Resource Type: Research & Articles

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.

In 2021, we saw high and enduring public support for a range of actions that would address the climate crisis and put the country on a path to a cleaner future. The 70% of Americans who say they are at least “somewhat” worried about global warming is the highest figure recorded since this surveying began in 2008. A September 2021 poll also found that 70% of Americans believe that global warming is affecting weather in the United States, a new high. Americans are most likely to believe that global warming is having at least “some” effect on hot weather events such as extreme heat (68%), wildfires (67%), and droughts (66%). While Pew found that 65% of Republican voters in early 2020 believed that the country should prioritize renewables over fossil fuels, more Republican voters in April 2021 said that expanding fossil fuels should be the country’s energy priority (52%) than developing alternative energy sources (47%). However, Republican voters reported far less confidence in Republican politicians in their ability to handle environmental issues, as compared to other issues such as the economy or immigration. More Democrats said that passing a bill to address climate change and its effects should be a “top priority” for Congress (56%) than any other priority aside from stimulating the economy to recover from the coronavirus pandemic (60%) and passing a healthcare reform bill (57%). This report also includes survey data summaries about Build Back Better, scientists as trusted authorities, and holding corporations accountable.