Communicating Conservation: Weekly Resources and News

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 and share!

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.
Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanksHow secret was this really? Two massive trusts allow conservative billionaires to anonymously donate funds to spread climate misinformation and essentially manufacture the climate counter-movement. Between 2002 and 2010, $120m was granted to groups working to stall climate mitigation action and discredit scientists.
Are African-Americans More Vulnerable to Climate Change?Research by The Ocean Project and others has identified minorities in America as an audience particularly open to environmentally-friendly action. A recent poll by The League of Conservation Voters (also discussed in the next section) bolstered our goal to diversify the environmental movement: they found that 76% of Hispanics and 86% of African-Americans agreed it was time for President Obama to take steps to address climate change (compared to 60% of whites). Previous studies have shown that the effects of climate change disproportionately affect African-Americans, this article by Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd lays out the reasons.

Resources

Some studies, market research, toolkits, and strategies that may be helpful when communicating about conservation and climate change.
Taking Stock: U.S. Climate Engagement
Via ecoAffect: “Over the past few months, the Skoll Global Threats Fund undertook research and commissioned a number of studies to better understand the current state of public engagement around climate change in the United States. The goal was to explore how the philanthropic sector could empower a more targeted, effective, and evidence-based approach to public engagement on climate. This document is an overview of what they heard and what they learned.”
Climate Change: Key Data Points from Pew ResearchBrief round-up of Pew’s latest data on Americans’ attitudes on climate change. Two-thirds of Americans say there is solid evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades, up four points since 2011, but it’s a very low priority.
Using Global Warming’s Six Americas to Design, Implement and Evaluate a Communication CampaignIf you’re a ClimateAccess member, you can log in for a recording of their recent practitioner training webinar. “This webinar examined how organizations are using the Six Americas tool to design and implement their outreach campaigns and how the Six Americas approach helps measure the impact of outreach efforts.” If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, here’s a more bite-sized flashcard from Sightline.
Obama Climate Change Poll Finds Majority Supports ‘Significant Steps’ To Tackle Problem
The League of Conservation Voters did a poll before President Obama’s recent State of the Union Address. They found that 65% of Americans support support “the President taking significant steps to address climate change now,” and 93% say we have a moral obligation to leave a clean, unpolluted Earth to future generations.