Communication & Engagement

Communications scientists and experts have spent decades studying how to help people better understand the impacts of climate change and feel empowered to take action. Below are a few recommended resources on climate change communications as well as on public engagement. 

Resources:
1. How We Respond Toolkit by AAAS
2. Rare - Eight Principles for Climate Communications 
3. Communicating Climate Change Podcast 
4. Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. 
5. Yale Project on Climate Communication 
6. Katherine Hayhoe’s website 
7. ecoAmerica 
8. Bold Bison Guide to Communicating Climate Change 
9. People, place, purpose. Case studies of public engagement on climate change.
10. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guide for engaging with the public concerning environmental concerns and decisions.

Basic principles of public engagement with climate adaptation:

Public engagement enables everyone to participate in environmental and civic decisions in a meaningful and productive way. Climate adaptation is evolving and dynamic, requiring an interactive and continuous process among scientists, practitioners and the public. Municipal officials, planners, and the public need to be informed about current scientific and municipal planning information in order to understand, respond to, and prepare for the effects of climate change.

Involving the public in climate change science and policy is crucial for citizen understanding and partnership in adaptation. Scientists and municipal officials need to be able to translate complex scientific concerns about climate risk, risk analysis, and adaptation in a way that can be understood by non-experts so that the public can be informed and active in concerns that affect them.

Engaging the public can take many forms, from providing information to providing input into decision making. Decades of research and municipal experiences with public participation suggest that differences in the degree of power and influence among those involved can undermine even the best-intentioned process into frustrating and non-productive ends.

In order for public participation to be constructive, it is important to:
• be clear about the goals and processes of the engagement
• adapt the engagement strategy to the context of the issue and stakeholders
• include the public as early and often as possible
• adapt the communication strategy to evolving dynamics
• be inclusive and equitable across citizen demographics, knowledge, influence and values
• inform and engage to contribute to mutual respect and understanding
• enable consensus versus confrontation
• support long-term relationships between agencies and stakeholders

When public engagement is done successfully, it can improve the quality of decision-making, increase legitimacy of decisions for stakeholders, and increase the likelihood that decisions will be implemented. Additional readings and links about public participation are provided below.

References:
-Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) and ecoAmerica. (2014). Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication. NY and Washington, DC.
-Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of planners, 35(4), 216-224.
-Few, Roger, Brown, Katrina, Tompkins, Emma. (2005). Public participation and climate change adaptation
-Rowe, G., & Frewer, L. J. (2000). Public participation methods: A framework for evaluation. Science, technology & human values, 25(1), 3-29