Climate Change Needs a Mind Change.

According to a recent Pew Research study, 75% of Americans think climate change is an important issue.  How important you ask?  Stunningly, it’s last on a list of 20 compelling issues, far behind terrorism and the economy. The reasons seem simple enough. Bombs exploding and banks imploding have immediate impact. Rising temperatures and shrinking icebergs do not. It will probably take Nevada becoming beachfront before climate change moves to the top of the list.

It seems these issues are not so far removed from other messages in the green world that we have written so much about. The issue of global scale and not personal scale.  In other words, if “What’s in it for me?” is not in the message as an immediate takeaway, most people won’t take away its importance. 

So much anti-reality messaging is flying around today, from Obama’s supposed death panels to the town hall fiascos of people screaming that they don’t want the government involved in their Medicare, that no one knows what to believe any more. 

Environmental Leader just reported on makers of artificial rayon clothing who are selling themselves as bamboo. Their headline read, ”FTC Charges Clothing Firms with ‘Bamboo-zling’ the Public.”  A line, by the way, I wish I had written. What’s so sad is that real change can’t take place when people think what’s really happening isn’t happening to them. It means that all of us in the green world had better do everything we can to tell the story and tell the truth, and make sure that the story gets told in ways that are meaningful and impactful to their audience.   

My advice: Make every word count. And if you can’t figure out how to do that then please hire someone who does. We cannot allow the words, green or eco-friendly or environmentally safe, to go the way of “low-carb” and “natural”.  We can’t allow the lack of information or misinformation to help glaze over the eyes of the public who will do what’s right if they know why and how. We need to make the green movement the road back to sanity, economic as well as environmental.  We need to tell the world that switching to energy efficient light bulbs not only saves energy but saves money. Wal-Mart saved more than $7 million last year alone with that one act.

If you’re a marketer of a green product, put the real and rational reasons on top of your list. We don’t only have to deal with climate change, we have to deal with mind change and priority change if we want to see real change, or pretty soon we’ll all be surfing in Las Vegas and that will be a wipe-out for all of us.

Irv

Bookmark to: