ecoAmerica and the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University and are proud to announce the release of their new communications guide, Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication. The guide explains how anyone, from religious leaders, to healthcare professionals, businesspeople, community leaders, journalists, scientists, educators, policymakers, and other interested parties, can better communicate with and engage the American public on the issue. The guide is designed as a follow-up to CRED’s 2009 guide The Psychology of Climate Change Communication, and draws from a range of social science fields including psychology, anthropology, communications, and behavioral economics.
The Connecting on Climate guide includes ten principles for effective climate change communication. The guide both describes the social science behind these principles, and provides actionable recommendations on how to put them into practice. The principles are:
- Put Yourself in Your Audience’s Shoes
- Channel the Power of Groups
- Emphasize Solutions and Benefits
- Bring Climate Impacts Close to Home
- Connect Climate Change to Issues That Matter to Your Audience
- Use Images and Stories to Make Climate Change Real
- Make Climate Science Meaningful
- Acknowledge Uncertainty, But Show What You Know
- Approach Skepticism Carefully
- Make Behavior Change Easy
