Communicating Sustainability: The Power of Well-Constructed ...

This blog was written by Bruce Hull, professor in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech practicing social ecology. Learn more about Bruce at the bottom of the post!

Imagine seeing a dim light growing brighter, hearing distant rumbles of thunder, and smelling the bitter bite of creosote. How should you respond? It?s hard to know what to do if you don?t know you have a problem, but if you interpret the signals as an approaching train, you would quickly step off the tracks and live another day.

Sustainability is difficult to define, which makes it difficult to build consensus for action. We need people who can explain sustainability if we are to create and implement strategies to promote it.

Behind every successful social movement are people who help others see that change is needed. If trends hold, global warming, biodiversity decline, fisheries collapse, aquifer depletion, toxic body burdens, widening gap between rich and poor, and food riots, then sustainability is a problem that needs fixing. A social movement must be mobilized, the economy must be transformed, and a suite of resource-extending technologies must be invented and implemented. None of this will happen unless people see the problem that needs fixing.

Communication skills must be nurtured though higher education, especially in people that have expertise in the nuances of sustainability. And that requires universities to offer much more than the tried and tired curricula fillers of public speaking and technical writing.

We need storytellers, musicians, visual artists, website designers, video choreographers and others motivated to distill the complexities of sustainability into things felt and understood. We need graphics and analogies that help people understand and wrestle with these complexities. Most importantly, we need tools that help explore the difficult trade-offs and confusing uncertainties sustainability poses.

Wonderful resources exist to assist sustainability explainers. Randy Olson?s (credentialed scientist turned Hollywood director) Shifting Baselines provides inspirational examples of how to communicate complex ocean issues. Professional organizations such as the Ecological Society of America provide policy outreach and media training programs. Calls for reforms in university education are mounting. Communications programs such as NYU?s Explainer.net are responding, but reforms in sustainability science programs are needed as well.

Scientists debate about whether to engage in political debate with persuasive communication. To do so risks politicization and loss of objectivity. Scientists, so goes the argument, should only report the facts and thus need only technical writing and public speaking skills. I understand these concerns. Science, and the professions they support, claim neutrality and objectivity as justification for credibility. But sustainability is creating new challenges and a new context. Transformations to academic, scientific, professional education are needed, enhanced communication tools and strategies among them.

Note from Model Forest Policy Program
Our Climate Solutions University program provides excellent instruction from professionals in the field like Bruce Hull and Reverend Rich Cizik on how to effectively communication climate change issues and build support. We are now accepting applications for 2014 Climate Solutions University!

R. Bruce Hull, IV, Ph.D. is a professor in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech practicing social ecology. His work focuses on healing forests fractured by pressures of urbanization and globalization. He is author and editor of over 100 publications, including two books: Infinite Nature (Chicago 2006) and Restoring Nature (Island 2000). He serves on the editorial advisory board for Gale?s GREENR environmental and sustainability studies web portal. Check out more blog posts from Bruce here.

Source: http://www.mfpp.org/communicating-sustainability-the-power-of-well-constructed-messages-for-change/

chris cooley condoleezza rice bill cosby Perry Hall High School Hurricane Isaac 2012 bill nye Snooki Baby