Journalism and PR are distinctly different disciplines, as they should be. It’s crucial that journalists report the truth on climate collapse. But I take your point that the truth may paralyze some people, but not all. However I think we’re past the point of making the truth more palatable. The Brazilian quote that you can’t swim until the water reaches your bum — I feel is a very apt analogy for where we are with regards to the actions of every day people.
Hey Alison, I am not advocating for not speaking the truths, just be wary that the psychology may backfired on other people. Instead, we can focus on providing news that are more relevant to where they are (how global warming worsens a local storm that wrecked people's house, instead of just global warming bad > too vague), or more news of local community trying their best & have already making X impacts, or how going sustainable help them achive financial freedom & peace of mind,... Focus on meeting people where they are, help them get through the first part. When they are interested, they will seek out more info about the state of enviroment.
I was researching on this topic too, will pop out a lot of article in the future regarding this. There are no one size fits all message for sure.
This is an interesting article. I used to read such content too. Eventually I wasn't learning anything new and always felt like I wasn't doing anything with the information. It's a negative feedback and too separate from the physical environment that I cared so much about. It's easy to think at macro scale and want to affect change at that level. But it's very hard and can lead to paralysis. Recently I started to volunteer in my local community at the salmon hatchery and started feeling much better. I'm in touch with the physical world, meet some great people and see results of our work. I would encourage others to get involved with your local community too. Maybe, just maybe by having lots of people involved at this level we can help change the macro level in time.
Hey, Its great knowing that someone share a similar path.
When I was younger, all that could reach me was these doom articles, so I used to feel anxiety, paralyzed and ultimately dont do anything productive.
But then I grew up & struggled financially. So I try to cut cost by swiching to Buy it for life product instead of disposable one. I was amazed at the ease of use, the money saved, and the mental freedom it gave me, and on top of that, I was doing something good for the enviroment.
That gave me the push I always needed to go deeper into enviromentalism. And open my eyes to how alternative approaches could work in persuading others too.
Sometimes I think my effort is not gonna matter much in the long run, but I will keep fighting.
I was just reading through this article and thinking how much I appreciate you shining a light on this. And how much more I've done for the environment since I started having fun with it and stopped worrying. And then I saw you mentioned to me at the bottom... Thank you so much! I'm really glad you are writing about this topic.
hey Robin, your comment about how we could approach this matter with fun and meaning inspire me a lot. Filled me with a lot of optimism for the solutions. Thank you so much!
This is just a perfect addition to my article. I am so honoured to be mentioned but also to help you think deeply about the matter. I am speechless, really. Great read, about to share!
Thank you so much, Lauren! Your original piece really sparked something for me - it's amazing how ideas can ripple out and inspire new thinking. I'm so glad it resonated with you too!
It's always nice when the person who inspired you appreciates what you did with their ideas.
Journalism and PR are distinctly different disciplines, as they should be. It’s crucial that journalists report the truth on climate collapse. But I take your point that the truth may paralyze some people, but not all. However I think we’re past the point of making the truth more palatable. The Brazilian quote that you can’t swim until the water reaches your bum — I feel is a very apt analogy for where we are with regards to the actions of every day people.
Hey Alison, I am not advocating for not speaking the truths, just be wary that the psychology may backfired on other people. Instead, we can focus on providing news that are more relevant to where they are (how global warming worsens a local storm that wrecked people's house, instead of just global warming bad > too vague), or more news of local community trying their best & have already making X impacts, or how going sustainable help them achive financial freedom & peace of mind,... Focus on meeting people where they are, help them get through the first part. When they are interested, they will seek out more info about the state of enviroment.
I was researching on this topic too, will pop out a lot of article in the future regarding this. There are no one size fits all message for sure.
This is an interesting article. I used to read such content too. Eventually I wasn't learning anything new and always felt like I wasn't doing anything with the information. It's a negative feedback and too separate from the physical environment that I cared so much about. It's easy to think at macro scale and want to affect change at that level. But it's very hard and can lead to paralysis. Recently I started to volunteer in my local community at the salmon hatchery and started feeling much better. I'm in touch with the physical world, meet some great people and see results of our work. I would encourage others to get involved with your local community too. Maybe, just maybe by having lots of people involved at this level we can help change the macro level in time.
Hey, Its great knowing that someone share a similar path.
When I was younger, all that could reach me was these doom articles, so I used to feel anxiety, paralyzed and ultimately dont do anything productive.
But then I grew up & struggled financially. So I try to cut cost by swiching to Buy it for life product instead of disposable one. I was amazed at the ease of use, the money saved, and the mental freedom it gave me, and on top of that, I was doing something good for the enviroment.
That gave me the push I always needed to go deeper into enviromentalism. And open my eyes to how alternative approaches could work in persuading others too.
Sometimes I think my effort is not gonna matter much in the long run, but I will keep fighting.
I was just reading through this article and thinking how much I appreciate you shining a light on this. And how much more I've done for the environment since I started having fun with it and stopped worrying. And then I saw you mentioned to me at the bottom... Thank you so much! I'm really glad you are writing about this topic.
hey Robin, your comment about how we could approach this matter with fun and meaning inspire me a lot. Filled me with a lot of optimism for the solutions. Thank you so much!
This is just a perfect addition to my article. I am so honoured to be mentioned but also to help you think deeply about the matter. I am speechless, really. Great read, about to share!
Thank you so much, Lauren! Your original piece really sparked something for me - it's amazing how ideas can ripple out and inspire new thinking. I'm so glad it resonated with you too!
It's always nice when the person who inspired you appreciates what you did with their ideas.