What you will find on this page: knowledge vs understanding (video); when facts are not just facts (video); PLEASE stop talking about the environment (video); book excerpt – why we are wired to ignore climate change; book trailer (video); How to talk to a climate change denier (video); ideas for digging our way out of this hole; but what do climate scientists say? (video); Climate Access publication -The Preparation Frame; New Guide: Communicating effectively with the centre-right; human psychology and why don’t “they” get it?; door-knocking on climate guide; talking to the right (video); election guide; engaging centre-right; religious leaders speak out; brightsiding; echo chambers; latest news; latest opinion poll; key information & resource sites
Complexity of turning knowledge into understanding
For a person to change their behaviour a critical light bulb moment is needed when knowledge becomes understanding. Watch this video for an excellent example of why knowledge does not necessarily equal understanding, and why it may be so hard for people to change their inbuilt biases.
Source: Smarter Every Day
When the facts are not just the facts!
9 August 2019 RealClimate: Gravin Schmidt: In the wake of the appalling mass shootings last weekend, Neil DeGrasse Tyson (the pre-eminent scientist/communicator in the US) tweeted some facts that were, let’s just say, not well received (and for which he kind of apologised). At least one of the facts he tweeted about was incorrect (deaths by medical errors are far smaller). However, even if it had been correct, the overall response would have been the same, because the reaction was not driven by the specifics of what was said, but rather by the implied message of the context in which it was said. This is a key feature (or bug) of communications in a politicized environment, and one that continues to trip up people who are experienced enough to know better. Why bring this up here? Two reasons: First, I still come across scientists active in public communications in the climate realm that insist that their role is simply to give ‘just the facts’ and that they do so in a completely objective manner. Second, I often see people using ‘facts’ rhetorically to distract, diminish and devalue arguments with which they disagree without ever engaging with the arguments substantively. Thus it’s worth picking apart what is happened to Tyson with an eye to improving self-awareness on how ‘facts’ are received by the public and to help recognize, and maybe defang, the rhetorical use of irrelevant ‘facts’ as distractions. It should go without saying that, of course, I support basing discussions on truth, but any real discourse is far more than a mere recitation of facts. Access more here
8 June 2015, The Guardian, John Oliver can make global warming funny, but climate comedy is still hard. The problem when it comes to making comedy about climate change is that it’s about the world falling into an open sewer, and it’s too impersonal. Comedy = tragedy plus time. That’s the equation to make ha ha’s happen. You may not know it, but all us lot in the comedy production line just hang out riffing maths formulas and that’s how we come up with the gold. Simples. (Winky face.) So I’m not that great at math(s) – NB I do like to keep in with the Yanks. But I can still do the sums when it comes to melting all the ice caps away with our long baths; destroying Mr P Bear’s ice house with our Trip Advising globe trots; and finishing off the fossil fuels by blow drying our hair to bits. Once we’ve done all that it’ll be too late. There’ll be no time left for the punchline: set up and then just tragedy. The laughter will be stranded and left for dead, marooned like one of those polar bears balancing on a singular floating block of ice.Yes, climate change banter has been a thing since forever … well I did a project on it in Geography at school – so a while. But really it’s just hummed away quietly in the corner like a old fridge – not much of a stink has been made of it and certainly not in comedy quarters. That’s weird Holly, I hear you cry, I thought nothing was off limits in comedy – cause I’ve seen you set yourself on fire, be pelted by raw meat and berate audience members dressed as a lap dancing dog, chasing that elusive laugh. Surely that’s all much more offensive than gags about carbon footprints and solar panels? So why is there so little comedy about climate change and why’s it so hard? Comedy is truth, it’s about failure, it deals with the fall of man and the human condition – it helps us understand ourselves and the world we live in. So surely climate change is perfect fodder? Read More here see also “What climate scientists say” below
PLEASE Stop Talking About the Environment!
The dangers of framing climate change as an environmental issue and why this does not speak to peoples real concerns.
August 2014, Excerpt from Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change, George Marshall
Chapter 41: Why We Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change… “And Why We Are Wired to Take Action Through our long evolution, we have inherited fundamental and universal cognitive wiring that shapes the way that we see the world and interpret threats and that motivates us to act on them. Without doubt, climate change has qualities that play poorly to these innate tendencies. It is complex, unfamiliar, slow moving, invisible, and inter-generational. Of all the possible combinations of loss and gain, climate change contains the most challenging: requiring certain short-term loss in order to mitigate against an uncertain longer-term loss. Climate change also challenges and reverses some deeply held assumptions. We are told that the way of life that we associate with our comfort and the protection of our families is now a menace; that gases we have believed to be benign are now poisonous; that our familiar environment is becoming dangerous and uncertain. Our social intelligence is well attuned to keeping track of debts and favors, and ensuring equitable distribution of gains and losses. Climate change poses a major challenge here too, with all solutions requiring that rival social groups agree on a distribution of losses and thereafter the allocation of a greatly diminished shared atmospheric commons.” To read more access Climate Conviction website here
Trailer for Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
How to Talk to a Climate Change Denier
To date 19,000 people have watched this twenty minute video on how to talk about climate change with someone who is still unconvinced (they are called a ‘denier’ because this is the standard search phrase). It draws on many of the arguments in the book, including the need to find common values and speak with respect. The evidence behind it is provided on the TalkingClimate website.
To access more video presentation featuring George Marshall go here
Another Excerpt: Chapter 42. In a Nutshell: Some Personal and Highly Biased Ideas for Digging Our Way Out of This Hole
To create proximity we need to EMPHASIZE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAPPENING HERE AND NOW. In particular, we should BE WARY OF CREATING DISTANCE…….. There is therefore a potential to express climate change as an opportunity to RESTORE PAST LOSS, whether it is social (lost community, values, purpose) or environmental (lost ecosystems, species, or beauty)….We are very well adapted to respond to immediate threats but slow to accommodate moving change. Climate change is a process, not an event, so it requires that we RECOGNIZE MOMENTS OF PROXIMITY that can demand attention….Sometimes the act of CREATING THE SYMBOLIC MOMENT is far more important than its overall relevance……… the best option for building conviction lies with providing the information for trusted local communicators to OPEN UP A CONVERSATION ABOUT LONG-TERM PREPAREDNESS… we need to remember that not everyone wants to protect the status quo, especially if they are already struggling against economic and social injustice. So we need a NARRATIVE OF POSITIVE CHANGE…..People form their response to the narratives, not the science, and so it always needs to FOLLOW NARRATIVE RULES, WITH RECOGNIZEABLE ACTORS, MOTIVES, CAUSES, AND EFFECTS. People will be inclined to follow the most compelling narrative, so be careful: DON’T LET THE NARRATIVE TAKE OVER the way we think or talk about it….Most of the factors that enable us to ignore climate change derive from attempts to limit its meaning; that it is an environmental issue, a threat or an opportunity (but not both), a wellhead problem or a tailpipe problem (but not both). So, RESIST SIMPLE FRAMINGS and BE OPEN TO NEW MEANINGS…..We all need to ENSURE THAT A WIDE RANGE OF SOLUTIONS IS CONSTANTLY UNDER REVIEW — a process that planners call iterative risk management…. NEVER ACCEPT YOUR OPPONENT’S FRAMES — “don’t negate them, or repeat them, or structure your arguments to counter them.”… BE CAREFUL THAT ENEMY NARRATIVES DO NOT FUEL DIVISION…..for example CREATE A HEROIC QUEST in which the enemy may be our internal weaknesses rather than an outside group….Overall, we need to BUILD A NARRATIVE OF COOPERATION that can bring people together around a common cause. This should STRESS COOPERATION NOT UNITY … ACCEPT THE SPECTRUM OF APPROACHES with radical protesters, lobbyists, policy makers, and multiple different sectors, all pushing in the same direction if not with the same detailed objectives….In the way that we tell the climate change story, we need to BE HONEST ABOUT THE DANGER — but remember that this will only motivate people if they hear it from trusted communicators and can see opportunities for action and change. ENCOURAGE POSITIVE VISIONS, but remember that these may carry social cues that may repel others. The bright side technocratic future vision, for example, is elitist and materialistic, and alienates those who already feel disenfranchised…..” For the details and more suggestions access full excerpt here
But what do climate scientists say?
Climate Access publication: The Preparation Frame
A Guide to Building Understanding of Climate Impacts and Engagement in Solutions. A communications and engagement guide from Climate Access on how to break the manufactured scientific uncertainty debate with a focus on climate impacts and solutions. Access publication here This link will also provide other publications to peruse
March 2016, Climate Outreach, New Guide: Communicating effectively with the centre-right
Download the report NOTE: The above guide is from a British perspective but should relate well to the Australian context.
Human psychology or why don’t “they” get it?
“Societies must be motivated and empowered to adopt the needed changes. for that, the public must be able to interpret and respond to often bewildering scientific, technological, and economic information. …This guide powerfully details many of the biases and barriers to scientific communication and information processing. It offers a tool—in combination with rigorous science, innovative engineering, and effective policy design—to help our societies take the pivotal actions needed to respond with urgency and accuracy to one of the greatest challenges ever faced by humanity: global-scale, human-induced environmental threats, of which the most complex and far reaching is climate change.” —Jeffrey Sachs, Director, the earth institute, Columbia University. Click on booklet image to open
Talking climate change with conservatives: UK election 2015
The video above, comes from COIN (Climate Outreach & Information Network UK). George Marshall is the co-founder of COIN and I have found his perspective and balanced way of presenting an excellent resource in answering “Why they don’t get it?” and what to do about it. Even though the Election Guide has the UK election focus I thought it could easily be adapted to the Australian context.
The COIN Election Guide is intended for communicators and campaigners from across the political spectrum who would like to learn new ways of talking about climate change in ways that resonate with centre-right voters, particularly in the context of an election. I think it has value even with no elections in sight at present. It explores the following: What the centre-right thinks about climate change; Centre-right values and finding the right words; 4 narratives that can work with the centre-right; establishing communicator trust; what not to say; election tips. Access Election Guide here
Engaging with the centre-right
13 June 2013, COIN’s ground breaking report presents the evidence for more effectively engaging centre-right citizens around climate change. It argues that if climate change is to break out of its ‘left wing ghetto’, it must be communicated in a way that resonates with the values of the centre-right – and offers four narratives for bringing climate change into the mainstream. This report takes the first steps towards developing a better understanding of how to engage centre-right citizens on climate change. At the end of 2012, a roundtable meeting with some of the UK’s leading experts on communicating climate change to centre-right audiences was convened. In the words of one meeting participant, climate change must break out of its left-wing ghetto in order for a new, meaningful conversation with the centre -right to begin. Access Report here
Religious leaders finally speaking out
18 August 2015, The Carbon Brief, Islamic climate declaration calls for fossil fuel phase out. Islamic scholars from around the world have endorsed a declaration calling on nations to phase out greenhouse gas emissions and switch to 100% renewable energy. The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change will be seen as the religion’s major contribution ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris this December. Released during a two-day symposium on Islam and climate change in Istanbul, the declaration lays out why Muslims should be concerned about the planet, and sets out a series of demands to world leaders and the business community. It is the second major intervention to have emerged from the faith community this year, after Pope Francis released his encyclical on climate change and the environment in June. Writing the declaration. The process of drafting the declaration began around six months ago. A team of five Islamic scholars were involved in crafting the initial document. Read More here
18 June, The Guardian, The Pope’s encyclical on climate change: Eight things we learned from the pope’s climate change encyclical. From calling on rich countries to pay their social debt to his thoughts on GM food and UN climate talks, here are the top highlights. Pope Francis has called on global leaders and individuals to dedicate themselves to curbing climate change and ending policies and personal habits that are destroying the planet. Pope Francis has released an unprecedented encyclical on climate change and the environment. The 180-page document calls on rich nations to pay their “grave social debt” to poorer countries and lambasts the UN climate talks for a lack of progress. Here are eight things we learned: Read More here
15 July 2015, Climate News Network, Muslim scholars say climate change poses dire threat: Islamic declaration adds to growing pressure religious leaders are exerting on richer nations to reduce the burden they are putting on the Earth’s climate. Human beings could cause the ending of life on the planet, says a group of Islamic scholars − and countries round the world, particularly the rich ones, must face up to their responsibilities. Climate change, they say, is induced by human beings: “As we are woven into the fabric of the natural world, its gifts are for us to savour – but we have abused these gifts to the extent that climate change is upon us.” The views of the scholars – some of the strongest yet expressed on climate from within the Muslim community – are contained in a draft declaration on climate change to be launched officially at a major Islamic symposium in Istanbul in mid-August. Read More here
Brightsiding climate is a bad strategy: Is all “good news” and no “bad news” a good climate action and communications strategy? This analysis finds that the answer is a resounding “no”. “Always look on the bright side of life”: Bright-siding climate advocacy and its consequences. Most climate advocacy and campaigning appears to assume that as long as you tell a positive story and move “in the right direction”, it doesn’t matter if people understand or agree about the problem. It’s all about selling “good news” and not mentioning “bad news”. This is how the Obama administration, Australia’s Labor government, the Say Yes campaign and many national climate advocacy organisations worked in 2011. Click on image for more
An interesting “brightsiding example – Sustainia
Politicians living in echo chambers
27 May, Climate Progress: If You have Wondered Why So Many Politicians Deny Climate Change, Science Has Your Answer. Scientists have known for a long time what’s causing current climate change. What’s been less clear is why so many U.S. politicians are not listening. Sure, there’s been falsely balanced media coverage of climate science. And there are both financial and ideological incentives to deny that carbon emissions are causing the phenomenon. But according to new research published in Nature Climate Change, there’s at least one statistically proven reason why more than 56 percent of Congressional Republicans deny climate change: echo chambers. Read More here View full research article here
Latest News 29 April 2018, The Guardian, Budget earmarks $500m to mitigate Great Barrier Reef climate change. The Turnbull government will allocate $500m to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. The funding, to be unveiled on Sunday and confirmed in the May budget, follows a recent study finding that 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave in 2016. The government will partner with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation in a $444m agreement to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish, reduce pollution and mitigate the impacts of climate change. The government will increase funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment and Energy by $56m to expand environmental management and compliance operations. Both of the major parties are currently focused on winning hearts and minds in Queensland, with the state’s marginal seats likely to determine the outcome of the next federal election. The Coalition has been criticised by environment groups for not acting fast enough to protect the reef, and the government’s support for the Adani coalmine has also been controversial both locally and nationally because of its potential impact on the reef.In January Guardian Australia revealed that millions of dollars of commonwealth money was being handed to tourism-linked groups for reef protection, despite official advice recommending against the projects, or repeatedly finding them to be failing. Read more here 25 April 2018, Bloomberg, The Fighting Has Begun Over Who Owns Land Drowned by Climate Change. One April morning in 2016, Daryl Carpenter, a charter boat captain out of Grand Isle, La., took some clients to catch redfish on a marsh pond that didn’t use to exist. Coastal erosion and rising seas are submerging a football field’s worth of Louisiana land every hour, creating and expanding ponds and lakes such as the one onto which Carpenter had piloted his 24-foot vessel. Suddenly, another boat pulled up beside Carpenter’s. “You’re trespassing,” the other driver declared, before chasing him and his clients down the bayou. The sheriff’s office later threatened to arrest Carpenter if he ever returned to the pond. There was just one problem: Under Louisiana state law, any waterways that are accessible by boat are supposed to be public property, argued Carpenter—even what was previously unnavigable swampland. Carpenter sued the sheriff, as well as Castex Energy Inc., which owns the property around the pond, for interfering with his business. A district court decided against him in March, noting that an earlier ruling found that the territory was unnavigable swampland when the state sold it into private ownership in the 1800s. Carpenter is appealing that ruling. Carpenter’s suit reflects a legal and political dilemma that’s beginning to reverberate around the country: As seas rise and coasts wash away, who owns the land that goes underwater? Read more here 20 April 2018, The Conversation, Federal government sets sights on August approval for National Energy Guarantee. Federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg says he is confident of securing state governments’ support for the National Energy Guarantee, with a final decision now timetabled for August. At a meeting today, state energy ministers agreed to progress towards a final version of the policy, which aims to ensure a reliable electricity supply while also cutting the sector’s greenhouse emissions by 26% by 2030. Details of the policy were first unveiled in October 2017, after the federal government opted against Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s recommended Clean Energy Target. It features two components: a “reliability guarantee” and an “emissions guarantee”. Under the latest iteration of the policy, developed by the Energy Security Board, electricity retailers would be required to ensure they do not exceed a certain level of greenhouse emissions per unit of electricity sold. They would also be expected to invest in extra generation capacity in advance of any forecast shortfall, so as to ensure reliability. Grattan Institute energy analyst David Blowers wrote this week that although the 26% emissions target is far too modest, the policy could deliver much-needed bipartisan political support. It would create investment certainty and then could be ramped up later. But RMIT’s Alan Pears previously wrote that the government’s slow and modest policy ambition has been overtaken by the breakneck pace of change in renewables and energy efficiency. Economic analysts have voiced fears that the policy’s “technology-neutral” approach is a stalking-horse for coal and may put the brakes on renewable energy investment in Australia. Read more here 18 April 2018, Environmental Justice Australia. CCS: Throwing good money after bad pollution.Given the known failures of carbon capture and storage – and given that the federal government has lost millions of taxpayers’ dollars to CCS already – investing in such technologies could amount to improper use of public funds, writes EJA’s Bronya Lipski. In 2009 the Rudd government initiated a $1 billion carbon capture and storage program that was supposed to deliver two to four large-scale CCS projects. The program was significantly scaled back by the Abbott government in 2014. This downsizing was consistent with global trends, as it became increasingly apparent to governments that CCS was not an economically, nor an environmentally, appropriate pathway to serious emissions reductions. In 2017 the Australian National Audit Office reviewed the Federal Government’s CCS program and found none of the projects met the original timeframe or reached the stage of deployable technology, as originally envisaged in the program design. It seems bizarre, then, after the Abbott government stripped the CCS program of funds, and after the ANAO report found the project was overwhelmingly unsuccessful, that the Federal Government would now float the idea that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) should be allowed to invest in CCS. That is what is proposed in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Amendment (Carbon Capture and Storage) Bill. When the CEFC was first introduced in 2012, Mathias Cormann (then in Opposition) said the Rudd Government was ‘throwing money at ventures that are not commercially viable and that are competing with those projects that are trying to make a success of things’. In fact, the CEFC has been a great success – financially and for clean energy. Around this time last year, the CEFC said it had invested more than $3.3 billion in eligible clean energy projects, with a total project value of $8.3 billion, while also delivering a positive return for the taxpayer. Strong evidence suggests investing in CCS projects would not provide positive returns like investing in clean energy does. Read more here End Latest News To view opinion poll results go here: countries doing enough on climate change; carbon emissions; Key Information and Resource Sites CLIMATE OUTREACH (formally known as COIN – Climate Outreach & Information Network UK: Their work on climate change communication gathers the best research evidence and translates it into practical guides. With a comprehensive and frequently updated database of academic papers, a regular newsletter, and a blog featuring comment and analysis from climate change communication experts, it is the gateway which ensures academics and practitioners get the most from climate change communication research.To access their resource page go here Australian Religious Response to Climate Change: ARRCC is a multi-faith, member-based organisation of people from around Australia who are committed to taking action on climate change. We bring together representatives from all the major faith traditions to work together in addressing climate change. Climate Denial: This is George Marshall’s blog that explores the topic of the psychology of climate change denial – with observations and anecdotes about our weird and disturbed response to the problem. It seeks to answer a question that has puzzled me for years: why, when the evidence is so strong, and so many agree that this is our greatest problem, are we doing so little about climate change? George is the founder of COIN above. DeSmog Blog Project: A Canada based and began in January 2006 and quickly became the world’s number one source for accurate, fact based information regarding global warming misinformation campaigns. If you’re looking for information on noted climate change skeptics, or on the use of PR techniques and spin by politicians, scientists, and in the media, this is the place to go. They encourage using their media centre to full advantage for your own reporting. To access their media centre go here Psychology for a Safe Climate (Aust): Through workshops, presentations, and publications we contribute by: Increasing understanding of the psychology behind the challenges and difficulties of engagement with climate change; fostering psychological support and self care; and helping improve communication on climate change.