A couple of years ago, political scientist Michael Jones published the results of a study in the Policy Studies Journal, on the most effective ways to educate and persuade the public about the threats of climate change. His research clearly demonstrated that when climate information is conveyed in narrative story…
Why talk about intrinsic worth when you can put a price tag on it? The idea of calculating the value of healthy natural systems and factoring that value into land management decisions is taking hold across the world. The idea is that with a better sense of how much these…
If you have a tendency to click on news items that might make you cry, you likely saw that hundreds of sea lions have been washing up- starving- on the shores of Southern California. I possess that tendency as well as some well-worn tear ducts. Within two minutes of reading…
Done your tax returns yet? Here’s something to think about as you finish your 1040. Flood insurance. Fire suppression. Crop insurance. Hurricanes. Turns out American taxpayers are already footing huge bills for climate change impacts. Here are just a few of the costs we’ll be paying in federal and state…
For all that has been written and screened about Abraham Lincoln, most of us know him from a series of pictures by Matthew Brady, one of photography’s early giants. They are all remarkably similar – a face, prematurely lined, a jaw, grimly set and eyes that convey both steely determination…
It was the spring of 2011. Resource Media was working with the Power Past Coal campaign to block the global export of Powder River Basin coal from ports in the Pacific Northwest. The Power Past Coal campaign knew why they wanted to block coal exports, but weren’t sure the same…
Do you know what makes your audience tick? Do you know what makes them care enough to promote your organization on their own? I keep coming back to a fascinating webinar I attended last year on a paper published by Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman of the Wharton School of…
Did you know that people form an opinion of your website in a mere fraction of a second? That’s right, a mere fraction of second. Do the math and realize that this impression is formed without reading even one line of your carefully-written web copy. It’s the design, the look…
One cardinal sin of communications strategy is to assume that two different people given the same set of facts will reach the same conclusion. The environmental community has been as guilty of this sin as any social change sector…beating people senseless with facts and recoiling in frustration when their targets…
Our super-smart friends at Climate Nexus just put together a climate change polling synthesis that features good news, more good news, and some very good advice. Here’s the headline: Americans are really starting to get it, even Republicans. That’s what Hurricane Sandy, epic wildfires, insane drought and the hottest summer…
