The Ocean Project posts weekly roundups of the key strategic ocean and climate communication resources we’ve been tweeting. Each link will be posted with a short description of what you’ll find—please feel free to ask us any questions!
News & Discussion
Check out these timely articles and essays which may be helpful for framing various environmental issues, connecting with specific audiences, or otherwise informing your storytelling and communications.
- Obama takes the moral high ground in inaugural addressUS President Obama featured climate change in his recent speech and the environmental blogosphere is falling over itself to scoff at and praise his remarks in equal measure. Several found it particularly interestingthat he framed the issue in moral rather than economic terms (you might remember an earlier study we linked indicating this is a more successful tack to take).
- Surprise: global warming ranks last as a public priority in the US… again.
Only 28% say climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress. Matthew Nisbet asks: Why and where do we go from here? To sum it way up: it’s the economy. Keith Kloor says that this hints that messaging connecting extreme weather to climate change/using a public health frame has not been effective. We note that while most climate communicators have been aggressively “betting on this meme” (as Kloor puts it), acknowledgement of the link in popular media, though significantly higher than last year, is still pretty minimal.
- Climate Change is a Risky BusinessA survey conducted by the Carbon Disclosure Project and Accenture found that 70% of companies surveyed were concerned about climate change negatively impacting their business. The International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank Group) also notes that “Almost 80% of our clients say they find our environmental support is important to their business” and “… we’ve found there’s an 11% higher return from companies that demonstrate high environmental and social standards.”
Resources
Some studies, market research, toolkits, and strategies that may be helpful when communicating about conservation and climate change.
- Sustainability and Family Planning – Communications Field NotesAn interesting memo from Resource Mediaon their experiences advocating for the environmental benefits of voluntary family planning.
- How is MY world warming?This interactive map from NewScientist shows exactly how your region has been feeling the heat from climate change.
