Between dire and hopeful: community outreach,

communications and climate

Renee Lertzman, Ph.D.Fellow, Portland Center for Public HumanitiesPortland State Universitylertzman@pdx.edu

Interrupting the cycle

Where we’re at…

psychology of climate change communications

• Focuses primarily on cognition, information processing and rational processes

• Emphasis on proximity, abstraction and immediacy

• Using a “barriers” to engagement framework

• Focuses centrally on values and the so-called “attitude-behavior gap”

Reframing: from barriers to opportunities

• Emotions as central for how we respond to climate change issues (Norgaard, 2011)

• Unconscious dimensions such as anxiety, fear, hope and loss (Randall, 2009)

• Necessity for creative engagement and participation (participatory processes)

Research study: The Great Lakes and Green Bay

• Chose a field site ecologically troubled, industrial

• Interviewed ten participants in “not engaged” range

• Conducted interviews using psychosocial methods

Research study: The Great Lakes and Green Bay

• Chose a field site ecologically troubled, industrial

• Interviewed ten participants in “not engaged” range

• Conducted interviews using psychosocial methods

inspiration and context

living the Great Lakes

Desires, dilemmas, hopes, fears

• In-depth interviews

• Accounting for contradiction, dilemmas

• Attention to emotions and affect

• Exploring relations between information and actions

What I found

• Strong narratives of concern and care • Ambivalence regarding action and

involvement• Pride and honor of place (industry)• Sadness and dismay, despair of degradation• Self-opting out of action (identity,

ambivalence)• Contradicting desires and fears

Howard, 69, Green Bay native

• Deep love of nature, water, environment

• Strong stewardship

• Father’s accident with the paper mill

• Attachment to “Paddle to the Sea”

So what does this mean for us?

The importance of emotional (irrational) dimensions

Most social behavior from SUV ownership to frequent flying, far from being a simple response to inducements or threats, is mediated by meanings, narratives, identities and feelings.

As communicators and engagement professionals we need to build this into our work.

communications that allow for:

- Coexistence of conflicting desires and aspirations

- Addressing potential anxieties at the get-go

- Anticipating potential fears and loss

- Focusing on solutions and strategies in context of the above

Rethinking ‘engagement’

• Investing resources for exploring concern, fears, hopes, etc.

• Meeting people where they are • Development of tools to encourage creative

investment• Accommodation for difficult or reactive

responses (to climate-related initiatives)• Focus on concern, rather that it’s absence

(‘apathy’ or ‘barriers’)

How effective are our communications?