Opinion: Protecting What We Love

Love, Justice, and Climate Change

In my previous post, “You Are Not Alone“, I mentioned two studies that recently found that most of the world’s population clearly wants governments to take action to address the climate crisis. This is significant and worth remembering.

In this post I’m going to share some of the very interesting details from one of those reports, “Later is Too Late.” from Potential Energy. These marketing and communications experts surveyed nearly 60,000 people across 23 different countries (which contain 70% of the world’s population). They report four principal findings, each of which I’ll outline below.

ONE: The World is United in Wanting Climate Action
They found that “On average across the 23 countries in the study, 78% of people agree with the statement, ‘It is essential that our government does whatever it takes to limit the effects of climate change,’ and just over 10% disagree.” The statement was supported by a majority in every country surveyed, with support ranging from 56% in Norway to 93% in China.

(This finding is supported by a UN sponsored survey of even more people in more countries that found 80% of people wanting “governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.”)

TWO: We Have More in Common Than We Think
Despite differences in cultures, economies, wealth, and energy systems, the survey showed that a majority “in every country sees [the climate crisis] as a problem of generational responsibility, and every country sees human wellbeing as trumping national interests”.

Significantly, agreement exists across countries that governments and businesses, not individuals, are responsible for addressing climate change. On average, only 26% said individuals bear the greatest responsibility. I find this remarkable and encouraging, given how hard the fossil fuel industry has tried to convince us all that we should focus on individual personal carbon footprints rather than on the responsibility borne by the industry.

THREE: But Winning Policy Debates Requires Strong Framing
The survey found that while general support for climate action is high, when it comes to choosing specific climate policy proposals versus an argument opposing that action, many proposals have as many or more opponents as supporters. However, this study focused, in part, on whether there are ways to frame climate proposals so that they gain greater support. They found that effective framing of an issue can increase its support significantly. This will be the difference between winning and losing on many climate policy proposals.

What they found is that frames that include the words mandate, ban, or phaseout are 9% – 20% less effective. Framing that included ideas like “upgrading, setting standards, making solutions accessible, reducing pollution, and reducing dependency” performed significantly better. When framed well, many policy ideas received support from strong majorities in every country.

Here are two examples of effective framing:

Replacing coal with clean energy: “Using clean energy alternatives to coal lowers energy costs and creates a greener energy sector. It brings affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity to everyone’s daily lives.”

Setting clean energy targets: “Cleaner energy means cleaner air, water, and environment. We should require our energy providers to rapidly shift to using only non-polluting clean energy for our communities.”

FOUR: A Big Narrative Can Tap Our Shared Motivations, and Can Tip the Balance of Public Opinion
What message should we be using with the public to accelerate climate action? Is there a message that will make a difference with the general public? This study found that when they exposed respondents to good, pro-climate messages, levels of support for climate action rose. Respondents in a control group that didn’t hear the positive narrative showed lower levels of support. What’s the most motivating big narrative? It turns out that “the big “why” for climate isn’t jobs, prosperity or even the cost of extreme weather – it’s love for the next generation” — “protecting what we love.”

A narrative about the “urgent need to protect the planet for the next generation” that included “it’s our responsibility to leave behind a world that’s safe and livable for future generations” was the most effective message in every single country. This “generational urgency” narrative lifted support an average of 11% across all 23 nations.

The narrative that we want “to protect the planet for future generations” was 12 times more effective than “increasing jobs,” and had twice the impact of “protecting us from pollution or extreme weather.”

What About the United States?
The political polarization over climate that we see in the U.S. is not typical. This study found that in most countries there is support for climate action across the political spectrum. Usually the support is somewhat stronger among those on the left, but is some countries (eg. India, Nigeria, Indonesia) it’s stronger on the right. In the 23 countries studied there are 82 major political parties, only 6 of which don’t support climate action. Citizens who identify with the Republican party in the U.S. exhibit the lowest support for climate policies in the world, except for one ultra-right German party.

For the U.S. as a whole, 61% agree with the statement “I support immediate action by the government to address climate action.” Most see government and business as primarily responsible for addressing the climate crisis, with only 20% identifying individuals as having the primary responsibility. The same guidance for framing climate policy issues applies in the U.S. as in the other countries.

A big narrative about leaving behind a world that’s safe and livable for future generations had the biggest positive impact in the U.S., just as it did in every other nation. In the U.S. it raised support for climate action by 7%.

Next Steps
I propose that we each start to incorporate some of the above information about framing and a big narrative into how we talk about climate change and climate policies. Can we learn to frame things positively? Can we start to consistently share a narrative about wanting to protect the planet for future generations? Can we ground our actions in protecting what we love?

Russ Vernon-Jones was principal of Fort River School 1990-2008 and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.