Have you ever had the experience of talking with someone about climate change and watched their eyes glaze over, or the conversation falter off into invisible clouds of despair?

We're getting better at describing the scientific reality of climate change. But when I talk with others about how we can successfully tackle climate change, internally I sometimes find myself veering between confidence and despair. And I get a sense that this is also happening on a larger scale.

Where climate change is being talked about as an enormous threat (which it is, on an unprecedented scale), the 'story' people hear is frequently cloaked in doom and gloom. While the intended outcome is to motivate people into action, scaring people into caring more often results in disempowerment, guilt and fear. And while these resources are all too renewable, they're far too volatile and unsustainable a fuels to rely on in creating a sustainable and thriving future world.

In seems that the stories we're telling about climate change in many cases aren't working.

How we're telling the climate change story

I was reminded of the importance of how we talk about climate change, reading an excellent article by Peter Madden of UK-based organisation Forum for the Future. It goes along these lines:

We have a problem, we greens. It has to do with the way that we talk about the future. We do need to have a more plausible account of what the kind of world we are recommending would be like.

However, our main narrative about the future talks of apocalypse and doom and gloom: the earth is dying; species are disappearing; the planet is overheating.

If people want to do something about it, too often they're told they'll have to lead a life of sacrifice and constraint. And if they won't, we'll guilt-trip and scare them 'til they repent.

And even if they do as we say, they also worry that it probably won't make much difference anyway because the Chinese, Indians, and North Americans are all busy ignoring the issues.

I'm painting a caricature, of course, but you get my point. Our story isn't very attractive to lots of people: it is too grounded in fear and negatives. - Grist

A report put out by the UK Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) last year focused on the way alarmist language is used by the media, government and green groups in their communication about climate change. This, they say, amounts to 'climate porn', "offering a thrilling spectacle but ultimately distancing the public from the problem". "Currently, climate communications too often terrify or thrill the reader or viewer while failing to make them feel that they can make a difference, which engenders inaction."

While it's great that the media is providing unprecedented coverage of climate change, the underlying story seems to go two main ways: either climate change is a huge, immense problem too big for us to take on; or something that will be solved by everyone changing their light bulbs and other small green consumerist acts. In headlines, this can look either like 'A world of climate chaos spiraling out of control' or '20 things you can do to save the planet from destruction'.

While it may seem like picky linguistics, the way we talk about climate change makes a difference, not only to those we're wanting to inspire to be part of the solution, but to our own energy in working with climate change solutions.

Examples of telling an effective climate change story

Surfing climate change websites, you can see that lots of people are testing out how to present climate change to people in ways that show the multiple benefits of acting.

As Peter Madden says:

We are trying to paint a picture of all the ways our lives will genuinely be better if we get the responses to climate change right -- through healthier lifestyles, more time, better functioning communities, a cleaner local environment, and so on. We want people to look at a more sustainable future and think: "I want that!" - Grist

So in the light of climate change, how do we present attractive visions of the future, without being utopian and suggesting that we can solve the world's challenges solely through easy green consumer choices or technological fixes (also here)? How do we present climate change as an opportunity?

An Inconvenient Truth was the very successful outcome of Al Gore's decade-long learning process on how to communicate climate change: a skill he's now passing on to others around the world through presentation workshops. Another good piece that describes positive future outcomes of acting to stop climate change is John Rynn's Global Warming and the Vision Thing. I've also seen a range of articles where actions to stop climate change are linked with co-benefits such as energy security/independence, community cohesion, jobs, improved air quality, social equity, moral fulfillment, improved human health, cost savings, increased biodiversity and better quality of life.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples of good climate change communication that you've come across on Celsias and in other places. Want to share them with us as a comment below?

Pointers on how to tell the climate change story effectively

Everyone has an individual vision for a climate-safe future. Obviously there's never going to be a single story for the environmental movement, which would be too constraining, as well as alienating for many people. Like many things in life, the more diverse our stories, the better; creating the future will require multiple, competing, localized and specific visions in order to generate creative and successful outcomes.

But while there's no one way to talk about the future in light of climate change, there's certainly some guiding principles for how it can be done effectively. Drawing on the Institute for Public Policy Research, Futerra, the synthesis of the Yale Conference on Climate Change, David Roberts of Grist, and a presentation by Alex Hannant of Mardarin Communications, here are some ideas for how to talk about climate change in a way that inspires rather than depresses.

Effective climate change communications should:

• be positive, reflecting the many strengths and benefits of a society that's acting to stop climate change
• present the many benefits of acting to prevent climate change: social, moral, cultural, economic, spiritual, security and ethical, as well as environmental
• avoid using inflated or extreme language, which gives the impression that 'we're all doomed'
• use concrete images of the future that people can relate to, rather than relying on science and numbers
• present the argument on climate change as having been won, rather than spending time convincing people that climate change is real
• appeal to values, hopes and morals people already hold
• present climate-friendly behaviours as 'the kinds of things that people like us do', making it feel natural to the large numbers of people who are currently unengaged with the problem
• use 'authentic storytellers' who can speak convincingly about climate change from their own perspective
• utilize many different voices
• show how people and animals are threatened by climate change (not just landscapes)
• personalize and localize the story as much as possible, so that people relate climate change actions to their region, town, street, house and family
• give positive feedback, thanking people for taking action
• repeat key messages through different channels
• focus on clear goals (for example, near zero net emissions by a certain date)
• avoid 'carbon jargon'
• use effective visuals
• focus on the big actions that people can take to address climate change, like switching to a hybrid car, fitting a wind turbine or installing insulation, and not just the small actions such as switching off the lights
• help people understand that they're making a difference

I feel confident that we have most of the resources we need to respond to the threat of climate change at our disposal: the knowledge, skills, technology, and passion. What is required is effective ways of telling the story of how we can respond to climate change that engage with all people and support them to act. Believing and living by more positive stories will help us create the futures we are beginning to imagine.