Communicating Climate Change (for communities)

This course challenges people to think critically about climate change awareness and behaviour change, providing a personal toolkit for communications: the winning arguments and the approaches to avoid.

The training is designed for people who are already familiar with climate change issues and are seeking specialist direction in communication techniques. Participants are invited to bring examples of their own work and obtain advice and new insights into their own projects. 

Using short Powerpoint presentations, the course starts with a summary of the findings of existing academic research into climate change communication and behavioural change. It looks beneath the standard statistics about public awareness, examining the large gap between people’s reported concern and their actual activity. Participants explore the many strategies that people adopt to avoid personal change and the potential risk that poor communications could reinforce those strategies.

In the practical section, the workshop breaks into small groups to analyse existing climate communication materials in light of these lessons, and present their findings back to the group. In the final part, they consider different audiences and use models drawn from social marketing to understand how attitudinal types respond to different climate change messages.  

To discuss putting on a training event in your area, contact Richard Conibere, richardc@coinet.org.uk, 01865 403 331.

 

Length: 4 hours (one facilitator), 6 hours (two facilitators)
Level:   Intermediate to expert