While published last year, David Fenton's op-ed on climate communications is more timely and more relevant than ever.
As Fenton writes, the large scale ignorance and confusion regarding climate change "is due to decades of fossil fuel industry propaganda. But the environmental advocacy organizations, their funders and the Obama and Biden White House share some of the blame: They have never mounted a campaign at scale to get the truth to the public."
ABSOLUTELY TRUE. AND...
"In the U.S., although environmental advocacy organizations bring in billions of dollars a year, almost nothing goes to public communication, and most of that is for fundraising. This guarantees failure on the battlefield of public opinion. ”
The climate change language and messaging is, for the most part, convoluted, off-putting and DULL.
So when I see recent findings by the ClimateWorks Foundation concluding that climate change mitigation philanthropy has remained flat and is disappointing, I too am disappointed but not surprised. Why isn't communications key to the Climate Works 2023 funding trends report, much less to the cultural conversation? While report author Helene Desanlis points to giving trends and the need for multi-year grants, I wonder how much organizations make communications messaging central to securing those grants. While Helen M.ountford declares that ...“This report should be a wake-up call for philanthropy. The intensifying climate crisis demands greater ambition, scale, and urgency to safeguard lives"....I think, EXACTLY. That means that organizations should be funding and prioritizing communications that are strategic, clear and compelling.
If it's widely acknowledged that mobilization is key to shifting public sentiment and creating change, nonprofits and policy-makers need to shift the climate change narrative to make it engaging and actionable. It's not what these organizations are saying that's the problem it's HOW. Research shows that people do not much know what terms like “net zero,” “carbon,” “emissions” and “climate justice” even mean so how could they possibly care?
hashtag#climatechange hashtag#climatechangecommunications hashtag#climatejustice hashtag#climateaction hashtag#strategiccommunications hashtag#nonprofitcommunication hashtag#climatecrisis
Climate Change: Still a Communications Failure