combat climate change Archives | Global Warming is Real

Climate impacts: now and future projections

Infographic: Climate Impacts

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Thomas Schueneman | 0 Comments

Climate impacts – assessing the global outlook of climate change 2015 marks an important milestone in the effort to combat climate change. It may seem like we’ve heard that refrain before, but with each passing year the reality of a changing climate becomes more apparent and immediate in the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, many of them the…

Connectedness and happiness are two of the five key psychological elements to a new climate change narrative

Forging a New Climate Change Narrative: Addressing 5 Psychological Realities

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Richard Matthews | 2 Comments

A new narrative that is designed to encourage action to combat climate change must acknowledge the abstract nature of global warming. First and foremost we need to address the fact that people are not rational actors. Perhaps the most cogent approach to managing the Herculean task of communicating with an inherently irrational public is to focus on a narrative that…

Facts and figures about climate will not change people's hearts

Why We Need a New Climate Change Narrative

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Richard Matthews | 2 Comments

We need new narratives to combat the pervasive popular and political inertia. Our old narratives are not working and may even lead to apathy and indifference. Despite the scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change we are not moving fast enough to change our perilous course. According to a 2013 Pew survey, only 69 percent of those surveyed accept the view…

A group inspired by Obama's climate speech

Reaction to President Obama’s Historic Georgetown University Speech

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Richard Matthews | 2 Comments

Despite what some detractors may say, the speech delivered by President Obama at Georgetown University will reverberate across America and around the world. June 25th, 2013 will be remembered as the day America committed itself to act domestically and lead globally on climate change. It is not overstating the case to say the President’s speech signals an end to the…

Will renewed public activism and presidential rhetoric lead to climate action?

Climate Action: Political Will and Popular Activism

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Richard Matthews | 3 Comments

A couple of factors are coming together to breathe new life into hopes for environmental action in the U.S. The combination of political will and renewed enviromental activism are lending support to the possibility that we may see unprecedented climate action in the U.S. over the next four years. At the start of his second term, President Obama’s bold inaugural…

How to engage U.S. conservatives on climate change - relate it to their own values and beliefs

Three Approaches to Engaging U.S. Climate Deniers

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Richard Matthews | 7 Comments

How do we reach the large minority of Americans that continue to resist the facts about climate change? One way to encourage behavior change may be to work within the belief system of climate deniers. We may even need to employ a communications strategy that ignores climate change altogether. There are a significant number of Americans who are not acting to…

Finding a moral imperative to fight climate change

How Morality Can Win the War on Climate Change

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Richard Matthews | 3 Comments

The climate movement must go beyond preaching economics and explaining science, we must create a moral imperative that compels us to act. To get people involved in the war on climate change we must weave environmental awareness into our codes of conduct. The reasons why more people are not demanding action on the environment is a glaring moral failing. If…