Newsletter #26
Persuadables | Homes | Unnatural disasters
Hi folks,
Happy Solstice / Midsummer / Alban Hefin / Litha! 🌞
This week we’ve been thinking about what happens beyond the election. We’re looking forward to our next community session in July, which will hold space to explore some of the narrative implications of whatever happens on the 4th, after the dust has settled.
In the meantime, best of luck to anyone at London Climate Week next week, and to all those involved in efforts to help make elections work for people and planet.
Shared in solidarity
Session
Collective Sensemaking
July 11th | 12:00-13:00 BST | Online
For our next community session, we’ll be holding space to reflect on the narrative implications of the election result for the rest of the year and beyond. We’ll be exploring what kind of narrative work will be required to encourage a trajectory towards caring, just and regenerative worlds.
🗳️ Election 🗳️
Strategic guide: Speaking to Persuadables during the general election
Ellie Malpas; ACT Climate Labs
69% of the general population are ‘persuadable’. To reach and engage them, when climate is not top of the agenda, we need to “understand as much as we can from their perspective”. This piece explores Persuadables’ relationship with the general election, and outlines “how we can better engage with them on climate change at such a crucial time.” It focuses on: “What’s going on? (What factors during this intense campaign period influence their support of climate action?)”; “Who’s involved? Four segments to look out for this election period”; and “Tips for engaging with the Persuadables this year. Depending on their attitude towards politics.” Also see.
#insight #narrativestrategy
📝 See here
Reform Voters and Net Zero
Climate Barometer
With Reform now overtaking the Conservatives, it is increasingly important to understand what is driving them and their supporters. “Even without representation at Westminster, Reform could shape the conversation on net zero if the mainstream parties pivot in response to Reform’s rhetoric, deepening the risk of climate change being used as a ‘wedge issue’… In contrast to supporters of all other parties, Reform voters express clear opposition to net zero policies. 70% say they oppose the target of net zero emissions by 2050, with 52% strongly opposing it. And 72% believe that people who campaign on climate change are ‘out of touch with most of the country’.”
#insight
Shares
Key: 📋 Report | 📝 Article
Impact Storytelling: the Ecosystem, the Evidence and Possible Futures
AKO Storytelling Institute
An extensive new report, “designed to help answer some big questions, like: what is the ‘impact storytelling’ ecosystem? Who are the key players? What evidence is there that impact storytelling works? What are the gaps, and where should we be focusing our attention next?” It finds that “there is an abundance of energy, work, research, expertise and experimentation happening across the UK in this early-stage ecosystem. And it’s only just beginning. This ecosystem of storytellers is, as strategist Liz Manne puts it, ready to ‘go to the next level’ – to collaborate more, learn from each other, and accelerate our growth and impact to meet the scale of the challenges we face.”
#narrativestrategy
Talking about our Homes, our Health and the Climate Crisis
NEON, Medact
Five messaging principles to “support health workers communicating about the relationship between our homes and health in order to advocate for a better housing and energy system to tackle the climate crisis.” (This is a live document that we will continue to update over time). Also see a related guide making the case for social homes, focusing on “how our insecure, unsafe and unaffordable housing system puts so many people’s physical and mental health at risk.”
#narrativestrategy #messaging
Collective Caregiving: A Frame for Talking About What Kids and Families Need to Thrive
FrameWorks Institute (US)
“If we want to build demand for communities, environments, and systems that allow each and every child to thrive, we will need a bigger and better narrative about what it means to care for kids. In this brief you will find an overview of a new framing strategy for building support for kids–focused on collective caregiving–along with three recommendations for putting the strategy into practice. Each recommendation includes specific tips and examples of what it looks like.”
#narrativestrategy #messaging
📋 See here
Unnatural Disasters – Communications Guide
Potential Energy (US)
“‘Attribution’ is a complicated science, and it can be tricky to articulate the precise impact of climate change… while people are increasingly noticing that the weather is changing, they don’t always connect the dots to climate change (in fact, half believe the changes to be “natural”)… In our message testing, a platform grounded in the notion of “unnatural disasters” boosted support for action on climate change by 10 p.p. overall (12 p.p. with Republicans and 8 p.p. with Democrats).”
#narrativestrategy #framing
Reimagining Advertising
Purpose Disruptors, RSA, King’s College
What happens when you ask leaders of the advertising industry to “redirect its super powers towards the greater good of the people and planet”? A cohort of 12 changemakers from diverse parts of the advertising ecosystem… gathered to participate in a 6-month process… embodying systems thinking, futures thinking and imagination practices, to help align visions of the future with actions in the present… What became clear is that nobody needs a new framework. Instead what emerged as the primary need at this point in time was the requirement to invest in people and give them the space to connect, collaborate, create and challenge the status quo in a safe space.”
#issuenarrative #tactics
📋 See here
The System Within
Jamie Bristow; Club Of Rome
An introduction to a paper co-authored with Rosie Bell, Christine Wamsler, Tomas Björkman, Phoebe Tickell, Julia Kim and Otto Scharmer as a complement to Earth 4 All, to address the “lack of attention to the psychological and cultural dimension of systems.” They argue that “inner factors are fundamental to global crises and the approaches we require…”Transformative change must involve a dual approach: shifting the visible, external structures of society and the invisible, internal landscapes of the human mind and heart.” Also consider the gut. Full paper here.
#deepnarrative #tactics
Confronting Fascism in the Final Stage of the Life-Cycle of Industrial Civilisation
Nafeez M Ahmed; Age Of Transformation
“When we look at the rise of the global far-right through a systems lens, we can recognise it as a symptom of crisis and collapse - as well as the potential for renewal. Today, humanity stands at a political inflection point in which the only viable path forward involves total transformation… The rising state of popular disillusionment is growing not simply because of ‘dissatisfaction’ with the status quo, but more profoundly because of the escalating crisis of civilisation that is afflicting our civilisation’s material-technological infrastructure whose symptoms mainstream politics is unable to address… because the heart of this crisis is our relationship with the natural world, as mediated via our consumption of energy.” Also see.
#insight #tactics
Events & Jobs
Key: 🗓️ Event | 💼 Job
How to Talk about a Wellbeing Economy
Wellbeing Economy Alliance | June 20th, 16:00 BST | Online
“Join us for a deep dive on how to talk about the Wellbeing Economy. In today's world, where our extractive economic system is pushing our planet and our wellbeing to the brink, knowing how to advocate for a wellbeing economy is critical in shifting us towards an economic system that is in service of life. This event will equip you with the narratives and frameworks necessary to articulate why we need an economy designed to serve people and planet.”
Facing Denials & Unlearning our Colonial Habits of Being
Azul Duque; Becoming Crew | June 25th | 18:00-20:00 (paid)
“What if the systems that create our sense of prosperity and that give us hope, enjoyment and a sense of safety are both inherently violent and unsustainable? Facing the magnitude of the task of enabling a world without violent and unsustainable relations requires more than a change of values, narratives, convictions or protocols: it requires an interruption of conscious and unconscious harmful desires hidden behind promises of entitlements and securities that people hold on to, particularly when they are afraid of pain, loss, scarcity and belittlement. In this session we will set the bases for the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures pedagogy: we will explore diffractive tools to hold multiplicity, social cartographies as navigation tools to find ways of moving in spaces of volatility, ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty, as well as visibilize the denials that uphold the violent system(s) both within and around us.” Use the code INTER10 for 10% off.
The Hollywood Climate Summit
June 25-28 (US) | Online
“The Hollywood Climate Summit organizes year-round, high energy convenings and creative labs for multi-sector media professionals to level up their climate knowledge, spark collaborations, deepen intersectional values, showcase innovation, and lead a cultural movement of sustained impact and climate action.”
Imagination Infrastructures: The Role of Imagination in Times of Collapse
JRF Emerging Futures | July 2nd, 12.00-20.00 BST | Online
“This year's theme, the Role of Imagination in Times of Collapse, brings to the center the spirit of creativity through the wisdom of thought leaders, cutting-edge perspectives, and new visions in service of life for emerging worlds. We welcome you to join us at the 3rd Imagination Infrastructure, curated by Alixa García and hosted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.”
Senior Director, Global Climate Strategy
Purpose
“Purpose is seeking an innovative and entrepreneurial Senior Director to join our team and build our Global Climate Strategy. The person in this role will be leading the charge on revenue generation to directly support our Climate Action strategy. As a Senior Director, they will play the role of Principal on projects with Purpose’s largest philanthropic and corporate partners, be a thought leader in the future of our offerings across our client portfolio, and identify, nurture and deliver new funding and partnerships aligned with our climate strategy.”
Quotes
(This selection of quotes is intended as a resource, in the hope that they may be useful for your own communications.)
“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with. It matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with. It matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” – Donna Haraway
"The emergency of our situation does not call for the manic techno-narcissistic death dance of trying to “fix” the world. It calls for slowing down. For sitting next to the pool. And looking into the water." – Sophie Strand
“The work of decoloniality is not about knowing the answers; it is about staying with the tensions of not-knowing long enough to be changed by them.” – Bayo Akomolefe
“The land is our Mother, so when we lose value for the land…people lose value for the women.” – Vanessa Gray (Aamjiwnaang First Nation)
“We educate the gut, so that the heart can be filled with the message, motivation, direction and vision that the Earth provides through the umbilical cord for the head to follow.” – Dean Inu Huni Kui
Thanks for joining us, see you here again in two weeks.
A reminder that if you have something that you’d love to see in these newsletters, or work you’d like to share in the community sessions, or if you have any feedback, please reach out at inter-narratives@greenfunders.org
Very best,
Paddy & Ella