The language of climate change: ‘It’s really hard to fight an abstract concept’

Climate change is becoming part of our everyday conversation because it is affecting us directly. More and more, we are able to see and feel the frightening effects, such as increasingly hotter temperatures, warmer sea, out-of-control fires, and more extreme weather events.

As a language and ideas professional, I am interested in how climate change is spoken and written about. There seem to be two main issues. The first is the concern that many of the most important concepts are abstract and inaccessible to the non-expert. For example, it is difficult to picture decarbonization or net zero.

Some communication specialists are doing a very good job of tackling this, to make the concept more vivid and literal. One such person is John Marshall, founder and CEO of non-profit the Potential Energy Coalition. Just four years’ old, the coalition is the joining of ‘creative, media and analytic agencies’ who ‘….believe that climate change is a human problem, not a political one’ and aim to ‘shift the narrative on climate change’. I first came across him while listening to the excellent climate change podcast Outrage and Optimism. In the episode entitled ‘How to talk about climate change so people will listen’ (22 June 2023), the hosts discuss with Marshall how to help people understand the issues, which are often not intuitive, and engage audiences of the kind who don’t wake up and say ‘wow, this is a great day for decarbonization.’ The focus is on humanizing the conversation, based on the three tenets of ‘simplicity, humanity and accountability.’ Simplicity involves scrapping the big scientific words; humanity is having a person in it and ‘talk[ing] about how that person is being affected.’ Humanizing the conversation and taking it out of the conceptual terms are proven to be way more effective. Accountability, of course, is about knowing and owning the consequences of our actions. ‘I don’t think the concept of fighting climate change means that much to people. Talk rather about fighting the pollution and the polluters who are causing climate change’, says Marshall. The best thing is to make it a pollution issue.

If you have the time, it is worth a listen because the conversation moves on to how to counter the effective negative narrative around ESG investing. Indeed, the same principles of simplicity, humanity and accountability apply.

Another really effective communicator who talks passionately about the language of climate change is ‘Activist & Pioneer in Progressive Communications’ David Fenton. He says: ‘People think in existing mental circuits or frames. The frame of “pollution” results in people saying “that isn’t good.” The frame of “climate change” often signals conflict, controversy and confusion.’ This is a clear chime with the above.

The second language issue is the accuracy of terminology – even the big words that are central in the science discourse of climate change. In this excellent article in Scientific American entitled ‘The right words are crucial to solving climate change’ (February 2023), journalist Susan Joy Hassol stresses the importance of ‘speaking to people’s priorities.’ She talks about the political and ideological polarization (particularly evident in the US and other English-speaking countries) and how this is reflected in language. One whole paragraph deserves to be quoted:

Some of the language problems we face in presenting this story are inadvertent and innocent, such as how scientists use jargon and think the facts speak for themselves. Others are intentional and insidious, such as the well-funded disinformation campaign led by the fossil-fuel industry that is meant to confuse, obfuscate and mislead.

I work mainly with professionals, academics and post-graduate students in different areas of climate change research. They fall into the category of those who are more likely to create ‘inadvertent and innocent language problems.’ I deeply respect the work that they do, and I enjoy the challenge of helping them communicate their worthy findings and ideas to optimal effect.