Climate communicators must speak to people's hearts and emotions. We need to tell a story about the green shift that people actually want to be a part of.
The green shift narrative should tap into people's values, hopes, and aspirations for the future and paint a picture of a better world achievable through collective action.
Tell an inclusive and empowering story, making people feel like they are part of the solution, not the problem.
The 3-to-1 positivity ratio
James Painter (Climate Change in The Media) has documented the dominance of the disaster narrative in more than 80 percent of news about climate change. From a psychological standpoint, it’s no wonder why more than one out of four 15-year-olds in Norway report climate anxiety. The human brain cannot handle just negative news.
Psychologists use “The positivity ratio” to frame our resilience. Researchers have established that the resilience tipping point is 3:1. To be more resilient, with increased life satisfaction, you ideally need three positive emotions for every negative emotion.
3:1 is not realistic in all cases. Still, we all need at least twice as much good news and messages of hope to make us resilient to all the disaster narratives.
We only act if hope is more present than hopelessness.
Here are three examples of companies and organizations that combine messages of hope and empowerment with considerable climate action.
Example # 1: Ducky.eco - gamifying climate action
Several studies have shown that we tend to act like our peers. The studies show a significant predictor of whether people will install solar panels is whether their close-by neighbors have done so. And not only do we want to save energy, but we also want to be acknowledged for saving energy.
Peer behavior is among the strongest predictors of green behaviors and attitudes toward littering, energy, and water use.
Social psychologists Robert Cialdini, Noah Goldberg, and some fellow researchers wanted to measure the effect of peer behavior. They set up signs informing hotel guests that 75 percent of their fellow guests staying in the same room had reduced their towels. Reuse suddenly rose by over a third compared with rooms displaying the standard be-nice message.
We are, at our core, imitators.
So if we stop communicating our worst behaviors and instead model our best behaviors - inspired by and in competition with friends, celebrities, or anyone else we think well of - change can happen and happen fast. We can start social cascade effects.
So why not use this proven way of human motivation to drive climate action?
That’s exactly what Ducky does. They gamify climate action by combining data with the competitive human instinct and urge to beat teammates, the neighbor city, etc.
Ducky’s mission is to steer the world toward data-driven climate action. So delivering the best data is their highest priority. They use API (Application Programming Interface) - software that sends information back and forth between a website or app and a user.
The Ducky Challenge
The Ducky Challenge is a team challenge where you compete to save as much CO₂ or points as possible over 2-4 weeks with your team.
By registering daily eco-friendly activities within a specific topic, you and those around you become more conscious of your behavior.
Modeling positive behavior
You do not log emissions but savings or points. This means that the challenge contains only the positive measures you can take to reduce your negative environmental impact.
This aims to understand how numerous and frequent small initiatives can combine to make larger environmental impacts. You can see how much CO₂ or points can be saved for each activity and learn why it is crucial.
For CO2e-based challenges, the number indicates the saving if the average Norwegian or UK citizen did the activity.
For point-based challenges, points are rewarded by the degree of the activity’s social impact: 5 points for individual results, 10 for social impact, and 15 for community impact.
This is an excellent tool for communicating and engaging everyone in the organization's sustainability strategy.
Participants are triggered for climate and/or sustainability talks, testing new activities and collectively breaking down barriers to behavior change.
And most importantly, It is easy. There is clarity about how to contribute.
Climate action - made fun.
Not a bad thing to get a shot of dopamine in your brain while making a tiny contribution to saving the planet.
Example # 2: School-building at Kongsberg, Norway: generates more energy than it uses
Buildings are one of the world's most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
About 40 percent of Europe's energy consumption goes to buildings — mostly heating and cooling.
Energy saving is a low-hanging fruit for most building owners, and the good news is that you can save a lot of money while doing something concrete to reduce emissions.
Vestsiden School in Kongsberg has, as the first building in Norway, its hydrogen storage with local, renewable energy production.
The school can produce more energy than it will use during its entire life cycle.
Solar energy is produced in the summer and stored in hydrogen tanks for heating and power supply in the winter. The building is made of solid wood, and the energy production makes up for all greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of materials, construction, and operation.
In addition to covering its electricity consumption, the energy production will cover the electricity consumption of around 100 homes around the school.
A digital twin of the facility will also be created, which students and researchers at the university can use to simulate different operating scenarios for the microgrid.
This brilliant climate communication tells the students that the future is full of opportunities, integrating practical solutions in school-building and operations.
Example # 3: Interface - producing Carbon-negative carpets
Simply put, the term “carbon negative” describes solutions, technologies, or products that result in less carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Interface is a company that is shaking up more than its industry with the launch of a carpet tile that is carbon negative when measured cradle to the gate (from raw materials through manufacturing). Interface Aims to Reverse Global Warming–One Carpet Tile at a Time.
That means; buying a new carpet actually binds carbon dioxide and contributes to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Since beginning its sustainability journey, Interface has reduced its carpet’s carbon footprint by 74%. It achieved this reduction by working with suppliers to change its raw materials, including incorporating recycled and bio-based materials, and by instituting more sustainable manufacturing actions, such as using renewable energy and process efficiencies.
Producing sustainably saves Interface a lot of money. Interface’s efforts to reduce the impact of its operations have led its carpet manufacturing sites to see a 46% improvement in energy efficiency, an 89% reduction in water intake intensity, and; a 92% reduction in waste sent to landfills.
During this journey, and as Interface shared its sustainability progress, others built their programs and initiatives with Interface as their inspiration.
And as Mission Zero progressed, Interface started mentoring others, hosting business leaders from companies like Walmart and Mars, and encouraging them to establish their sustainability agendas.
Wrapping up the lessons learned
To conclude, by telling stories about the green future people want to be in, the climate messaging is turned into a base for hope and opportunities.
Indeed, global warming is a severe problem. But screaming out that fact even louder does not have the intended effect.
Instead, human beings are mainly motivated to act when invited into a beautiful story where they become the hero.
Ducky.eco, Vestsiden School, and Interface are good examples of climate communication leaving people with hope and excitement.
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