2011: A New Message Strategy for Climate Change?

In 1974, a small sandbar island about 2 miles across was discovered in the Bay of Bengal.  In March of 2010 it disappeared.  Oceanographers say the island’s demise is a demonstration of melting icecaps and rising sea levels at work.  Studies reveal sea levels in this part of the Bay of Bengal are rising faster than in the previous 15 years, 5mm a year by some accounts.

In 2010, climate skeptics gave the idea of rising global temperatures a beating. Climategate gave critics plenty of fodder to call climate change “the greatest deception in history.” The leaked emails from climate research scientists being held up as “smoking guns” were misrepresented by global-warming skeptics eager to find evidence of a conspiracy.  Even without that misrepresentation, there remains ample evidence (such as the small island in the Bay of Bengal) that the earth is getting warmer.

In 2011, the shadow of Climategate still looms and climate change proponents are realizing pure research isn’t enough to sway public and political opinion.  Neither is openly engaging with adversaries.  To make any meaningful reduction in global temperatures, carbon reduction advocates have to gain the political will strong enough to persuade the world’s largest industrial nations to work together.  For this to happen, the leaders of these countries have got to feel pressure that their jobs are on the line if they don’t sign meaningful agreements and make lasting reductions.

This pressure comes from us, the voters who put many of those leaders into place.  Most of us don’t live in places like Bangladesh, where rising sea levels are swallowing up islands.  So many of us know there’s a problem, but action doesn’t seem a priority.  It’s only when something impacts our day to day personal lives do many of us take notice.

Here are Technica, I encourage people to share their stories, communicate and build awareness.  This can be done through networking, speaking, social media, and media coverage. There is a tipping point in regards to climate change, but it will only come about when many millions of people can no longer ignore it’s effects and demand their leaders step up and seriously take on the challenge.