Issue: Utilities

Learn about an evidence-backed framework to engage your key audiences and build buy-in from your supporters. In 2021, we kicked off a round of research project collaborations to study how climate advocates can leverage the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA) to better organize and mobilize their bases. SIMCA predicts that people participate in activism when they feel that their social group is experiencing injustice, when they strongly identify with that group, and/or when they feel that acting together could have an impact (that is, a sense of collective efficacy). These collaborations helped us unpack SIMCA and provided a better understanding of how and when to use this model. We found that SIMCA-informed messaging tended to perform as well as or better than existing approaches, though the specific context of each implementation was important for determining exactly how this played out. In part 2 of this report-out, we feature research done in collaboration with three climate justice organizations: Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Alianza for Progress, and Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts. (Also see our practical guide for integrating SIMCA into climate engagement programs and check out the projects from our SIMCA Part 1 webinar)
 
 

Texas is back in the news this week because the state faced record temperatures that almost crashed its power grid. Well, earlier this year, Justin Rolfe-Redding at the Lab wrote about the upcoming Valentine’s Day campaign #BreakUpWithGas. The campaign was designed to push back on disinformation and use the one-year anniversary to galvanize public attention to the problem with fossil fuels. That Texas freeze in 2021 resulted in hundreds of Texans losing their lives and more than half of the state was without power or water service for days. Now it’s time to revisit that campaign and see what they/we can all learn.