I’ve been taking the Climate Scientist, Katherine Hayoe’s advice and talking about aspects of Climate Change whenever an opportunity for dialogue arises (2018) . It’s still early in my studies so I’m finding that even seemingly simple messages can be complicated and, at least on the surface, appear contradictory. This makes for some interesting conversations. It can be challenging to talk about climate change without being seen as negative or dystopic. I’ve been noticing an increasing use of humour as an entry point to talking about the social aspects of climate change. I’ve been challenged having conversations about one of my key climate concerns, our society’s engrained car culture and the related GHG emissions problem. It’s a topic where people often have very strong opinions and negative emotions.
So, I was pleased to find this humorous video, The Best Tool For The Job, that demonstrates succinctly the power of humour to be both positive and educational. Research is showing that the use of video that combines scientific facts with music, narration, and visuals can increase the reach of climate messages (Ettinger et al, 2021). However, the aspect of humour is tricky, and I realize that this could also be experienced as insulting to people who are unable to make different personal transportation choices. While the use of humour can itself be complicated, with differing opinions about what constitutes suitability or good taste, it can provide hope by neutralizing the emotional charge and lightening the emotional burden of a crisis (Ridanpää, 2019). The therapeutic power of non-destructive humour was a nice surprise finding of my research into climate communication strategies. Our cohort found that sharing memes and YouTube videos during our academic discussions brought some lightness to the often-dark material that is foundational to studying the climate crisis. I have begun the communications design for an advocacy program that focusses on local actions that individuals can take to lower their GHG emissions through active transportation choices. While switching from transportation dependent on fossil fuel to electric options is getting a lot of positive attention for the impact on reducing GHG emissions, it is not without well placed criticism. In studying this problem, in the context of systems theory, I can see how the push towards electrification, and the related focus on the electrification of transportation, is creating a negative feedback loop for CO2 emissions and a positive feedback loop for car culture. It’s here where I see a leverage point that I might be able to influence, if only in a small way, through active transportation advocacy.
In the CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017, researchers found that only 100 companies were responsible for 70% of emissions since 1988 (CDP, 2017) so I hesitate to focus communication messaging on individual actions in concern of seeming to negate corporate responsibilities. I’m concerned that this might be construed as reinforcing a misplaced responsibility on the individual for GHG reduction while ignoring the disproportionate impact of corporations. However, I’m also aware that our culture needs to change.
Professor Tim Lenton, a co-author of a recent proposal for a special IPCC report on climate tipping points states “Our new work provides compelling evidence that the world must radically accelerate decarbonising the economy. To achieve that, we need to trigger positive social tipping points” (Carrington, Sep. 2022). Carrington, the author of the Guardian article, had previously written about these as important “a-ha moments” (Carrington, Feb. 2022). This inspired a conversation between myself and a colleague who subsequently shared a link to a podcast interviewing her former colleague, Vancouver’s City Engineer/General Manager of Engineering Services, who had been part of the team responsible for solutioning the transportation challenges that came with hosting the 2010 Olympics. The podcast, Lon LeClair on Challenges, Cost/Benefits, and ‘Aha’ Moments for Transportation in Vancouver, helped me to become more informed of local work being done in Vancouver that can facilitate a local social tipping point (Price, 2019). It’s a hopeful story about going up against car culture and winning and it inspired me in the way that only hopeful stories can.
Donella Meadows, author of Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, argues that “The only way to fix a system that is laid out wrong is to rebuild it, if you can” (2008, p. 7). In the podcast, Lon LeClair provides an example of this concept, with the example of the controversial decision to devote a car lane of the Burrard Bridge to pedestrians and cyclists. Because there was already a traffic backlog leading up to the bridge, people couldn’t envision anything other than the situation worsening. In the spirit of ‘rebuild it, if you can’, the City redesigned the intersection resulting in a minute of time savings for rush hour car traffic, despite losing the lane. This brings me back to my initial blog post, at the start of this program, where I envisioned becoming a leader and having the confidence to share a positive vision to inspire and guide others. Lon LeClair seems to me an excellent mentor in this area, an example of the leader that Meadows presents as someone who, through their own enlightenment, inspires others to join them in action (2008).
References
Bike is Best. 2021, May 8. The Best Tool For The Job. [YouTube Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ChTqII-Yk
Carrington, Damian. 2022, Sept. 8. World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/08/world-on-brink-five-climate-tipping-points-study-finds
Ettinger, J., Walton, P., Painter, J. & DiBlasi, T. 2021, Jan. 25. Climate of hope or doom and gloom? Testing the climate change hope vs. fear communications debate through online videos. Climatic Change 164, 1-19. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-021-02975-8
Griffin, Paul. 2017, July 10. CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017: 100 fossil fuel producers and nearly 1 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. The Carbon Majors Database. https://www.cdp.net/en/articles/media/new-report-shows-just-100-companies-are-source-of-over-70-of-emissions
Hayhoe, K. (2018). The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: Talk about it [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it?language=en
Meadows, D.H. (2008). Leverage Points – Places to Intervene. In D. Wright (ed.), Thinking in Systems: A Primer. London and Sterling, VA: Earthscan.
Price, Gordon. (Host). (2019, September 3). Lon LeClaire on Challenges, Cost/Benefits, and ‘Aha’ Moments for Transportation in Vancouver. [Audio podcast episode]. In The Viewpoint Vancouver. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/lon-laclaire-on-challenges-cost-benefits-and-aha/id1439130839?i=1000448468636
Ridanpää, J. (2019). Crisis events and the inter-scalar politics of humor. GeoJournal, 84(4), 901–915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-018-9900-5
Stroh, D.P., 2015. Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results”. Chelsea Green Publishing.