Info. Channels

1. RETHINK the‘place/distribution’ of climate change action by making the communication outreach to fit the age of social computing Current Communication & Outreach Strategy Communication & Outreach Strategy in the Age of Social Computing Info. Channels T actic s T echnolog y • TV/cable • Coupons • Personalization • Radio • Customer promos Info. Channels • Search • Magazine • T rade promos • Site merchandising • W eb sit e • Newspaper • Sales force • Customer database • Online ads • Outdoor • W eb analytic s • Email Metrics • Direct mail • Brand monitoring • Blogs • Reach • Content syndication • Interactive TV • Frequency • Podcasting Metrics • Mobile ads • Conversion rates SOURCE:Forrester Research (2006)

2. “I trust” ___ Recommendations from friends/family Consumer opinions posted online Requested email updates Ads in newspapers Ads on TV Ads on radio Ads in magazines Branded Web sites Search engine ads Web banner ads Ads on mobile phones 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% SOURCE: Forrester Research (2006)

3. Key Communication & Social Computing Drivers Consumers’ trust in institutions is falling Only 42% of consumers say they even “somewhat” trust newspapers. Consumers are less brand loyal 52% of consumers say brand trumps price, down from 59% in 2000. Consumer-to-consumer activities are taking off C2C eCommerce, messaging, blogs, camera phones, video phones Consumers are customizing products and services 10%-40% of customers develop or modify products. SOURCE: Forrester Research (2006)

4. Demographics of Social Computing Users

5. Motivation Communication Resistance/ Barriers Social Change & Action REFRAME the ‘Promotion’ of climate change action by thinking more strategically about the message and the intended target audience • For communication to be effective, i.e., to facilitate a desired social change, it must accomplish two things: • sufficiently elevate and maintain themotivation • to change a practice or policy • & • (2)contribute to lowering barriers and resistance • to doing so SOURCE: Moser (2006)

6. What makes climate communication difficult and challenging? Scientific uncertainties Misinformation Media reporting ‘rules’ Public’s values, beliefs, attitudes and approach to risk SOURCE: Plummer et al (2005)

7. Steps to improve climate communication and public engagement Content • Make global warming “local”, salient • NO one meta-narrative that will fit all audience types; match message content, framing, and audience values • Lead with certainty, but never misrepresent uncertainty! • Go beyond science/impacts and focus on solutions Audience • Choose audiences carefully, strategically, and tailor communication accordingly • Move from one-way information delivery to engaging dialogue • Learn about mental models; levels of understanding; interests, values Strategy • Reach out and focus on to those NOT yet engaged • Begin visioning a future worth fighting for and identify measures of progress/’success’ SOURCE: Moser (2006)

8. REDEFINE the ‘Product’ of climate change action by embedding climate change in the context of a new social movement and in the language of social equity/justice: learning from the civil rights movement in the 1950s/60s and anti-apartheid struggle of the 1970s-1990s Political opportunities: Brown v. Board of Education; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Resource mobilization: Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Framing: Dr. Martin Luther King’s‘I Have a Dream!’ speech SOURCE: adapted from Jon Isham (2006)

9. Relevant news headlines: “Could the next grassroots revolution in America be over climate change?” (The Economist, 3/18/04) and “How do we build a ‘geo-green’ movement?”(Thomas Friedman, NY Times, 3/27/05) Connect climate change action with youth/students and social activism (http://www.climatecampaign.org) “When civil rights organizers went through the Deep South in register black voters in the early 1960’s, they didn’t ask for donations to send to national headquarters. They talked, listened, pulled together meetings and formulated plans for community action. In a society that needs active citizens, every person that national environmental groups ask for money is one more person who hasn’t been asked to become active in a more meaningful way. Instead, they receive the contradictory message that the environment is in great danger, and the best way to avert this catastrophe is to write a $15 check and maybe change some light bulbs” (Daily Grist, 6/16/06)

10. Evangelical Climate Initiative (http://www.chrisitiansandclimate.org), launched in February 2006 by 86 evangelical Christian leaders since "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors." Broaden the political ‘tent’/governance of climate change action Apollo Alliance (2002) Mayors Climate Protection Regional climate Agreement(2005)change initiative (2004)

11. Link conceptually environmental movement and social justice concerns Despite its salience today, environmental policy work and civil rights/ social justice advocacy have not been traditional allies in the broader progressive social movement in the U.S. There are two important historical & policy reasons for this disconnect: Environmental movement’s narrow conception of the ‘environment’ has isolated it from vital issues of everyday life such as workplace safety, healthy communities, and food security, that are often viewed separately as industrial, community, or agricultural concerns”. Source: Robert Gottlieb (2001) Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change Cambridge, MA: MIT Press “Traditional environmental arguments have commonly constructed ‘society and ‘nature’ and urban versus wild/natural as hostile dichotomies. The merging of social justice and environmental interests therefore assumes that people are an integral part of what should be understood as the environment”. Source: Giovanna Di Chiro (1995) “Nature as Community: The Convergence of Environment and Social Justice”, William Cronon (ed.), Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, p. 301

12. ‘Climate justice’ (as defined by Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, a California-based grassroots group) is a movement from the grassroots to realize solutions to our climate and energy problems that ensure the right of all people to live, work,play, and pray in safe, healthy, and clean environments. Global warming is fundamentally an issue of human rights and environmental justice that connects the local to the global.

13. Question#1: Assuming there is some form of a climate change-focused social movement in existence, where would you say it currently lies? In UK? EU? US? Globally? Stage 1: Normal times Stage 2: Prove the failure of official institutions Stage 3: Ripening conditions Stage 4: Take off Stage 5: Perception of failure Stage 6: Majority public opinion Stage 7: Success Stage 8: Continuing the struggle SOURCE: Moyer Doing Democracy: MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements (2001)

14. Question#2: How or can society generally and business specifically cope with and respond to non- linear abrupt environmental changes? We tend to see environmental and other important societal concerns in a ‘linear’ fashion, that is problem is seen as a straight-line fashion with incremental, predictable changes But, many if not virtually all ecosystem concerns are ‘non-linear’, much like what happened to the Atlantic cod stocks off the east coast of Newfoundland (see right) in 1992 when the sudden collapse forced the (permanent) closure?