As climate change is perceived (or experienced) to be more proximate, people are more likely to take political action. A survey experiment of Californians found an 11% increase in climate activism (message writing to policymakers) among respondents who were primed with messages emphasizing the temporal and physical proximity of climate vs. the placebo group.

Research findings suggest that climate organizers should: 

• Frame climate change in a way that reduces psychological distance by using the present tense and talking about it as issue that is happening "here and now"
• Avoid overly-negative messages which can de-motivate action by reducing efficacy
• Focus on the concrete actions that will help solve the problem

This guide explores how disruptive crises (like the COVID-19 pandemic or climate-fueled extreme weather events) have profound impacts on societal mindsets. They can cause us to deconstruct narratives (“working from home does not work”), set new norms (“we don’t let our child play with other children anymore”), shape new identities "I feel like a victim"), establish new values: (“we shall sacrifice to save others” – universalism) or build up emotions (the rise in hedonism, fear, loneliness or gratitude). After a disruption has impacted individual mindsets, societies negotiate renewed collective mindsets, i.e. narratives, norms and values, through collective sense-making processes. This happens through diverse, mostly unstructured communication ranging from political discourse to social media chatter.

Research-based recommendations for organizers and advocates include:

• Use the "disorientation phase" following an emergency experience to introduce and amplify radically new stories that reestablish meanings. 
• Use sensing activities, observation, and scenario planning to speed up the "re-orientation phase," including proposing and evaluating possible post-crisis trajectories.
• Match their messages of change to existing crisis experiences and strategically create experiences that reinforce the mindset change they want to create.

Increasing education around low-carbon diets (e.g., vegetarianism) is important for encouraging that type of behavioral shift. Using ad-based data from Facebook, the researchers analyzed individuals’ interest in vegetarianism and sustainable living across 61 countries. They find that across countries education is the main determinant of interest in vegetarian diets. While raising awareness about these diets is not a direct measure of educational attainment, the researchers conclude that raising awareness about sustainable consumption is a good step. Women are also more likely to be interested in low-carbon diets, as are younger individuals. Practitioners who aim to increase the adoption of low-carbon diets should consider these factors when developing initiative and policies.             

Gamification is a viable way to get people engaged on climate change. This review of 64 research papers on the impact of various climate games and gamification found that they are generally having a positive effect. Whether the games are digital or analog, they tend to make participants less fatalistic about climate change and more motivated to take climate action. For example, games where players interact with peers often result in increased optimism about local and international cooperation to address climate change.             

To create pro-environmental behavior change, use targeted messages that activate one of three basic values: concern for other humans, for equality, and for other living things. This resource reviews the research on these three values as motivators of sustainable behavior and provides concrete recommendations for how to activate them:
• To activate prosociality, or concern for humans, emphasize climate change’s harm to future generations.
• To activate egalitarianism, or concern about equality, emphasize climate change’s harm to those suffering the most (and who often have contributed the least to climate change), such as people living in hot and vulnerable climates.
• To activate concern about animals, emphasize climate change’s harm to animal life. Research shows that this even works when discussing harm to insects!             

Two core ways that movement organizations can build and wield “strategic capacity” are by (1) continuously learning about what tactics have worked and which haven’t and (2) re-organize or adapt its resources to new challenges and opportunities. “Strategic capacity” is the ability of an organization to make decisions with uncertain information about how to deploy its resources to achieve a goal. Democratic governance structures within organizations can be especially key in building and deploying strategic capacity. This report delves into much more detail about each of these components and describes a few organization case studies, such as of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Dakota Access Pipeline protests, and 38 Degrees. A secondary attached report provides guidance on how an organization can execute a process to evaluate its own strategic capacity.          

Consider using virtual reality to convey the reality of sea-level rise. In three coastal communities, VR simulations of sea-level rise were found to do a better job than conventional maps in helping people visualize projected impacts. Residents familiar with the locations had especially strong emotional reactions to the images shown during the simulations. This study also finds that it is important to involve local residents in the planning and promotion of virtual reality simulations of sea-level rise.             

When drumming up support for a movement, remind people of their moral identity - that is, the extent to which they feel that moral traits (such as being fair, caring, and kind) are important to who they are as a person. This survey study finds that the strength of an individual's moral identity is significantly associated with their support for an emerging youth climate movement, Fridays4Future. However, given that this study uses a convenience sample of German adults and focuses on a highly polarizing social movement in Europe, caution should be taken when generalizing this result to the U.S.             

Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) is the section of the Paris Agreement that urges countries to "increase public understanding, build capacity, and empower people to participate in creative decision-making and behavioral change." This article reflects on the state of climate action in the US and offers suggestions for the how we might equitably co-create and implement a national climate action strategy. The authors call for an interdisciplinary approach that recognizes the importance of climate science, decision science, and social science, as well as effective communication through writing and design work. They also argue that a national climate action strategy would help to guide financial investments in climate education, communication, and organizing and create mechanisms for identifying and sharing the attributes of successful community-based and regional climate initiatives.