Adapting our Climate Change narrative
For the past few days, a particular tweet has occupied my thoughts. It read, "Climate change deniers are scared and ignorant." It's the kind of blunt and unapologetic statement we often see on Twitter, where everyone who disagrees is lumped together. But this tweet got me thinking about a deeper issue.
The average person's direct experience of climate change is virtually nonexistent. We may encounter it in fleeting events like a hot day, intense rain, or rising food and fuel prices. However, these events quickly fade from memory or become the new norm, making it difficult for the most of us to grasp the broader picture. It's not the fault of individuals; it's the fault of the storytellers.
It's reminiscent of a video clip featuring Tony Benn, a British Labour Party PM, passionately speaking against the Iraq war in 1998. Climate change, too, has been relegated to being "just an interesting little Channel Four news item" for far too long. We haven't taken it seriously, and the narratives we've told haven't been the right ones.
In the current news landscape, we are bombarded with headlines like "Climate Change This" or "Climate Change That." It's overwhelming, leaving us struggling to discern what's truly meaningful and how we should respond on a personal level.
Our climate change experiences may remain limited for a while but not forever, with hot days or particularly cold winters possibly becoming the norm. How will these stand out as factors of Climate Change before our current experience of the weather becomes distant memories?
Our busy lives often keep us living in the present, making it challenging to connect the dots between events and the broader issue of climate change. To effect change, we need to shift our perception of climate change, and this change must come from both the top, through government policies, and from the ground up, initiated by individuals like you and me. It all starts with hearing the right narratives, requiring more than just blunt statements.
We need a collective effort to tell stories that resonate with people from all walks of life, and in today's world, companies have a crucial role to play in this. By prioritising system and product changes to reduce emissions or by educating customers to change behaviours, companies can have a compounding effect.
Earlier this year, Dodonut published research on the effects of switching to dark mode to increase battery life on mobile devices. It may seem like a small change individually, but when businesses prioritise sustainability, it can have a far-reaching impact.
So, what is your business doing to make your product more sustainable?
