I was a key note speaker at the recent 4th annual Hillary Symposium in Christchurch. The Symposium theme was ‘The Deals That Matter’: Climate Change Solutions.
I spoke about ‘sensitizing your market’ – drawing on some of The Shannon Company’s behaviour change campaigns plus wise counsel from others.
Before I share my thoughts on that however, a little bit of background on the wider issues around climate change…
John Thwaites was Deputy Premier of Victoria and is now a professor at Monash University and Chair of its Sustainability Institute. John says most of us have a finite pool of worry and the negative messages about climate change tend to get ignored if repeated too often.
In this contest there’s been a string of studies that suggest fear-based messages can backfire if they clash with people’s underlying beliefs.
So what can we do to swing attitudes back in support of climate change action?
The first thing is to think about who we are trying to influence. We need to understand the differences in target groups and target messages and how they engage with them.
The desired actions need to be easy to do. Humans are creatures of habit and our traditional behaviours will not change unless we make it as easy as possible.
Attitudes are hard to change but behaviour can be ‘nudged’. Governments can guide small changes in behaviour by using an understanding of psychological factors like social norms. In some cases these behaviour changes may change attitudes as well.
Journalist colleague, Shaun Carney of The Age argues that action on climate change has a fracture point: hardly any of us who can make a difference will ever live to see the benefit. Climate change is a blank canvas. It is just as easy to be a sceptic as it is to be a believer. Who will learn one day that they were right or wrong? Not me. Not you.
So you can do something about climate change and feel good about it. Or not. It won’t make any difference – not in the here and now, anyway.
Climate change is, simultaneously, about everything and nothing. That’s probably why a solid majority of people initially expressed enthusiasm for tackling climate change, then struggled with it, and eventually have come to resent it.
It’s the idea that is appealing, more than the reality. Because of its ephemeral quality, the climate change argument presents a unique challenge. It’s not like a water saving campaign where the results can be measured in real time due to the discreet nature of water catchments.
The argument for climate change action cannot be predicated on personal self-interest. But it can be built on higher aspirations. And it can be built on the truth.
At its heart, taking action on climate change may be a complex issue but it’s not a radical course. In fact, it’s the opposite.
I think this is the opportunity to add the all-important ingredient to a behaviour-change program: and that is the creative inspiration necessary to make an emotional connection with people.
Do you think creative inspiration is likely to come from the policy makers? Or is it the special skill of the communicators?
There seems to be agreement that a collaborative process is best, with policy makers, scientists, psychologists, researchers contributing the knowledge – and the communicators gaining the insights and providing the creative spark that underpins any program to sensitise the market.
Our theory is that to generate sustained behaviour change you first need to understand people and their beliefs.
If there’s no understanding of the beliefs, there can be no empathy. If there’s no empathy, there can be no connection. If there’s no connection, there can be no action. And if there’s no action, there can be no behaviour change.
Is acting on climate change and making a series of financial and lifestyle sacrifices not the same as working hard to provide for our children’s future?
We are special people at a special time in history. Do we not want to be seen as the greatest generation?
Isn’t it our turn to be great?
Read Part 2 of Bill’s blog about sensitising the community to swing attitudes back in support of climate change action tomorrow!
Image credit: The Shannon Company
