Assignment 2: Climate Content – Analysis
In 2012, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador launched the Turn Back the Tide campaign. It was a three-year public awareness campaign aimed at providing information about climate change and energy efficiency, as well as, to help facilitate action (Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2015). The main platform for the campaign was a website that hosted specific Newfoundland and Labrador information and resources. The focus of this paper is on the “Climate Change is Here” video that can be viewed directly on the tools and resources section of the Turn Back the Tide website or on their YouTube channel, TurnBackTheTide NL.
First, I will determine who the intended audience is for the ‘Climate Change is Here’ video. Secondly, I will identify three communication techniques that the video uses to inspire climate action. Lastly, I will provide an analysis of how successful or unsuccessful the video exhibits the identified techniques.
Audience
As Canada’s eastern most province, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is home to just over a half million people with the majority of the population concentrated on the Avalon Peninsula (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, n.d.). NL has some urban centres but consists mainly of rural communities, and the majority of the Labrador region has an Indigenous population. It is also important to note that NL has an aging population with an average age of 47 (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, n.d.).
The Turn Back the Tide campaign is aimed specifically at the residents of the province (Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2015, p. 17). As stated previously, the main hub for the Turn Back the Tide campaign was its webpage. However, it also created a social media presence on Facebook to ensure a larger viewership was directed to the campaign website (Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2015). The Turn Back the Tide Facebook page has 1,664 likes and 1,683 people following the page (Turn Back the Tide, n.d.). The video being analyzed has not been uploaded to the video section of Facebook. However, it was featured in a post on the Facebook page. There is also a YouTube Channel, TurnBackTheTide NL, that was created and features the ‘Climate Change is Here’ video.
Techniques
Framing The Storyline for The Audience
Most of the class readings support the notion that by knowing who your audience is, you can tailor your storyline to ensure engagement. A script that can emphasize how climate change issues are connected to the audiences’ values, shifting beliefs from an environmental matter to a human matter, will help motivate action (Maibach et al., 2011). Hodson (2019) concluded individuals are influenced at multiple levels of relationships or interactions. Therefore, including messages that would appeal to individuals, families, communities, nationally, and internationally would be more beneficial. Message attributes such as highlighting local impacts, specific adaptation advice, and negative emotive content can also have an impact on whether someone will engage in climate action as Hines et al. (2016) experiment confirmed. Dupar et al.’s (2019) practitioner’s guide also supports the idea of framing messages by giving tips to appeal to specific audiences.
Localized Storytelling to Inspire Mitigative Action
Maibach et al. (2011) indicated localized climate change framing creates a personal connection with the audience, thereby linking climate change with risks to their communities. Hine et al. (2016) found that highlighting local impacts of climate change would inspire those who are dismissive (do not believe in climate change, that it is human-caused, or a threat) into action. Also, using peer messengers that have personal stories of impacts can establish trust and encourage action (Armstrong et al., 2018; Dubar et al., 2019).
Usage Of Communication Visuals to Impact the Audience
The visuals that coincide with the localized storytelling will have a greater emotional impact on the audience, strengthen key messages, and bring out a willingness to work together (Dubar et al., 2019; Maibach et al., 2011).
Analysis
Framing The Storyline for the Audience
The Turn Back the Tide campaign is clear that the audience is Newfoundlanders and Labradorians (Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2015). The storyline of the ‘Climate Change is Here’ video took a logical linear approach and reinforces key messages with its script, messengers, and visuals (Maibach et al., 2011). In the beginning, it focused on changing attitudes towards climate change– climate deniers to believers (Hodson, 2019) and that it is a human problem (Maibach et al., 2011). It used catchphrases such as ‘not a problem’ and ‘it can’t be here’ before providing localized evidence that it is here, and humans are the cause by wasting energy. The second part of the story focused on climate change education in a global sense without information overload (Hodson, 2019) – what causes it, why it is warming, and impacts on the planet in layman terms. The third section brings the viewer back to the impacts that are being seen in NL by providing narratives and visuals (Hine et al., 2016). The fourth part of the video focuses on encouraging residents to take action through statements like ‘ignoring it, it’s gonna get worse’, ‘there are solutions’, and ‘it’s not too late’ while providing examples of actions to take (Duplar et al., 2019). The video ends with affirmations that it starts at home and ‘together we can make a difference’ (Moser, 2016). Overall, I believe that the framing of the storyline script, along with visuals, provides just enough information and examples to inspire climate action from Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Localized Storytelling to Inspire Mitigative Action
Though the audience is clear, the population is diverse in nature and spread throughout a large landmass meaning the video could be more relevant if it focused on specific NL populations and/or specific areas such as rural, urban, Indigenous, other minority populations, Labrador, West coast, Avalon, etc. For instance, some specific populations do not see hydroelectric dams as good renewable energy source (Mercer et al., 2018) therefore showing this example within the video could have negative consequences. Also, different regions of NL will have different impacts and therefore, different areas of concern. Nevertheless, the video does include valuable localized storytelling aspects.
There are ten messengers (actors/actresses) featured in the video who are from different demographics. I believe they were specifically chosen to be representatives from across NL to bring that local feel – young, old, men, women, and minority representatives. These peer messengers each gave short personal statements of impacts that provoke emotion and appeals to common values, such as the little girl’s statement ‘pop’s wharf gone!’ (Moser, 2016; Dupar et al., 2019). Using messengers from different walks of life can also increase the longevity of the video since the audience could continue to recognize themselves as they go through their lives. Being able to see the layman be transformed from a denier of climate change to a believer, and to commit to climate action, inspires people to become better humans (Moser, 2016) – if they can do it so can I.
Another way that the video localizes the storytelling is by the pictures and clips of NL that are spread throughout the video. As the messenger provides short statements about impacts or solutions, the video inserts localized pictures or clips of what they are stating such as the flooding scene (Macibach et al., 2011; Dupar et al., 2019). This spurs an emotional connection and motivates people to act. Overall, the video does have many aspects making it NL specific.
Usage Of Communication Visuals to Impact the Audience
The ‘Climate Change is Here’ video uses numerous communication visuals to provoke thought and provide impact. The use of black and white clips of the messengers and the color for the pictures/clips of climate impacts and solutions indicated the significance, convey the seriousness of the situation, and makes the message memorable (Maibach et al., 2011; Dupar et al., 2019).
Another way that the visuals make an impact on the audience is the timing and supporting pictures or clips as the story unfolds, such as the list of impacts in NL was followed with clips of storm surges, rising sea levels, floods. It draws on emotion, appeals to the audiences’ values of responsibility, family, community, etc. (Moser, 2016). One such visual that stood out to me is the little girl stating ‘pops wharf gone’ with the supporting clip of the wood floating in the ocean. This spurred a vast array of emotions for me such as comradery, sadness, and urgency because it happened to my dad’s wharf, located in my favorite spot in the world.
Another technique that the developers used was text on pictures to convey critical messaging. The texts are ‘think again’, ‘climate change is here’, it all wastes energy’, and ‘turnbackthetide.ca’. Again, this is used to make the message memorable and impactful.
Even the background music helps portray the seriousness of climate change messaging and the need for action now. The video starts off with a low slow tempo, increasing during the climate change education and NL impacts sections (second and third parts), and returns to the slow tempo during the solution discussion. The background music, like the imagery, also generates dramatic emotions, mood, and meaning. Overall, I believe the video has used numerous visuals to provoke emotions ensuring the messaging is memorable and inspiring Newfoundlanders and Labradorians into action.
Conclusion
The Turn Back the Tide campaign video, ‘Climate Change is Here’ effectively frames the climate change storyline to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians by taking a logical linear approach to developing key messages supported by NL-specific examples. The key messages are further entrenched into the audience’s mind using various emotional visuals to inspire climate action within the province. I believe that the ‘Climate Change is Here’ video is a great promotional and thought-provoking NL broad video. The Turn Back the Tide campaign could have invested in regional-specific educational materials to inspire more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians into action.
References
Armstrong, A. K., Schuldt, J. P., & Krasny, M. E. (2018). Communicating climate change: A guide for educators. Cornell University Press. https://cornellopen.org/9781501730795/communicating-climate-change/
Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment. (2016). Turn back the tide. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. https://www.turnbackthetide.ca/home.shtml
Dupar, M., McNamara, L., & Pacha, M. (2019). Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guide. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Communicating%20climate%20change_Insights%20from%20CDKNs%20experience.pdf
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. (n.d.). Population Projections — Demographic Overview. https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/pop-overview/
Hine, D. W., Phillips, W. J., Cooksey, R., Reser, J. P., Nunn, P., Marks, A. D., Loi, N. M. & Watt, S. E. (2016). Preaching to different choirs: How to motivate dismissive, uncommitted, and alarmed audiences to adapt to climate change? Global Environmental Change, 36, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.11.002
Hodson, J. (2019). An ecological model of climate marketing: A conceptual framework for understanding climate science related attitude and behavior change. Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1), 1625101. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1625101
Maibach, E., Nisbet, M., & Weathers, M. (2011). Conveying the human implications of climate change: A climate change communication primer for public health professionals. George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Climate-Communication-Primer-for-Public-Health-Professionals-1.pdf
Mercer, N., Parker, P., Martin, D., & Hudson, A. (2018, October). ‘4RIGHT’ community energy planning in NunatuKavut, Labrador: Preliminary research findings. NunatuKavut Community Council. https://nunatukavut.ca/site/uploads/2019/06/community-energy-planning-in-nunatukavut.pdf
Moser, S. C. (2016). Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st century: What more is there to say? WIREs Climate Change, 7, 345-369. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.403
Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (2015). Turn Back the Tide campaign evaluation. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. https://www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/files/publications-turn-back-the-tide-evaluation.pdf
TurnBackTheTide NL. (2012, September 17). Climate change is here. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_9PSBNZ3Q
Turn Back the Tide. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Received October 20, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/TurnBackTheTide/?ref=page_internal