We Can Fix It: Personalized, Multimedia Expert Advice to Galvanize Everyday Climate Action
FORMAS Communications Grant, 2022-2024
Most people in Europe and North America are concerned or alarmed about climate change. But two-thirds almost never talk, think, or act on climate; when they do, they do not know which actions within their power are most effective. Existing recommendations and guides focus on ineffective climate actions like recycling, and limit personal climate action to changes in consumption, excluding broader social roles. The middle class in industrialized countries is especially critical, as they represent 10% of the global population but half of household climate pollution, and the majority of economic, political, organizational, and cultural power globally.
This project will empower the middle-class, climate-concerned majority in industrialized countries to act on their concerns by translating rigorous research on high-impact climate solutions to their everyday lived experiences as a consumer, community member, and citizen, where people have the power to act.
The goal of this project is to empower and inspire a community of 10,000 people from the climate-concerned majority to spend 2 hours per week directed at personally meaningful, high-impact climate actions in their daily lives. Over the 2 years of the project, this will represent over 2 million person-hours directed at high-impact climate action.
The scientific backing for this project comes from research conducted by Dr. Kimberly Nicholas, whose research program focuses on identifying, analyzing, quantifying, and popularizing high-impact climate actions. The underlying research will draw from both scientific peer-reviewed publications, as well as her recent popular science book, Under the Sky We Make.
We will achieve our goals through developing three communication activities, all based in dialogue, being reflexive, and building relationships and engagement. These are selected based on requests from Nicholas’ existing audience of readers and social media followers, and provide a ladder of engagement to guide those who are ready to act, empower those who are struggling, and engage those who are concerned but not yet acting:
Across the three communication activities, we will show impact throughout using analytics to measure the growing number of users and depth of their engagement; track time spent on taking climate actions via follow-up questions in the climate action guide; and highlight member’s climate action journeys to inspire others with positive, relatable examples at the project conclusion with Stories of Change.
This project will substantially expand timely, actionable evidence informing and inspiring high-impact climate action among the people who have historically emitted the most climate pollution, and who now are in the best positions to act with agency and urgency. Their groundswell of action throughout their roles in society is a key leverage point to support rapid and just collective transformation to a fossil-free world that succeeds in stopping global warming in our lifetimes.
This project will empower the middle-class, climate-concerned majority in industrialized countries to act on their concerns by translating rigorous research on high-impact climate solutions to their everyday lived experiences as a consumer, community member, and citizen, where people have the power to act.
The goal of this project is to empower and inspire a community of 10,000 people from the climate-concerned majority to spend 2 hours per week directed at personally meaningful, high-impact climate actions in their daily lives. Over the 2 years of the project, this will represent over 2 million person-hours directed at high-impact climate action.
The scientific backing for this project comes from research conducted by Dr. Kimberly Nicholas, whose research program focuses on identifying, analyzing, quantifying, and popularizing high-impact climate actions. The underlying research will draw from both scientific peer-reviewed publications, as well as her recent popular science book, Under the Sky We Make.
We will achieve our goals through developing three communication activities, all based in dialogue, being reflexive, and building relationships and engagement. These are selected based on requests from Nicholas’ existing audience of readers and social media followers, and provide a ladder of engagement to guide those who are ready to act, empower those who are struggling, and engage those who are concerned but not yet acting:
- An interactive, online climate action guide, which gives personalized recommendations for high-impact climate action based on the user’s specific priorities and capacities across their roles as consumer, investor, role model, organization member, and citizen. This is a scientifically vetted, actionable, and trusted resource for those ready to act.
- A podcast starring community members exploring a specific climate problem, like how to talk to climate-dismissive family members or how to change a high-carbon flying culture at work, in conversation with Nicholas. This user-centered model is based on building relationships and reflecting on lived experience to address the concerns, struggles, creativity, and solutions of everyday people with expert guidance, in contrast to existing climate podcasts that assume expert information is sufficient to inspire behavior change.
- A highly engaging, strongly visually branded social media space on Instagram, focused on community building through discussion and engagement; highlighting content from Nicholas’ existing communication output and the new communication activities developed within this project; and getting rapid, early feedback from users to shape the content featured in the action guide and podcast. This is an accessible space to initially engage a broad audience who are concerned but not yet active, and steer them towards action via the podcast and guide.
Across the three communication activities, we will show impact throughout using analytics to measure the growing number of users and depth of their engagement; track time spent on taking climate actions via follow-up questions in the climate action guide; and highlight member’s climate action journeys to inspire others with positive, relatable examples at the project conclusion with Stories of Change.
This project will substantially expand timely, actionable evidence informing and inspiring high-impact climate action among the people who have historically emitted the most climate pollution, and who now are in the best positions to act with agency and urgency. Their groundswell of action throughout their roles in society is a key leverage point to support rapid and just collective transformation to a fossil-free world that succeeds in stopping global warming in our lifetimes.
