This piece by World Economic Forum posted by UN Biodiversity gets it right when it comes to climate communications. It starts with the important grim facts of biodiversity loss — human activity is destroying biodiversity faster than in the last 10 million years, over 1 million species face extinction, 80% of threatened species are impacted by our activity, and we’ve degraded 40% of the land. Then it pivots to 5 solutions that improve our lives, save nature, create 117 million jobs, and generate $3.015 trillion dollars by 2030:
1)Higher-density urban development to free up land for agriculture and nature — $665 billion; 3 million jobs
2)Architecture with nature, not just humans, at the core of the design to benefit us and other species — $935 billion; 38 million jobs
3)Utilities that effectively manage air, water, and solid waste pollution in cities — $670 billion; 42 million jobs
4)Nature-based solutions for infrastructure like wetlands, forests, and floodplains to manage the impacts of rain, wind, and storms — $160 billion; 4 million jobs
5)Incorporating nature such as wildlife corridors into infrastructure — $585 billion; 29 million jobs
Total: $3.105 trillion; 117 million jobs
Tell me another set of policies that produces that much revenue and that many jobs. There isn’t one. Line up the investors for this unicorn deal. Which politicians are turning down this set of policies with these societal benefits? Those who won’t be elected. This is the power of effective climate storytelling about solutions and their benefits. These are stories that change the world. Tell them. Make them.
As climate communicators, we can’t drop audiences off at the abyss and leave them there. We can’t just be storytellers; we must be storymakers and solutioneers if we want to be part of the web of humanity that weaves a healthier, more joyful, peaceful, and sustainable world into existence. This is a lot to ask of my inspiring and beloved climate communications colleagues who are already doing so much. But I’m asking us to do more because the world needs us now more than ever.
You wanted to be a writer, journalist, filmmaker, or video game creator. You hadn’t planned on becoming a product developer, systems designer, policy maker, and community organizer. That wasn’t the deal. I know. The deal changed. The world changed. We have to change.
There’s a Hopi proverb that says, “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” As the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, Steve Jobs said “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. They set the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation.”
This is the mantle we have to take up. We have to tell stories about solutions that clearly communicate their benefits. Then we lead our audiences into the trenches to collectively roll up our sleeves and get the work done using the empathy and compassion in our hands, hearts, minds, and spirits to build a better world for all beings.
Christa Avampato 