Resource Library

40 “systems leaders” from across North America and Africa share their insights in this report on the potential and the challenges of advancing systems change. What do we most need, individually and collectively, to really DO the systems change that’s needed? Diverse leaders shared some common experiences and lessons, including: centering equity and inclusion, expanding capabilities, leveraging indigenous wisdom, deepening collaboration, supporting leaders, resourcing systems change, and increasing capacity. Some of their specific conclusions include prioritizing: a diverse range of leaders working at multiple levels and across sectors, a supported and connected field to scale our individual and collective impact, and grounding change in community and centering local voices and expertise. These leaders work in an array of issue areas, such as racial equity, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, local food systems, violence, and more.

Non-climate global crises can distract people from the climate crisis. Given the immediacy and real-time affectedness of events like the coronavirus pandemic, civil unrest, geopolitical tensions, and economic downturns, it’s easy to understand if attention was slipping away from the looming climate crisis. In an analysis of social media data, the authors of this article find that as other global threats loom large, climate change attention wanes. People engage significantly less with climate change related material as these other crises are introduced. Recognizing this reality, advocates should work towards impressing upon others that the climate crisis is indeed interconnected to these other events. “Systemic sustainability” or a unified message is key for keeping attention and focus on the climate threats, while also acknowledging and respecting the real impacts of these other events.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new polling about Build Back Better and clean energy incentives, a new poll of Black and Latino Americans about climate and environmental justice issues, new findings from Yale and George Mason’s long-running “Six Americas” tracking study, and a newly released summary of the past year’s polling on climate and environmental issues.
You can also find a press release on the EPC’s end-of-year polling takeaways here, which was put out this week by EDF Action, the League of Conservation Voters, NRDC, Sierra Club, and the Climate Action Campaign.

Establishing shared values between communicator and audience is essential for persuasive climate communication. When communicating about climate change, for any communicator, it’s essential to communicate that you have a shared goal as the audience—and to communicate that we (humans) still have agency in mitigating the problem. In addition, ideally describe some concrete actions that people can take. Too much past climate science communication has been purely dire and makes people feel hopeless and not efficacious to act. For businesses, proclaiming commitment to sustainability can be key for being more competitive—although greenwashing is always a concern when evaluating the intentions of corporations. This resource describes some competing climate communication frames, and the benefits and costs to each: “information deficit approach,” “motivation by fear approach,” “scientific framing approach,” and “media-based mobilization.”

As 2021 came to an end, I took some time to reflect on the year. I had many experiences from starting my new job as Training Manager to celebrating my best friend’s wedding. I would say one thing I have brought to this position is a lot of curiosity about what more is possible.
Prior to the Lab, I worked as an organizer at 350.org where I ran a number of trainings. One of these training programs focused on BIPOC climate organizers at the intersection of racial justice, affectionately known as The Climate League. My co-facilitator and I wanted to dig deeper with a small group of people over an extended period of time to evaluate what would be different about their organizing. Why is this important? That experience made me think deeper about what skills and capacities I believe are necessary to win. So in my new role at the Lab, I said to myself “Can this be done here at the Lab according to the specific time and conditions we are in?” to which my Capricorn brain said, “Absolutely! Anything is possible.” That seed of curiosity transformed into the Training for Impact 2021 Cohort.