Utah Phillips was a musician, a labor organizer, a story teller and a poet. Born in 1935, he spent part of his early life riding the rails. This quote of his is a favorite of mine. I believe it's a commencement address. It still rings true and is even [...]
I’ve seen dozens of climate and environmental campaigns over the last 10 years. Almost every one falls into the issues trap. It’s the tactic of fighting a climate or environmental problem with facts and reason, rather than calling out the underlying violation of our values and telling a story. [...]
Once again, Charlie Brown climate media and communicators are trying to kick Lucy’s proverbial football as she yanks it away. Right wing fossil fuel sponsored Lucy is the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Their football frame is blaming Texas power outages on frozen wind turbines and renewables. What [...]
The wife of a friend of mine died suddenly when she was 40. The mother of an eight-year-old, our daughters were the same age and shared an interest in horses. She was an English teacher, and we both loved books and reading. We’d escape parties to talk about what [...]
Maybe that sounds like hyperbole, but I’ll bet you had a visceral reaction of disgust to the word pus in the title? Why is that, and is there a role for disgust in our climate communications? Without going into the emotion of disgust too deeply, researchers believe it is [...]
Natural Gas, Fossil Gas, or Methane… Which Should We Use? Reality and truth should be bedrocks in climate communications, but what we believe often informs reality. Words influence these beliefs and thus our collective reality. Choose words that unconsciously activate the wrong neurons in the brains of our audience [...]
Folks, the coup attempt to overthrow our democracy on January 6th by Trump traitors is not over! Not by a long shot. The battle is now being waged in the words we use to describe what happened, and will determine what happens next. For those in the climate movement [...]
You remember the ones. The scene of the soldier hitchhiking though a blizzard to make it home for Christmas. His mother waiting, holding his worn photo in her hand and brushing it gently. The joy on her face as he enters her kitchen. Then the hug. Wait for it. [...]
As a climate champion, do you know how to use this one tip... a values sandwich, to get action on your climate projects? What’s a values sandwich, and how can it help our climate causes? This communication tip works just as well for Uncle Ralph at Thanksgiving as stopping [...]
I have a friend who wanted to get involved in the climate movement and wondered what organizations would be appropriate for his interests? I asked him some questions, one of which was… how would he describe himself? He answered, “Well, you know me. I’m no tree hugger.” Ouch. It’s [...]
