Climate Communications Systems Are Broken. There is a broad scientific consensus about the causes and catastrophic risk of climate change. The mounting damage to society’s life support systems, impact on our natural systems, our economic systems, our health care, and to the social fabric of civilization is frightening.
Yet new science and technology have provided clarity around systemic solutions, many of which are available now. Most scientists advocate the need to move with speed and urgency. But action is uneven at best. There is a vast inertia, lack of public consensus, and divisive politics. Political will for systemic change is missing. Our climate communications systems are dysfunctional, and the explosion of fake news and greenwashing is amplifying the inertia and snuffing out decisive action to tackle the planetary crisis.
Journalism, TV and film, the internet, digital media, and social media are themselves in a state of rapid transformation, resulting in a chaotic public information ecosystem. Most of the best sources of science, journalism and reporting about the climate crisis — including vital health and safety information — is behind paywalls that block access to 95% of the public around the world. Social media and other phenomena have unleashed an unrelenting torrent of false and misleading information on the public, with huge repercussions on public health and safety. Driven by media’s self-reinforcing echo chambers, the science and climate communities typically communicate among themselves and to a relatively small core audience, not crossing over to the mainstream.
How Can Communications Unlock the 25% Social Tipping Point? A recent study published by Science journal found that dominant social norms can be changed by roughly 25% of a group. Our goal then is moving about a billion people off the sidelines to being actively engaged in the climate challenge. This has been impossible for the last 2 decades with most of the best communication/marketing/media talent working primarily for industry.
But now we see massive movement, with many of the largest media, tech, and marketing companies willing to step up and embrace a new approach to global climate communications. The stakes are too high, cascading damage too large, the human suffering too severe. As Marshall McLuhan said, ‘There are no passengers on spaceship Earth, we are all crew ‘, and that crew most definitely must include the communications industry.
This global communications effort has been recommended by experts across the climate sphere: The UNFCCC’s Article 6, known as “Action for Climate Empowerment”, obliges all nations to engage their citizens on climate change. This commitment is also part of the 2015 Paris Agreement and has contributed to ongoing dialogue and guidelines for climate education, training, and public awareness. While momentum for this crucial challenge is building, government buy-in and capacity need strengthening. Organizations around the world have recommended a unified “north star” for climate communications to monitor and assess efforts, showcase best practices, and encourage collaboration for effective engagement.
We need a solution at global scale. Convened by the Global Commons Alliance, the Earth Public Information Collaborative (EPIC) is our answer to this call. The Earth Public Information Collaborative is a global media and communications coalition to support direct public engagement in tackling the planetary emergency. EPIC mobilizes a global coalition to engage the public at unprecedented scale with public service campaigns, accurate science and reporting, and easily accessed resources for public action/solutions to protect people and the planet. By doing this, we are employing an ecosystem view to climate communications — aiming to change minds, actions, and systems alike. It is the first big step into a new era in climate communications — and we invite you to join us in this journey.
Closing Words
I shared with colleagues recently that I fear a day some years ahead, in the inconceivable future toward which humanity is still careening, where my kids ask, “Dad, we thought you were working on this — did you know that everything everyone was doing wasn’t going to be nearly enough? Did you know we were heading for this?” And I imagine myself thinking back to today from that future place, wondering what we might have done differently. Wondering what it would take to say we’d done what we could. I think about future regrets — what do we know now that should give us a chance to avoid the worst?
Keep readingClimate Communications Systems Are Broken. There is a broad scientific consensus about the causes and catastrophic risk of climate change. The mounting damage to society’s life support systems, impact on our natural systems, our economic systems, our health care, and to the social fabric of civilization is frightening.
Yet new science and technology have provided clarity around systemic solutions, many of which are available now. Most scientists advocate the need to move with speed and urgency. But action is uneven at best. There is a vast inertia, lack of public consensus, and divisive politics. Political will for systemic change is missing. Our climate communications systems are dysfunctional, and the explosion of fake news and greenwashing is amplifying the inertia and snuffing out decisive action to tackle the planetary crisis.
Journalism, TV and film, the internet, digital media, and social media are themselves in a state of rapid transformation, resulting in a chaotic public information ecosystem. Most of the best sources of science, journalism and reporting about the climate crisis — including vital health and safety information — is behind paywalls that block access to 95% of the public around the world. Social media and other phenomena have unleashed an unrelenting torrent of false and misleading information on the public, with huge repercussions on public health and safety. Driven by media’s self-reinforcing echo chambers, the science and climate communities typically communicate among themselves and to a relatively small core audience, not crossing over to the mainstream.
How Can Communications Unlock the 25% Social Tipping Point? A recent study published by Science journal found that dominant social norms can be changed by roughly 25% of a group. Our goal then is moving about a billion people off the sidelines to being actively engaged in the climate challenge. This has been impossible for the last 2 decades with most of the best communication/marketing/media talent working primarily for industry.
But now we see massive movement, with many of the largest media, tech, and marketing companies willing to step up and embrace a new approach to global climate communications. The stakes are too high, cascading damage too large, the human suffering too severe. As Marshall McLuhan said, ‘There are no passengers on spaceship Earth, we are all crew ‘, and that crew most definitely must include the communications industry.
This global communications effort has been recommended by experts across the climate sphere: The UNFCCC’s Article 6, known as “Action for Climate Empowerment”, obliges all nations to engage their citizens on climate change. This commitment is also part of the 2015 Paris Agreement and has contributed to ongoing dialogue and guidelines for climate education, training, and public awareness. While momentum for this crucial challenge is building, government buy-in and capacity need strengthening. Organizations around the world have recommended a unified “north star” for climate communications to monitor and assess efforts, showcase best practices, and encourage collaboration for effective engagement.
We need a solution at global scale. Convened by the Global Commons Alliance, the Earth Public Information Collaborative (EPIC) is our answer to this call. The Earth Public Information Collaborative is a global media and communications coalition to support direct public engagement in tackling the planetary emergency. EPIC mobilizes a global coalition to engage the public at unprecedented scale with public service campaigns, accurate science and reporting, and easily accessed resources for public action/solutions to protect people and the planet. By doing this, we are employing an ecosystem view to climate communications — aiming to change minds, actions, and systems alike. It is the first big step into a new era in climate communications — and we invite you to join us in this journey.
Closing Words
I shared with colleagues recently that I fear a day some years ahead, in the inconceivable future toward which humanity is still careening, where my kids ask, “Dad, we thought you were working on this — did you know that everything everyone was doing wasn’t going to be nearly enough? Did you know we were heading for this?” And I imagine myself thinking back to today from that future place, wondering what we might have done differently. Wondering what it would take to say we’d done what we could. I think about future regrets — what do we know now that should give us a chance to avoid the worst?
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