The Strategy and Language of the Gas Stove Culture Wars So you want to “ban” gas stoves? A firestorm erupted in January over the pollution of gas stoves. As climate activists, we reacted without a solid strategy and without testing the language we are using. Consequently, we may lose [...]
“We can no longer tolerate Republican’s bankrupt delay on climate.” Do you get an image or feeling on the quality of their delay from this sentence? If we want our ideas to spread, we must use words that create images and feelings and connect them to stories and narratives [...]
Let’s say we wake up and find out that Jackalope are going extinct because they are being eaten by Bigfoot. After all, they are a favorite delicacy of Bigfoot. What do we do? We probably start a Save the Jackalope campaign... of course. We have to make people aware [...]
It’s possible. If your campaign isn’t boring, then don’t read this. But boring can be deadly. We live in an attention-based economy. 1000 messages a day compete for our attention and we respond to buzzes, rings, and the crisis of the minute, to say nothing of commercials of fat [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
(Photo by Angus Mordant/www.angusmordant.com ) If you are a climate activist, or care about what happens to the earth or environment, then read this carefully. Our democracy is on the endangered species list. It is dying. And when it does, there will be no hope for the climate, ourselves, or [...]
There is a great deal of worry around the election. That the election will be fair and that your vote will be counted. That the election won’t be stolen in some way. For us to achieve these goals requires a strategy as well as consistent messaging. The two are [...]
We Need to Pivot to Our Own. I am giving testimony to an administrative law judge on the impact of climate change on Minnesota crops, and why we shouldn’t allow a dirty tar sands pipeline to be built in our state. There are three hundred people in the room. [...]
