susanne c. moser, ph.d. - usc dana and david dornsife ...40 am group exercise developing...

Susanne C. Moser, Ph.D.

Sea Grant Climate Network

March 13, 2013

© 2013 - Training slides developed by Susanne C. Moser, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Your name

From [State or region]

One thing that makes me a great communicator

One thing I really want to learn today is…

… in 140 characters (i.e. 30 seconds) or less!

Academic… or not Senior…or not

Science, outreach, extension, facilities or program management, workforce development, facilitation, technical assistance, research oversight

Ecology, law, engineering, planning, climate, hazards, political science, communication

Source: Based on 26 responses to Pre-Workshop Questionnaire

"To be truly radical is to

make hope possible,

rather than despair

convincing."

- Raymond Williams

(Welsh academic, novelist and critic)


“Said is not heard; Heard is not understood; Understood is not agreed; Agreed is not implemented.” (unknown Dutch source)


Time Activity Topics

9:00 am Welcome & Introductions Who is here, something you’re really excited about

9:40 am Group exercise Developing audience-specific communication strategies

10:15 am Lecture, Q&A Foundation: Americans’ climate change attitudes

11:00 am Break

11:15am Lecture, Q&A Foundation: American perceptions of impacts, adaptation

11:30 am Group exercises Theory of change: audiences and communication goals

12:30 pm Lunch

1:30 pm Demo, pair exercise Role and power of emotions, sense of place

2:00 pm Group exercise Frames, mental models and messages

2:30 pm Break

2:45 pm Discussion, group exercise Messengers and communication channels

3:15 pm Overview, practices Uncertainty, dealing with skeptics and contrarians

4:00 pm Grand finale Present your communication strategies

4:30 pm Evaluation Resources, feedback and adjourn

Participate fully, don’t stand by

In small-group discussions, build on and explore others’ contributions

Be here (cell phones on mute, minimize distractions)

Bio breaks, scheduled and as needed

Enjoy!

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~8 people per group

Acquaint yourself with the scenario for your group

Discuss and develop a communications strategy that is appropriate and effective for this audience and situation

You have 20 minutes

Then we debrief

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Developing an audience-specific communications strategy

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• Support for high-level leadership and policy

• Behavior change and civic engagement • Actively doing their part in reducing their own

emissions • Actively doing their part in reducing risks from

climate change impacts

Deeper, transformative change (values, social norms, consciousness, points of views)

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For communication to be effective, i.e., to facilitate an intended societal response or desired social change, it must accomplish two things:

(1) sufficiently elevate and maintain the motivation to change a practice or policy

&

(2) contribute to lowering barriers and resistance to doing so

Communication

Motivation Resistance/

Barriers

Social

Change &

Action

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1. Identify and get to know your audience. 2. Define clear communication goals. 3. Frame the issue appropriately. 4. Use the right messenger and appropriate

channels and venues for your communication.

5. Empower and enable the audience to act.

6. Follow-up. 7. Evaluate.

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Most Americans accept that climate change is happening, but understanding on causality still split, less certain

Question wording makes a difference

There was a big fuss over the dip in 2009/2010, still in recovery

Long-term polling suggests we have made little progress since 1988 or 1997

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Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2012b) © 2

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Source: The Strategy Team (2012)

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Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2012b)

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ed Majority Believes in Human Causation (but fragile knowledge)

Seriousness of climate change as a problem is not firm, not growing


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Public concern is fickle, not particularly strong, nor growing


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Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2013)

Views on the scientific consensus not consistent with reality

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Need for action now and types of action are unclear, underestimated and public is skeptical of success

Broadly, differences along ideological and gender lines

Clear differences: ideological/political leanings, cultural worldviews, gender

Less consistent: age, ethnicity

Audience segmentation useful starting point

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Alarmed Concerned Cautious Disengaged Doubtful Dismissive

Based on periodic surveys and analysis by the Yale University Project on Climate Change and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication

Highest belief in global warming

Human causation

Greatest concern

Most motivated

Lowest belief in global warming

Natural cause, if at all

Least concerned

Least motivated

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Sources: Leiserowitz et al. 2008 Maibach et al. (2009) Leiserowitz et al .(2013)

Nationwide Conviction Trends (in %)

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06/07 10/08 01/10 06/10 05/11 03/12

Yes 71 69 57 61 64 66

No 10 11 20 18 18 14

D/K 19 18 23 21 18 20

Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2013) © 2

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Source: Leiserowitz et al (2013) © 2

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Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2009, 2012)

11%

43%

30%

16%

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Source: Leiserowitz et al (2013)

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Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2012b)

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Source: Leiserowitz et al (2009) © 2

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Source: SEE Innovation Project for Improved Environmental Coverage (2013)

Leaders

Extreme

events

News

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Source: Leiserowitz et al (2013 (l), 2009) (r) © 2

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“Culture is prior to facts in the cognitive sense that what citizens believe about the empirical consequences of [certain problems or] policies derives from their cultural worldviews.“

Kahan and Braman (2006)

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Source: Leiserowitz et al (2009)

4

3

2

1

Individualistic values

(developed from tabulated data)

Alarmed

Concerned Cautious

Disengaged

Doubtful

Dismissive

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Social-psychological mechanisms:

• Identity-protective cognition

• Biased information assimilation and polarization

• Cultural credibility heuristic - when trusted source

confirms one’s beliefs > polarization

- when trusted source contradicts one’s beliefs > depolarization

• Cultural identity affirmation - greater open-mindedness,

depolarization

Quite stable,

polarized

debate

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• Very little understanding of international or national policy proposals

• Limited understanding of the magnitude of the needed solutions

• Little knowledge of the range of possible solutions

• Little sense of priorities of what would make the biggest difference in pers. choices

• Overwhelm and futility

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Die-hard Optimists

Source: Leiserowitz et al. (2012, 2013)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Humans can reduce global

warming and we are going to do so

successfully

Humans could reduce global

warming, but it's unclear at this

point whether we will do what's

needed

Humans could reduce global warming but people aren't

willing to change their behavior, so we're not going

to

Humans can't reduce global

warming, even if it's happening

Global warming isn't happening

Pe

rce

nt

Can and Will the World Reduce Global Warming?

Doubtful

Cynics Fatalists

Deniers

96%

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[0-8% 1-72% 2-30% 1-58% 0-57%]

Source: Moser (2009). Good Morning America! The Explosive Awakening of the US

to Adaptation. Available at: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/publications/need-for-adaptation.pdf

Estimates 2009

-2012 based on

Boykoff (2013)

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Renaming what we’ve always done

Disaster risk management

Water conservation

Wetland restoration

Trying to find a resonant term

Preparing/preparedness, readiness, sustainability

Translating adaptation into familiar terms

Planning ahead

Upgrading infrastructure

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"The sea level rise that we've

experienced in our community has had an impact on our tax base, lower property values, municipal services and

maintenance of infrastructure. … So I think it's very important that we start dealing with the issue that we can't ignore, because we see the impact on a daily basis.“

Renee Cahoon

Mayor of Nags Head, NC (10/23/09, ClimateWire)

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Source: Paul Krashefski, Broward County Natural Resources Planning and Management Division

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A large and growing majority of Americans believe that global warming is making weather events worse

A majority (55%) of Americans say they have thought some or a great deal (55%) about preparing for a natural disaster, but only ~a third have a plan/kit Source: Leiserowitz et al. (Sept 2012a)

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77% think climate change is a very or somewhat serious threat

Of the 10 national issues about which residents are “very concerned”, climate change ranks 9th, and sea-level rise 10th (and highest percentage of people who are “not at all concerned”)

Same pattern when asked about environmental issues, but some can be easily linked to climate change and sea-level rise (flooding, wetland loss, water and air quality)

Concern is higher for those in immediate coastal areas, and those who feel they know more about the issue

Middle-aged and older people are more concerned than younger ones

Source: http://www.coastal.udel.edu/ © 2

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The risks aren’t local yet for many

Global-local disconnect with existential threats

Intense emotional responses when climate risks “come home”

Interpretive lenses

Framing effects

Missing voices, trusted messengers

Adaptation language still unfamiliar, not resonant, largely untested

Fear of local officials about publicly addressing adaptation in their communities

Organized resistance to local adaptation planning efforts

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Has significant explanatory power to understand what has happened over the last 20 years in climate change communication and public polarization

Highly relevant to adaptation and how to communicate them Impacts may be experienced as threats

Solutions may be experienced as threats

Adaptive responses may or may not fit into what is acceptable to people

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See: Dan Kahan and colleagues

http://www.culturalcognition.net/

http://www.culturalcognition.net/

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Northeast

Mid-Atlantic

Southeast

Gulf of Mexico

California

PNW + N. Cal

Islands

Great Lakes

Regroup in 8 Regional Breakout Groups

susanne c. moser, ph.d. - usc dana and david dornsife ...40 am group exercise developing...

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