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“Children, be worried when they call you America’s most valuable natural resource.”

2021-03-03T16:43:47+00:00March 2nd, 2021|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Environmental Messaging|

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 [...]

Do I Smell a New Methane Gas Frame Being Created?

2023-02-15T17:58:53+00:00January 29th, 2021|Actions You Can Take, Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Environmental Messaging|

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 [...]

The Coup Attempt is Not Over! Climate Champions – Let’s Pay Attention To Our Words.

2021-01-16T17:16:39+00:00January 13th, 2021|Climate Change Denial and Misinformation, Climate Communications, Climate politics, Language|

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 [...]

What Happens To Our Climate When Democracy Dies? (And what we can do about it.)

2020-11-26T19:39:34+00:00November 23rd, 2020|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Environmental Messaging|

(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 [...]

Our Strategy and Messaging Around the Election – Count Every Vote!

2020-10-30T15:35:19+00:00October 29th, 2020|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Framing|

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 [...]

Climate Activists: Are You Stuck Fighting the Dominant Narratives?

2022-01-16T18:49:51+00:00July 30th, 2020|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Environmental Messaging|

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 [...]

The Language of this Moment in the Streets Will Cause Us to Succeed or Fail

2020-06-20T15:30:16+00:00June 11th, 2020|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Environmental Messaging|

Black Lives Matter! I can't breathe. George Floyd. No justice/no peace. Defund the police. Protestors. Looters. Riots. Law and order. Activism is not terrorism. Movements and causes rise and fall based on the language they use. Not only the current events, but the climate and environmental movements as well. [...]

Climate Strategy – Are We Ignoring Rural America?

2020-01-15T18:56:13+00:00January 14th, 2020|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Climate Strategy, Reasons for Acting|

I have a friend who grew up in rural Minnesota. His favorite expression is, “You can’t put a duck bill on a beaver and call it a platypus.” This aphorism pretty much sums up urban thinking about rural America. We try to make it something it isn’t, and then [...]

What If Climate Could Unify America and the World?

2019-10-21T13:20:33+00:00October 21st, 2019|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Environmental Messaging, Reasons for Acting|

Thank you for the work you do on climate. You are part of the solution to the biggest challenge ever faced by humankind. Future generations will look back and ask, how did you have the courage to put aside your differences and work together in the face of incredible [...]

Why We Blame Children for Marching on the Climate Crisis

2019-10-11T17:50:54+00:00October 11th, 2019|Climate Communications, Climate politics, Environmental Messaging|

She’s young enough to add ½ to her age; 5 and ½. She’s tired. It’s been a long day. Her name is Sol, the youngest of my grandkids. She has trouble with her “L’s” and tells me that she’s going to trade in their old family Nissan for a [...]

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