BURNING BARRIERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNICATION

YVETTE WILEYMUSCOGEE CREEK NATION

Typical Barriers Fatalism and Fear Lack of hope. Five Stages of Grief/’Climate Denial”

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance Well funded denial campaign Education Marketing the messageWhat about the individual? What about an individuals culture and life views?

Cultural Cognition Culture is prior to facts in the sense that what

people believe is based from their cultural worldviews.

Based on anthropologist, Mary Douglas’s work in Purity and Danger, (1966) and her Risk and Culture, (1982) co-authored with Aaron Wildavsky.

Culture, not in the sense of our tribal culture, but based on overlapping psychological mechanisms that individuals accept or reject a belief system, or empirical claims based on their vision of a ‘good society’.

Human beings form social order, groups and groups within groups.

Humans have a need to identify themselves with a group, or sub-group. i.e., Bullrider Dancer Academia Athlete Hunter/Fisherman Religious Preference Many, many more……..

People feel most comfortable around those whom they identify with and share common beliefs. Their ‘micro-communities.

This concept of the Group/Grid and worldview is based on where an individual’s nature tends to fall on the Group/Grid.

GROUP: Individualistic: A ‘low group’ social order

where individuals are expected to secure their own needs without collective assistance.

Solidarist/Communitarian: A ‘high group’ that contrasts, where collective needs trump individual initiative, and society is expected to secure the conditions of individual flourishing.

Grid

Hierarchical: A ‘high grid’ worldview favors a society where resources, opportunities, duties, rights, political offices and the like are distributed on the basis of conspicuous and fixed social characteristics----gender, race, class, lineage.

Egalitarian: A ‘low grid’ worldview favors a society that emphatically denies that social characteristics should matter in how resources, opportunities, duties and the like are distributed.

Group/Grid Crosses Demographics

The Group/Grid concept and where an individual tends to be on the group/grid crosses most demographics on their perception of risk and worldview.

Education levels Ethnicity Financial Status Gender

Barriers! How do we get our message across? Fear Tactics?

Climate Change sounds like Armageddon.

We’ve Seen the Scientific Data

HOCKEY STICK ARCTIC MELT

What’s Wrong with our Message?JOPLIN TORNADOAPRIL 2011

SHISHMAREF, ALASKA

Armageddon vs. Hope

A New Climate Messagewith HOPE

Make it Visual Make it Local Make it Desirable

VISUAL Create pictures in the ‘mind’s eye’

Can your counsel person or tribal citizen draw the image you’re trying to sell?

LOCALpffffft! We’re NDN. We’ve got this one covered.

DESIRABLE This is the hardest one How do we make a future that looks like

Armageddon desirable? How do we convince necessary change that may

adversely affect our culture? It’s not all about reducing emissions. That’s big. Bigger than our communities, our

reservations, our homes.

Vision Choice Plan Action

VISION Salesman’s Job Create a Vision that Sizzles with Desire Sell the Desire It’s the Sizzle that sells; Not the dead cow on the

plate.

CHOICE

Armageddon or Hope? Sell the hope of an improved community. Cleaner water means more fish; Safe swimming Energy efficient homes means less money spent

on utilities; reduces emissions; improves air quality.

Improving our waste management means less methane emissions; less varmints and vectors; more aesthetically pleasing environment.

PLAN

Talk to your tribal leaders Get the spark or interest of your tribal leaders. When the door cracks……bust it open Think about what will work for your tribe; your

reservation; your culture. Do you know what you’ll be doing in 2030? 2050” Didn’t think so. Keep your plan on a reasonable

time scale; Five years.

ACTION

Funding the Cost of Change Uggggggg!! Incorporate everything Solid Waste Water Energy Grants Air Quality

Communicate Collaborate Cooperate

We don’t have to go tit for tat on the science of climate change.

The data is there Remember the Group/Grid personalities Some people are less able or unwilling to accept

bad news. “Bury your head in the sand and make it go away” These are the folks that need to visualize hope.

IN YOUR MESSAGE………SELL THE HOPE

Questions and References

www.culturalcognition.netwww.climateaccess.orgwww.futerra.co.uk

Yvette WileyMuscogee Creek NationOffice of Environmental Servicesywiley@muscogeenation-nsn.gov