CLIMATE DESTRUCTION: HOW MARKETING CAN HELP REFOCUS PUBLIC AWARENESS
The global environmental crisis is intensified by a global crisis in communication
By Ken Carbone. Published on February 02, 2022. AdAge
The New York Times recently published outstanding coverage on the increased global threat of climate change. I applaud this effort, especially when the editors dare to caption the lead photo “Disaster at Last.”
However, early in an editorial accompanying the coverage, there's a familiar claim: “To flourish, we absolutely must do one thing, and that is to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels—a point beyond which, scientists believe, lie the worst consequences of climate change.”
As a communications and branding specialist, this is where I become combustible.
The science is accurate, yet it sounds abstract, incremental and distant to the general public. The same is true for the term “climate change,” a dangerously passive way of describing the existential threat to life on Earth. This description conveniently diverts responsibility away from the actual cause—the billions of inhabitants (me included) that enjoy all the trappings of a Western lifestyle without recognizing the natural consequences of our comfort. Curiously, the new end of the world film by Adam McKay, “Don't Look Up,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, reflects this reality and feels more like a documentary than a dark comedy.