- Climate Communications Whitepaper
- The Current State Of Climate Communication
- 3.0 The Current State Of Climate Communication
The Current State of Climate Communications
"We must keep the focus on real climate solutions: phasing out fossil fuels, deploying clean energy, and protecting our forests and other natural lands. And let our story not be one of sacrifice and deprivation, but of opportunity and improvement in our lives, our health, and our well-being — a story of human flourishing in a post-fossil-fuel age. We can create a better world. The future is in our hands.”
SUSAN JOY HASSOL
Communication has the power to be a driver of action or inaction, of hope or despair, of literacy or misinformation. When it comes to the climate crisis, we often walk a fine line between these extremes. But the strategies we use to communicate about climate, and the platform through which our messages are disseminated, are factors too important to ignore. They shape our collective response to the biggest threat facing humanity, and they urgently need overhauling.
The climate story is defined by competing interests and complex dynamics between media conglomerates and public opinion — distorting scientific knowledge and consensus. Adding to the challenge is the single-frame messages many of us are exposed to — portraying climate as an isolated issue, rather than in its full interconnectedness with social justice, the economy, and global geopolitics. Simplified and sensationalized media portrayals may raise awareness, but are also one of the key challenges we have to overcome to foster meaningful and sustained action.
By recognizing the power in every message we share, we can tackle the task ahead by rethinking the way we talk about climate change, and reshaping our collective imagination — redefining narratives that will carry us into a better and more sustainable future.
