Climate content: September 24th issue of the Zero Carbon newsletter from Canada’s National Observer
Reference: Hatch, C. (September 24th, 2021). Zero carbon newsletter: 5 ways the election changed climate politics. Canada’s National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters/zero-carbon/2021/09/24/5-ways-election-changed-climate-politics
Access: Open access
Intended audience
- Adults
- English-speaking Canadians
- Those already engaged with and informed about climate policy and action in Canada; those looking to stay up-to-date on climate policy and action in Canada
- The newsletter uses this quote in its introduction: “We’re exploring the climate crisis in Canada and around the world. The latest news. What’s working? What’s holding us back? What to do about it and how to talk about it (sometimes even how to think about it)” (Hatch, n.d., para. 2). This suggests some expected prior interest in or engagement with the subject of climate change. The fact that the main way people would receive the newsletter is by signing up via email also suggests that the audience is seeking climate news, rather than passively coming across it as part of their general news consumption.
Climate communication techniques assessed
- Target the needs of the intended audience to make the content as relevant as possible; use language and terms that are appropriate to the intended audience (Dupar et al., 2019).
- Use narratives to increase engagement (Hodson, 2019; Moser, 2016), trust (Bayer and Hettinger, 2019), and action (Moser, 2016).
- Ensure content is easy to access and redistribute (Dupar et al., 2019).
- Use images appropriate for the intended audience (Dupar et al., 2019; Hodson, 2019).
Analysis
This newsletter by Chris Hatch in Canada’s National Observer is sent out to subscribers on a weekly basis. It is comprised of one main article that provides analysis and insight into a current piece of climate news, a number of short summaries about other pieces of climate news, and a list of links for further reading. For this particular issue of the newsletter, the main article is about the climate policies and politics that Canadians can potentially expect – or hope for – from the newly elected federal government. There are a number of climate communications techniques used to varying degrees of success throughout this newsletter; four of these will be examined in detail below.
Targeting the needs of the intended audience is an important part of climate communications (Dupar et al., 2019). Specifically, using language that is more or less technical, based on the audience’s level of literacy with the subject at hand, can help ensure climate communications are optimized (Dupar et al., 2019). This newsletter is largely successful in doing so, in most part by using language that meets the readers where they are. Generally, terms are explained where necessary, but readers are expected to have basic climate policy literacy. As such, some technical terms are not explained or expanded upon. For example, the term COP26 is used without providing an explanation of what it stands for (26th annual Conference of the Parties) or what it means (it is the upcoming annual UN climate change conference). In this case, it is reasonable to expect that the average reader will have a basic foundation of climate policy knowledge, and an explanation is not necessary. However, if an explainer article was available through Canada’s National Observer, it would make sense to link to the article for anyone that may be seeking clarity or more information on the term. On the other hand, some terms that are less widely recognized and understood are briefly explained to provide aid to readers who may not be aware of their definitions. For example, the newsletter mentions the term zero-emission vehicle standard and then provides a one-sentence explanation.
While the vocabulary and use of technical language is mostly appropriate for the intended audience, there is one example of a section that is overly technical, and could be better explained. In the short news piece titled China won’t fund new coal plants… abroad, there are several references to gigawatts of coal capacity being planned or under expansion. I believe that most people do not have a good sense of what a gigawatt of energy is, even if they are informed about climate policy. In this case, it would be useful to provide a concrete, real-world example of how much capacity this is. For example, what number of households could be powered by this amount of coal capacity? In summary, using language appropriate for the intended audience is an important climate communications tool. Next, I will explore the use of that language to create stories, or narratives.
The use of narratives is another important climate communications technique (Hodson, 2019; Moser, 2016). Narratives are employed in a minor way in this newsletter. Information is largely provided in the style of traditional news media. This is not surprising, given it is published by a digital news media site and aims to provide climate information to climate-savvy readers. The newsletter does include a short story about a record-breaking cross-country trip made by electric vehicle. This is a light, feel-good piece that the author decided to use to end the newsletter. However, I would argue that there is roon for more narratives, or stories, in this newsletter. Story is widely known to increase audience engagement in climate communication (Hodson, 2019; Moser, 2016). It can also build credibility and trust within a relationship (Bayer and Hettinger, 2019); in this case, the credibility and trust would accrue to the author and the publisher. The author could add in short vignettes of people’s experiences as they relate to the news at hand. For example, the author could add in a narrative about people’s reactions to the election results, with reference to climate. Additionally, in the section of short summaries of news-worthy climate pieces, the author could make an effort to include more solutions-based narratives. In fact, providing options or ideas for climate-based actions is an important part of climate communications (Moser, 2016). For example, there could be a short summary piece about a successful mitigation or adaptation measure implemented by a Canadian city or community. While it would not be appropriate for narrative to overtake the analysis and news in this newsletter, the use of short narratives has the potential to increase reader engagement, trust, and action.
The third technique I will explore is that of ensuring ease of access and shareability. Climate content should be easy to access and to redistribute (Dupar et al., 2019). The newsletter performs well by this metric. Initially, it is sent to subscribers’ inboxes. As noted above, these are people who are already engaged in reading about climate policy and action. Sending the newsletter by email makes it accessible for those already subscribed; however, it also makes the newsletter easy to share within subscribers’ networks via email forwarding. The newsletter is also available online through Canada’s National Observer’s website for those who do not want to – or have not yet – signed up to receive it via email. This increases the accessibility and the number of potential readers. Lastly, there are buttons at the bottom of the website-based version of the newsletter that allow for sharing on Twitter and Facebook. This way, if a reader finds the newsletter interesting, they can share it to their social media networks. If possible, it might be worth adding this option on the emailed newsletter, as well, to increase the number of people sharing it via social media. The various platforms on which the newsletter can be read and shared mean that it is easy to access and to redistribute, providing the potential for increased readership.
The last climate communication technique that I will analyse is the use of visuals. Climate communication can be most effective when it includes compelling visual imagery that is appropriate for the intended audience (Dupar et al., 2019; Hodson, 2019). In this case, a few photographs are used to complement the text. The images add an element of visual appeal, but do not add to the information being provided in the text. I believe that the use of imagery in this issue of the newsletter is appropriate. Because it has a wide lens and is not an in-depth analysis of a specific topic there is not a need for visuals that provide more information or contextualization, such as graphs or tables. More photographs could be added but they may make the newsletter seem longer and more cumbersome (and, perhaps they would render the emailed version difficult to load for those with slower internet connections). I would also argue that more visuals are not needed in order to attract the attention of readers; those who subscribe to the newsletter already intend to read it. The technique used here, which includes adding a few photographs for appeal but not over-crowding the text with unnecessary visuals, seems to strike a good balance.
In conclusion, this issue of the Zero Carbon newsletter generally does a good job of catering to its intended audience. It uses language that is appropriate for its readers, it is easy to access and to share, and it uses limited imagery (but does not need more, in this case). This issue of the newsletter does use some storytelling, but there is room for more narrative to increase audience engagement, trust, and action.
References
Bayer, S., & Hettinger, A. (2019). Storytelling: A natural tool to weave the threads of science and community together. Bulletin of the ecological society of America, 100(2), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.1542
Dupar, M., with McNamara, L. & Pacha, M. (2019). Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guide. Cape Town: Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Communicating%20climate%20change_Insights%20from%20CDKNs%20experience.pdf
Hatch, C. (n.d.). Zero carbon newsletter homepage. Canada’s National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters/zero-carbon
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), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1625101
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 Clim Change, 7(3), 345-369. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.403