What Is the Most Meaningful Way to Increase Climate Action

NOAA now projects 9 inches of sea level rise on average globally by 2035. At greater than 12 mm per year, this sea level jump is significantly beyond the barrier island disintegration threshold of 7 mm per year. NOAA now says we must plan on 10 feet of sea level rise by 2100. This amount is only half of their ostensible ice sheet collapse waning in the spring of 2016 for 10 feet of sea level rise by mid-century, which is only half of evidence from prehistory during our last interglacial of sea level rise of up to 10 feet in 12 to 24 years. All of this belies the fact that earth systems on a warmer planet respond more extremely than on a cooler planet, and it is the extremes that matter in the disintegration of 2,000 miles of barrier island along the US Gulf and East Coasts. For more, see our new post yesterday about the new sea level rise reports from NOAA and the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Sea Level Rise Scenarios Starting to Catch Up With Prehistory.”

What can we do as individual citizens that is the most meaningful of all climate change actions? How can we best use our time to create the biggest difference? This question has a very surprising answer.

The 2016 Yale Program on Climate Communications poll Spiral of Silence is a short, simple “must read” for anyone wanting to understand the complexity of this challenge.  Even though a very significant majority of us are concerned, we don’t do hardly anything about it. Yes, many of us have fuel efficient cars and practice other many behaviors that help, but the primary thing holding us back is simply that we don’t talk about it enough–hardly at all really. This is true about the general public, our leaders and most importantly, the media.

As a society we have never encountered climate change before. We therefore have no knowledge of how to behave. This unfamiliarity encourages doubt, procrastination, delay, avoidance and even fear. These things have allowed debate to occur. Vested interests have worked very hard to enhance this debate, but fundamentally it is a problem of unknowns. When we are faced with unknowns, instinctively as a species we tend to avoid.

Fundamentally then, the solution is talking talking about climate change more. This helps our subconscious become more familiar with the topic. Increased familiarity then allows deeper thought as unknowns and avoidance are diminished. It’s this increased awareness that will help us finally implement meaningful climate pollution reform. There are three facets to this communications conundrum: individual effort, the media, and lobbying.

Facet One–Individual effort: Individual effort has two parts: One) Letters to the editor (LTEs) are the single biggest tool of individuals’ outreach because of media leverage. Fundamental to LTEs is that they are the voice of ordinary citizens’–peers to everyone. Media publication of LTEs make them a mass communications tool. See the Citizens’ Climate Lobby for guidance on LTEs. Two) Increased communications between individuals should adhere to techniques that enhance communications: be neutral, cite references, speak in positive terms where climate action is beneficial and not based on negatives/drawbacks/endangerment, pose statements as questions, and avoid preaching–relate to the person/audience that you are speaking to.

Facet Two—Media Communications: Media communication with the public are the most important of the communications facets. Climate change advocates can help create the greatest media leverage through encouragement of weathercaster climate change communications to the public. (see below)

Facet Three: The third facet is lobbying of lawmakers and this facet will only briefly be mentioned here. The Indivisible Guide and Citizens’ Climate Lobby are two of the most comprehensive guides to how normal people can make a difference through lobbying of our leaders. Direct lobbying has the capacity to change the world through rule or law far faster than public concern–even in opposition to majority public concern, but it’s nuanced and takes more time than other personal actions.

The Most Important Facet: Media Communications and Weathercasters: The most important public climate communications activity is that done through weather broadcasters. “Weathercasters,” be they PhD meteorologists or simple weather forecast communicators, are as trusted or even more trusted than climate scientists, and the vast majority of the public obtains almost all of their climate science news from weathercasters (including climate scientists for climate news other than their specialty.) Most important to the climate awareness cause–media presentation vastly leverages weathercasters’ communications over all other forms of communication because so many people pay regular attention to the weather forecast.

The opportunities for weathercasters to talk about climate are virtually endless but very often, they are reticent to speak because of; the wishes of their bosses, individual biases, and reticence because of incomplete climate science knowledge. There is a vast academic difference between weather professionals and climate scientists, even though the vast majority of citizens don’t see a difference. However, the lack of academic climate science knowledge of weather professionals is easily overcome because most weathercasters are familiar enough with the fundamentals to deeply understand climate, once their individual biases are overcome (bosses, political views, or reticence.) 

Overcoming Climate Shyness in Weathercasters: