"The Psychology of Climate Change Communication"

Today, it seems hard to get people to understand the climate crisis, and if you can get them to comprehend it, it is still very hard to push them into action. In the booklet titled "The Psychology of Climate Change Communication," the author break down the art of getting the message across about the climate crisis. The Center for Research on Environmental Decisions separated its communications method into steps (Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, 2009). Here are the first four steps:

The first step is that you must know your audience. Using the concept of the mental model, you will be able to shape your audience's perception when delivering the message about the climate crisis (Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, 2009).

The second step is all about getting your audience's attention. When getting the audiences attention, you will work with framing. You will place an issue in a specific context to get the interpretation you want (Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, 2009). Framing helps to organize the main ideas of a crisis, and it helps people to understand that the crisis really is a problem. This step happens to be one of my favorites.

The third step is to translate the scientific data into a concrete experience. This translating process allows the audience to get a clearer understanding of the climate crisis by taking the discussion beyond scientific talk and digits (Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, 2009).

The fourth step is to be aware of the overuse of emotional appeals. This basically means to be careful of how much emphasis you put into making your audience worry about the climate crisis because if they are overwhelmed with personal worries, they may put the concern of the climate issues on the back burner (Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, 2009).

"Do the Right Thing"

Recently, I have been learning a lot about doing the right thing in the profession of public relations. In the book "Do the Right Thing: PR Tips for a Skeptical Public" by James Hoggan with Richard D. Littlemore, there are three guidelines concerning doing the right thing. Those guidelines, known as the Hoggan approach, are to do the right thing, be seen to be doing the right thing, and lastly, don't get the first and second rule mixed up (Hoggan, 2009).

Hoggan's guidelines remind me of the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill crisis and how BP's PR department has been handling the matter. One idea that BP put into play was a commercial starring Tony Hayward, BP's former CEO, walking the beach and apologizing. It seems as if Hayward was trying to do the right thing by apologizing and being seen to be doing the right thing by airing the commercial. According to the Los Angeles Times, quite a few people gave Hayward sympathy.

The commercials that BP has been airing lately seems to be a strategy to gain back credibility. But in Hoggan's book "Do the Right Thing," he says that you gain the best credibility when you are not reacting to an event (Hoggan, 2009). Hoggan insists that you must be transparent, and many may argue that transparency was not displayed by BP concerning the oil spill.

I like the part in "Do the Right Thing" where Hoggan wrote "I noticed that when people did the right thing, when they stepped up quickly, acknowledging a problem, posing a solution, and setting out a plan to be sure that a crisis would not recur, things almost always got better" (Hoggan, 2009).

By examining the BP oil spill crisis and how BP handled it, I am reminded of the importance of honesty and expedience. In chapter 16 of "Do the Right Thing," one paragraph boldly teaches that you should not bury bad news because it will start to stink.