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Max Boykoff pitches strategies for more effective climate communication

Despite its apparent provenance as a right-wing meme, when it comes to climate change, Max Boykoff rather likes the snarky expression, 鈥淥K, doomer鈥濃�攁 play on 鈥淥K, Boomer,鈥� the catchphrase adopted by the young to dismiss attitudes of their Baby Boomer forebears.

鈥淪ocial sciences and humanities research shows that sticking to doomsday language doesn鈥檛 help people engage with the challenges of climate change,鈥� he says.听

Boykoff, an associate professor of environmental studies, says that numerous prominent works, such as Jonathan Franzen鈥檚 much-discussed New Yorker essay, 鈥淲hat If We Stopped Pretending,鈥� which argued that it鈥檚 delusional to try to stop or mitigate climate change, do little more than cause people to 鈥渇reak out, tune out, turn off, become paralyzed.鈥澨�

Boykoff鈥檚 research into how to effectively communicate the serious consequences of anthropogenic climate change鈥攁nd his review of others鈥� research in these areas鈥攈as convinced him that such heavy-handed, apocalyptic messaging is problematic and led to his new book,听听

鈥淚f there isn鈥檛 some semblance of hope or ways people can change the current state of affairs, people feel less motivated to try to address the problems,鈥� says Boykoff, who is also director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy at the University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

Boykoff even routinely dons a T-shirt emblazoned with 10 pithy words by Edward Maibach, a widely recognized expert on climate communications at George Mason University: 鈥淚t鈥檚 real; it鈥檚 us; experts agree; it鈥檚 bad; there鈥檚 hope.鈥�

In his new book, Boykoff delves deep into social science research to devise the most effective ways to communicate about a problem so enormous that many people simply become numb when hearing about it.听

鈥淐ommunicating about climate change now doesn鈥檛 have to be the equivalent of throwing spaghetti against a wall to see what sticks,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e now have a solid decade of research that can point us to what works, as well as how, when and why it works, and under what circumstances.鈥�

Among the key messages of the book: Communicators should use a 鈥渟ilver buckshot鈥� approach, rather than thinking there is a silver bullet that will convince doubters or those who have simply turned away from the problem.

鈥淲e鈥檝e learned that we can鈥檛 rely merely on science to turn the tide, or what scientists think. We can鈥檛 merely rely on a big disaster event either like 鈥楽uperstorm Sandy,鈥欌�� he says, referring to the devastating 2012 storm system that some portrayed as evidence of extreme events in a changing climate.

鈥淭hrough research and observations, we鈥檝e found that changing people鈥檚 minds doesn鈥檛 happen like that.鈥�

Based on extensive research, Boykoff assembled five 鈥渞ules of the road鈥� and five 鈥済uideposts鈥� to help foster a creative and effective approach to climate-change communications.听

Rules of the road (along with brief descriptions from Boykoff):

• Be authentic鈥斺�淒on鈥檛 fake it.鈥澨�

• Be aware鈥斺�淜now your audience.鈥�

• Be accurate鈥斺�淜now what you鈥檙e talking about.鈥�

• Be imaginative鈥斺�淪tep out of the well-worn paths of science.鈥�

• Be bold鈥斺�淐ommit yourself to experimenting.鈥�

Guideposts:

• Find common ground鈥斺�淩ather than telling people how they are supposed to be thinking and acting.鈥�

• Emphasize here and now鈥斺�淲e need to overcome the perception that this is a distant threat that impacts other people and animals in distant places we never visit.鈥�

• Focus on the benefits of engagement鈥斺�淕ive people agency, focus on ways they can get involved and feel like, 鈥極K, this is what I can do today.鈥欌��

• Creatively empower people鈥擱ather than lecture or speak in traditional academic modes, Boykoff points to alternative avenues of communication, such as comedy, art, video and dance.

• Smarten up鈥斺�淟istening, discussing and adapting, as opposed to just trying to win an argument.鈥�

Boykoff isn鈥檛 na茂ve about the scale of the challenges. He understands why so many people simply can鈥檛 fathom what to do in the face of something so enormous and consequential.听

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 scaled this accordingly to the kind of responses that are needed, and it feels overwhelming,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I would flip that on its head and say, 鈥楨verything counts.鈥� There are many opportunities to change our ways of living, working, playing and having fun.鈥�

He argues that only framing the issue as a matter of individual responsibility and encouraging generations to snipe at one another鈥斺�淥K, Boomer,鈥� for example, or criticizing younger people for failing to live up to their proclaimed ideals鈥攁re often distractions that do little to address the problem.

鈥淔light-shaming is one of the more unproductive ways to have a conversation,鈥� Boykoff says, citing as an example the recent uptick in criticism of people who travel by air. 鈥淭hat just leaves people feeling bad. It鈥檚 blaming other people while not actually talking about the structures that give rise to the need or desire to take those trips.鈥�

And at a time when extreme political polarization has transformed personal positions on climate change into often intractable tribalism, Boykoff says it鈥檚 important to take a careful, nuanced approach when communicating to skeptics.

鈥淩ather than castigating people鈥攚hen does that really work?鈥攖hrough findings from social science and humanities research, my book calls for us to be more creative and mindful and have open conversations,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is a collective-action problem, and we need to be thinking ahead together.鈥澨�