Resource Type: Tips & How-Tos

As EPA Administrator Pruitt and the Trump administration moved ahead Monday with their rollback of common-sense clean car standards—and Americans everywhere uttered a collective groan of frustration—this week we revisit why it is so critical at moments like this for advocates to give their supporters clear actions to take in response to discouraging news.

Last weekend’s March for Our Lives was one of the biggest youth protests since the Vietnam War and comes on the heels of nearly 9,000 protests documented between the Women's March last January and the end of 2017. Building on the Lab's previous tips* for sustaining engagement after mass mobilizations, this week we share reflections on what the March for Our Lives reminded us about building support for potentially polarizing policy issues and keeping folks engaged before and after moments of collective protest (in addition to participating in them!).

State-level climate initiatives have made headlines recently, most notably in Washington state where the latest effort to pass a carbon tax failed to get through the state legislature, although a carbon fee will be on the ballot this November. While some view it as a blue state-specific referendum on progressive climate policies, others suggest that carbon taxes and cap-and-trade policies in states like Washington and Oregon could potentially provide a blueprint for policymakers and grassroots advocates across the country. Today we review recent polling and recap lessons learned for public engagement on carbon tax policies.

Peer-to-peer texting has grown quickly from a promising campaign trend to a valuable organizing tool. Subsequently, a set of “good practices” for its use in the climate and clean energy space is starting to emerge. Last week, Lab members came together for a conversation to share insights and learnings* from their peer-to-peer texting programs.

Talking about climate, especially with folks whose politics are different than our own, can be…challenging, given how polarized the issue has unfortunately become. At the same time, those types of face-to-face conversations are arguably one of the most critical approaches for moving past the social media echo chambers, and engaging Americans on this and other potentially divisive issues. This week we share work that several groups have done to use conversation to find common ground on climate (and in some cases mobilize people to act), and review the evidence behind the effectiveness of dialogues to improve public engagement, and ultimately move the needle on climate and clean energy.

Last year, the Climate Advocacy Lab supported a multi-organization research project to help better understand the environmental “ladder of engagement” in an increasingly digital era. This week’s alert presents the exciting findings from this analysis of data — drawn from seven environmental organizations and over seven million unique members who took nearly 44 million online and offline actions over the past five years.

From the Paris decision to the Trump administration’s current push for offshore drilling, there’s plenty for activists to feel a bit down about these days. But it’s in moments like these where advocacy groups can play a critical role in keeping hope alive for our supporters, and underline for them that successes are possible. Today we review lessons from Tuesday’s Climate Advocacy Lab webinar on the timely topic of hope and empowerment.
Psychologists use the term “efficacy” to refer to the beliefs people hold about the abilities they (and groups they are part of) possess to take action successfully and with the effect they desire. Efficacy beliefs have proven important predictors of many types of action taking, including climate and clean energy advocacy*, and experiments have shown that various types of messages (and even images of solar panels) can increase efficacy, and therefore action taking (or intentions to act)—a process in which feelings of hope play a role.
Efficacy comes in several flavors. Here are suggestions about how (and how not) to increase each kind of efficacy in your supporters.

Since we can’t rely on simply communicating scientific information* to win over everyone on climate change, finding ways to tell compelling stories and appeal to deeply held values is key. This week we highlight tips from Climate Access on storytelling as a means to activate core audiences, and look at the research on narrative communication.