Why We Need New Climate Narratives

The current narrative on climate is not helping us create a better world. 63% of people under the age of 25 in OECD countries believe that humanity is doomed in their lifetimes. Increasing numbers of young people are choosing not to have children as a result. Some are already thinking of themselves as the “last generation”.

This is also felt among older generations, where resignation that 'we are doomed' is settling in. 73% of adults in Europe and 66% in North America believe that climate change is real, serious and happening now, but only 25% and 12% respectively believe we can do anything to avert it at this point in time.

This fatalism is spurred on by media, social media and creative content, and often deliberately constructed. We could even go so far as to say that this defeatism is the new denialism - the doubt we are good enough to turn things around has become a huge burden we keep dragging around.

Many media articles still describe our toughest challenges - especially on climate - as invincible and hopeless. Is it any wonder that people are beginning to give up? We need stories of possibility and interconnectedness more than ever. We need to feel like we are part of a great generational endeavor where we can actually, yes, really, create a better world for everyone.

The Media Focus Needs to Change

In 2022, climate change accounted for only 1% of all coverage in U.S. broadcast media, and over 40% of that coverage focused on disasters like extreme weather events, heatwaves, and water shortages, according to Media Matters. Only 6% focused on the Inflation Reduction Act—America’s largest-ever investment in climate action—and only 2% focused on COP27, where world leaders moved forward with international cooperation on climate progress. 

When you combine negative news coverage with misinformation campaigns funded by the fossil fuel industry that spread climate doom and denial, it’s no wonder that doom has permeated our psyches, harming mental health and convincing many that climate action is futile. But just beyond the headlines, the world is already transforming how it generates energy, transports people and things, designs buildings, and grows food. These actions can create a thriving, equitable future, and we urgently need to change the narrative to reflect this reality—because to be successful, we’ve got to hurry up, and we need all hands on deck. 

How “World-on-Fire” Messages Push Us Away from Climate Solutions

There are countless examples of climate activist messages that rely upon images of doom. Perhaps one of the most widely recognizable is one that depicts the entire Earth held in the palm of a human hand, one side of the Earth Garden of Eden and the other side fire and brimstone. The message is clear -- we have the power to “Save The Earth;” that the fate of nature is literally in our hands.

While true in some regards, this image doesn’t do much to build advocacy messages that connect to a broader audience. Fear-based messages only tend to work for those already committed to an issue. World-on-fire messages can be disempowering and breed apathy, resentment, and escapism. They can cause people to emotionally shut down if they believe that an issue is too large for them to solve, that there’s nothing they can do.  

Similarly, framing climate activism from the perspective of saving the Earth can convince many that humanity and nature are inherently pitted against one another in a zero-sum game. Creating this false separation between us and a natural world we are very much part of and rely on for our own survival is a tactic we can no longer afford. Certainly, human industrial society and plain greed have depleted many of our natural resources. I get that, as I work every day to conserve land and marine ecosystems. But the reality is that we are also the only ones who can counteract the damage we have caused. 

If our message is one of hopelessness and the pitiable plight of the natural world we have ruined, we will not galvanize audiences to positive action. We must convince more humans that the threat to our environment is crucial to them, personally. Why should a Midwestern farmer care about melting glaciers thousands of miles away? Because it is not just the polar bear that suffers from the worst drought in twelve centuries or deadly flooding – both of which can cause crops to fail. Nature-based messages don’t work with everyone and images associated with them, like the polar bear, may even be contributing to polarization. 

As the impacts from climate change get progressively more severe each year, apocalyptic messages may seem warranted. But, in fact, they are overly simplistic, mostly inaccurate, and contribute to a negative and divisive advocacy that pushes us further away from solutions.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are often taught to normalize pain — whether it’s social, racial, or environmental. These injustices have influenced the understanding of BIPOC on how they can react in both external and internal situations. BIPOC often find themselves silencing their pain, continuing to exist in an extractive system designed to oppress marginalized communities. Climate doomism is a popularized term that has risen on social media, with many media news outlets proclaiming that there is no hope left for the planet. Climate doomism is often used as a scare tactic to disempower communities on their journey for environmental liberation. Mostly, climate doomism fails to address the role of white supremacy and how it has contributed to the degradation of land, culture, and species.

Climate doomism leads to division in movements — including harmful myths like ecofascism that blame BIPOC communities for the climate and ecological crisis. Anxious responses to climate change can look like creating brutal, isolationist views that uphold white supremacist ideologies.  There is a real risk that climate doomism can lead people to project their fear and insecurity on immigrants and other marginalized groups — especially in the US, where mass-shootings motivated by eco-fascist ideologies have already occurred⁸. We are also seeing countries invest in the border and surveillance industry to target, imprison, and inflict violence on those leaving their lands due to climate change. 

Climate doom is not sustainable — instead, we need to invest our energy into the communities that create change. Investing in ourselves and each other requires creating circular relationships with our community, land, and self. There are days I feel weak and strong simultaneously, times when I am told I am not doing enough — and there are days I know I am impacting at least one person in my life. The society we live in today beats us down to think we are hopeless and powerless — when, in reality, we hold much power to create unity amongst ourselves, and change in the wider world. But nourishing a better future starts with talking about it differently.

Imagining a Better Future

The futures we dream of depend largely on the source material our imagination is working with: images and ideas gathered from our education, our politics, life experiences, and our Netflix and YouTube habits. Exposed to a daily cocktail of cortisol-raising news media and dystopian blockbusters, we have become quick to imagine visions of some hopeless, apocalyptic future. Perhaps if pressed, we might entertain the slim possibility of some whizzy, techno-powered utopia for ourselves instead. Both options feel extreme, and neither is socially useful. 

As Geoff Mulgan said, “we can more easily imagine the end of the world than a better future.” When our imagination defaults to these extreme visions, we lose ourselves in the picture. With no agency to influence them, we feel powerless, and become apathetic about change in the present. The logic of climate doomism asks, why try and redirect our course if we’re screwed anyway? Our imaginations have in effect been taken hostage by these images of collapse, creating a tyranny of no alternatives.

To achieve our climate targets, it's crucial to imagine a better, yet realistic future. Good Life 2030, a project by Purpose Disruptors, invites culture-makers to this exercise. Surprisingly, picturing life in this greener future often leaves us at a loss. It's time we create more source material for our collective vision, giving people a compelling sense of the goal we're pursuing. The ad industry, with their knack for picturing improved lifestyles, could be invaluable in this. The average UK citizen sees 10,000 daily ads, imagine this creative power channeled towards an ecologically balanced future.

Since 2021, Purpose Disruptors' Client 2030 brief has challenged creatives to build "brand warmth" campaigns for 2030, using real UK citizens' visions of a connected, nature-centric future. So far, over 500 creatives, including major agencies, have joined, with work featuring at events like COP26 and iconic places like Piccadilly Circus.

While this project has focused predominantly on advertising industry creatives, interest from the wider cultural sphere is growing. At this critical moment in history, a growing cohort of culture-makers are recognizing their responsibility to offer supportive source material for the collective imagination. And instead of feeding our minds with extreme visions that prompt apathy, doing the harder work of imagining the “practical utopias”, the plausible versions of a Good Life.