Values as a route to widening public concern about climate change

Abstract

An understanding of the relationship between human values and public expression of social and environmental concern leads to several insights of importance to communicators working on climate change. In the first instance, communicators working on climate change should pay careful attention to the values that are implicit in these communications, if they are to avoid the danger of inadvertently undermining public concern about climate change. But research on values also suggests that public support for policies to mitigate, or adapt to, climate change will be importantly influenced by communications that are apparently unrelated to climate change. It is not therefore sufficient for practitioners communicating on climate change to focus narrowly on analysing and influencing public discourse about climate change. Rather, steps must be taken to situate work on climate change communication in the context of wider aspects of public discourse. There are many opportunities for organisations that have no formal remit to communicate on climate change (and that may prefer for various reasons not to communicate directly on climate change) to nonetheless support public discourse in other areas of public debate, and in ways that are likely to contribute to building public concern about climate change. As one example, an understanding of values is helping to inform a project in Greater Manchester, run collaboratively by Manchester Museum and Common Cause Foundation.