Uniting lived and learnt experience on climate crisis communications

By Forster Communications

The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, so how do we communicate the gravity of the situation without paralysing people into inaction? And how do we navigate different levels of awareness, economic concern and resistance to change? Leveraging the power of lived and learnt experience offers a way forward.

In the third of our online ‘Lived and Learnt Experiences’ series, Forster’s Peter Gilheany discusses climate communications and campaigning with Rachael Orr and Noora Firaq, CEO and Deputy CEO of Climate Outreach, the first British charity to focus exclusively on public engagement with the climate crisis.

Engaging audiences in the climate crisis – and driving much-needed behavioural change – is a significant challenge. The foundation of the crisis lies in science, research and statistics, but the evidence consistently shows that this ‘doom narrative’ – while compelling – is the worst communications tactic to inspire people to think, feel and act differently. Messaging that centres a bleak outlook leaves no hope for the future, so it’s critical that climate communications balance urgency with a sense of agency and optimism, and make it clear that we have an exciting opportunity to completely redefine the way we live.

Solutions to the climate crisis – and opportunities for a cleaner, more equitable future – are rooted in human experience. Statistics, climate jargon and scare tactics are important, but they don’t speak to people. Real stories about what’s happening to people and communities do.

Putting people in the picture

Effectively engaging people with climate change therefore means making messages relevant and relatable. Instead of massive meta campaigns, how can we speak to people on a level that’s applicable to them? Take the heating challenge. Instead of positioning heat pumps largely as a ‘climate win’, for example, let’s talk about the direct benefits the technology brings to the homeowner, such as lower bills and cosier homes. Then tie in the climate benefits.

For many industries, this will mean rethinking the messenger, especially when it comes to building trust around new ways of doing things. The main experts we hear from are scientists – whose job is to warn us about how bad climate change is and can get. Of course we need to know this, but we need to balance it with hearing the expertise of those people providing the solutions. What if climate messengers were innovators, entrepreneurs and respected ‘everyday’ individuals from the community with relatable lived experience?

Fresh perspectives

Indeed, what if the climate messengers were your neighbours or friends telling you about the benefits of their new heat pump? Herein lies a significant opportunity for climate campaigns to use social media to leverage the power of lived and learnt experience. Platforms like TikTok create opportunities to tell stories personally and impactfully, and with young people favouring peer-to-peer accounts over those run by brands and organisations, comms teams need to be prepared to move away from simply broadcasting their messaging in traditional ways.

This illustrates the importance of diverse perspectives. We have to be better at listening to others’ points of views. Climate change will affect us all but differently and to different degrees, so championing ‘silver bullet’ solutions simply because they align with our own beliefs and values will only stifle progress.

Empower and understand

Leveraging these diverse perspectives means providing allyship and a safe environment to those offering their lived experience to the conversation, because these viewpoints might not always fit the climate action ‘script’ we’ve become accustomed to.

It also means – counterintuitively – making space to understand climate denialism. We need to understand what it is that’s being denied. Is it the science? A specific community impact? Properly understanding these obstacles enables us to leverage lived experience in a way that more impactfully combats these narratives.

Progress not perfection

But because communicating the climate crisis is so challenging, we need to make peace with imperfection. Too often we look at climate heroes as visions of faultlessness, which makes our own misdeeds seem like enormous failures. But just because we’re not perfect doesn’t mean we’re failing. In fact, being authentic and transparent around setbacks, compromises and deviations can create engaging messaging, capturing the imaginations of audiences who will always identify more strongly with human narratives than picture-perfect ideology.

Watch the discussion here

If you like to discuss uniting lived and learnt experience within your organisation get in touch with peter@forster.co.uk

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