The IPCC Report is a Wake Up Call for Scholars, Advocates & PhilanthropistS
Matthew Nisbet, PhD Professor of Communication at Northeastern University. Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Environmental Communication
For too long, as scholars, we have focused narrowly on general public... strategies to more effectively communicate climate change risks... we have never adequately articulated the conditions by which public mobilization might translate into effective public policy action.
Nor have we examined closely the process by which political elites, those in the best position to make decisions about our collective future, might come to agree on the same effective policy approaches ...
As scholars, our unhealthy obsession with the psychology and communication strategies of “deniers” has also reinforced a bunker mentality among climate advocates that is highly resistant to legitimate criticism or alternative ideas.
The result is a discourse culture that substantially reduces opportunities for developing effective policy and technology approaches on climate change... in 2008 former Vice President Al Gore announced that he would be launching a three-year program of persuasion to rival that of the oil campaigns. Over the next two years, the Climate Reality Project spent $115 million on TV advertising, social media strategies, and related operations to boost public concern and support for policy action...
Between 2011 and 2015, the country’s major climate change foundations spent $150 million, or nearly 30% of all grant dollars distributed, supporting communication activities intended to intensify concern about climate change, drive support for renewable energy, and turn national sentiment against the fossil fuel industry.
Philanthropic investments in public mobilization have been complemented by hundreds of millions more raised by environmental groups from major donors, online contributions, direct mail, canvassing, and membership appeals.
At the front of the pack has been the California billionaire Tom Steyer who since 2014 has spent more than $200 million on efforts to elect Democrats
FROM MEDIUM Oct 11
FROM MEDIUM Oct 11
