaction when the topic comes up. Eyes glaze over, people mentally check out, it kills the vibe, and people don’t know what to say.

The climate crisis has a communication problem. It’s not that people don’t care deeply about climate; many just don’t know how to engage with the topic in a meaningful or productive way. There’s a clear disconnect between what people believe and say they value, and their actions. Ipsos Mori data shows a 25% increase in concern about climate from 2013-2016. Yet, during that same time, there’s barely any change in people’s willingness to take action on climate. As Kris de Meyer argues, that’s because most of us don’t know what we’re supposed to do that could make a difference, or how to do what we would want to do.

What drives behavior change? Thanks to behavioral science we know that it’s not more information. So what does? Stories, emotions, and other people. Telling the right story is the difference between turning someone off from anything climate related and lighting a fire inside them to do everything they can.

I think there are 4 killers in the world of climate communication. They are common communication mistakes that are well-meaning but ultimately result in climate vibe-killing. 4 wet blankets guilty of preemptively extinguishing the internal flame that fuels climate action.

Let’s look at each of them and explore flame-fanning alternatives.

New ways to tell the story of climate

Wet blanket #1: Too scary & overwhelming

For far too long, the overpowering emphasis in climate has been on its scary facts. The assumption has been that if people have enough fear, they will be moved to action. Fear works to motivate some people, but rarely over the long-term, and it simply paralyzes many others.

Personally, I think journalists have sufficiently done their job of convincing those who can be convinced of how bad the crisis is. At this point, I believe climate media has reached its maximum saturation of fear-based messages that could be helpful. Now the task is to give people actions to match the size of the fear – to balance the fear with action-based hope. Usually, when a terrifying article or documentary about climate change does provide a call to action, the proportion and ratio of solution to problem is laughable in its half-hearted attempt at hope. Something along the lines of an hour dedicated to painting our bleak future, then 1 minute of simple suggestions like ‘recycle’ and ‘ride a bike,’ as if that’s an empowering ratio.

Solutions

The solution to climate’s reputation as too terrifying and overwhelming to face is emphasizing exciting solutions and how to accomplish them. The key here is showing people not only that we have the tools to meet the moment, but also how to use them.

Spotlight the recipes of climate action

Personal storytelling is how to do this. This Ted Talk argues that we need to get better at sharing our journeys of discovery when we have them. Telling people how you figured out how to do something or overcome something, like make a tangible change that’s pro-climate, 1) doesn’t turn people off because it’s not telling them what to do, and 2) is inspiring and motivational. When we see other people do something, and are able to know how they did it, too, that’s incredibly empowering. Even behind Greta Thunberg’s hugely influential climate protests was her first seeing and being inspired by American students protesting school shootings.

Those recipes should also focus on communal efforts people can plug into. Trying to address the specter of climate change through individual action is sure to enhance the feelings of overwhelm and the likelihood of burnout. Climate communication should emphasize ways to lean on and act in community, showing that we don’t have to tackle our collective problems alone.

Ditch the all-or-nothing rhetoric

Apocalyptic framing of the climate crisis is not helpful, but it does paralyze people and give them a false impression of the problem. While extremely urgent and a problem that does have levels, it is not an all-or-nothing issue that we either will or won’t solve. It can always be made less bad, and that means huge life-or-death differences for entire countries, species, and cultures across the world.

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Wet blanket #2: Too self-important & serious

Given how serious the climate crisis is, it’s no wonder the tone in the climate field can be seen by outsiders as self-important and serious. That’s not an energy that’s very inviting; people want to have fun, especially if the topic and the work are inherently difficult. Being serious all the time is exhausting. In the words of drag queen and climate activist Pattie Gonia, “If there’s one thing I have learned from the art form of drag, it’s that you can take fighting for something seriously without taking yourself too seriously.”

Solutions

Infuse more fun

The solution here is to bring attention to climate topics in silly and fun ways.

Here are a few examples I’ve seen recently of bringing creativity and fun to the topic:

• Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson produced a climate variety show, co-hosted with Jason Sudeikis, full of musical performances, comedy skits, and dancing. They toured across the country, turning climate engagement into a light-hearted night out.
• A dorky R&B song about geothermal energy: “Our Love is Geothermal”
• Climate content creator Kristy Drutman, of Brown Girl Green, has a climate dating show series: Love & Climate, where strangers meet and have a speed dating experience with climate-related questions.

Gamifying climate action

The internet is constantly brimming with micro-trends. A lot of the rhetoric around these trends nowadays is related to leveling up in some way, or achieving some aesthetic or identity through how-to videos and instructions. In this recent article, Kate Yoder recommends a new trend to gamify and maximize climate action, which she dubs ‘climatemaxxing.’ “Forget about your carbon footprint — climatemaxxing frames action as an aspiration, not a sacrifice, as well as an antidote to despair.” There’s a reason both casinos and Duolingo are incredibly popular: gamification works. Simple rebranding from shaming to positive affirmations like this brings joy, agency, and positivity to our lifestyle decisions, where it’s sorely needed.

While I was in college at Boston University, the Office of Sustainability had developed an app to do just this, called the SustainableBU app. You get to log all of your climate-friendly actions from a variety of categories or add your own, and see and get inspired by the actions your friends are doing. The little dopamine hit from logging all your actions throughout the day and seeing how much CO2 you saved in the process was effective and enjoyable.

Wet blanket #3: Too unrelatable & inaccessible

So much climate information is locked behind a paywall on an academic journal and written in dry, scientific, and unrelatable terminology. It’s not often presented to the masses in stories that people can relate to. The good news is that’s starting to change.

Solutions

Go where the people are

We’ve never had such a diverse span of popular media that can reach as many people as we do now: movies, video games, Youtube videos, and podcasts are tools that can be used for both entertainment and education now. People already spend a lot of their time there. The average person isn’t likely to come home from a hard day’s work, search up a scientific climate article, pay to access it, and then labor through some very jargonny and scientific language to ultimately read a bleak conclusion which is probably void of recommendations for action. But people do want to know what’s happening and what they can do about it. We can take advantage of the diverse new forms of media and platforms that people already spend their time on, by telling climate stories there.

People need to be engaged on climate in all different mediums and in all different ways. For example, sneak into the subconscious and tap into parts of the brain that are usually ignored. An exciting example is using video games as a conduit. This study actually finds that people who play video games are slightly more willing than non-players to participate in pro-climate political and consumer activism, and suggests that gamers’ social communities along with game content itself are opportunities to engage gamers on climate. This is a change to get more people to reckon with climate more frequently, subconsciously, and with the emotional and decision-making parts of their brain, all during their leisure time. Nearly two thirds of Americans already play video games, so it’s an ample opportunity for broad impact.

One place where people become emotionally moved by stories on a grand scale is the movie theater. In 2024, Good Energy released a report entitled Climate Reality On-Screen: The Climate Crisis in Popular Films, 2013–22. The researchers created a Bechdel test, but for climate: it asks 1) does climate change exist in this story (that takes place on Earth)? And 2) does a character know about it? Then, they applied the test to the 250 most watched films from 2013-2022. Only 9.6% of the films passed the Climate Reality Check. They also found that of the films that passed, relatable representation was lacking: the characters aware of climate change were overwhelmingly male, white, and middle-aged, and only 2% of them experienced climate anxiety. Mirroring the media-wide solutions gap, climate-friendly actions were also rarely depicted in these movies.

Most importantly, they found that the movies that passed the Climate Reality Check are more profitable, performing 10% better at the box office. It seems movie-makers have caught on to this, because the share of top movies passing the test is growing. 23% of the 2024 Oscar nominees passed the Climate Reality Check. Hopefully that trend continues upward, as the industry learns that movie-watchers are craving characters and stories that grapple with and acknowledge the biggest existential crisis of our day, in serious, casual, and playful ways. My favorite recent climate-aware movie was Flow, a heart-warming and inspiring movie about survival, with no humans, and no dialogue that, despite those facts, felt actually relatable.

Share your journey

People are moved by stories, not by being told what to do. Stories become relatable when they include vulnerability and humanity. You don’t have to share someone’s exact life experiences in order to be moved by their story.

Wet blanket #4: Too combative

Climate has, sadly and stupidly, become one of the most politically polarized issues in the United States. It’s one of the main culture war topics in our tribal, 2-party system.

As Kate Yoder points out here, entrenched in not only the culture of climate as a topic, but also the terminology surrounding it, is combativeness: carbon capture, slashing emissions, eco-warriors. That framework invites polarization, as all wars center around defeating enemies.

Solutions

Language changes

Climate experts refer to the benefits of climate actions that go beyond cutting greenhouse gas emissions as ‘co-benefits.’ In this framing, emission-cutting is the driving reason for climate actions, and all the other potential benefits, like decreased pollution, savings, more jobs, better health outcomes, improved ecosystem services, expanded natural spaces, are just an added bonus. The problem is, those ‘co-benefits’ are actually the things most people care about and want. By relegating them to the category of ‘co-benefits,’ we’re burying the lead.

Some have started to argue that in light of the politicization of climate, maybe it’s worth letting go of some of the conventional language when selling climate action, in order to get more tangible climate wins. Language and framing makes a big difference when convincing people. Since many words have been banned under this administration, changing the terminology around climate work is now even necessary to continue making tangible progress.

Depoliticizing climate

The climate issue desperately needs to be depoliticized and made legible and relatable for all people, because it affects all people. It’s time to let go of certain tired climate narratives to make room for the broader tent we need to build a climate-resilient world.