Thursday, January 22, 2009
Room: MC2-800, Time 12:00-1:30pm Event Description:
This seminar examined various opportunities for and challenges of effectively communicating the social dimensions of climate change from the perspectives of a varied panel of film-makers, journalists, academics and World Bank Group staff.
The seminar began with a formal presentation by Edward Cameron, climate change specialist, who briefly framed the World Bank’s Social Dimensions of Climate Change program agenda and conveyed the discussion on best strategies to communicate the social dimensions of climate change. The presentation was followed by the lively discussion among the panel and audience.
| One of the key points raised in the session was the role of communication in facilitating dialogue among stakeholders and improving understanding of climate change and its social impacts. Since climate change has recently “become a human history”, there is great need for a new narrative.
The panelists focused on the importance of the audience. Many agreed that targeting different types of audience and understanding what audience is receptive to are key issues to communicate an effective message.
Edward Maibach, Director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, said that concerning climate change he divides the American public into six different categories, each of which expects to hear a different message. The simpler and shorter the message, the better communication is, he adds. In order to have effective communication, there would be a need for clear and achievable objectives. Thus, objectives should drive and contribute to communicating the message of the Social Dimensions of Climate Change.
Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post’s correspondent, shared the difficulty in targeting the audience on such a difficult topic as climate change. On the other hand, Lisa Friedman, Deputy Editor of “Climate Wire,” said it was easier for her in terms of communicating the message since the audience is supposedly already acquainted with climate change-related topics.
Gillian Caldwell, Campaign Director of 1 Sky Campaign, said that there was already a critical mass of people who were climate change-sensitive (politicians, activists, environmentalists, policy-makers etc.). The main objective would | | | |
be to target these people with better communication and awareness campaign rather than try to convince or inform the skeptics.
One of the comments raised by the audience was to engage in public awareness campaigns and sensitize stakeholders without waiting for the long process of new treaties being ratified and implemented. To have effective communication, Caldwell recommended the field of climate change to be expanded beyond the “environmental” sector and to broaden it to social sciences as the Social Dimensions of Climate Change team is doing. Mathieu Mazza, a Washington-based videographer, focused on the power of images to convey an effective message. The aim was to gather “visual” results that would prove the effects of climate change upon societies. Footages should to be dynamic, simple, with music, and make the viewer sympathetic to the message.
Panelists:
Gillian Caldwell, Campaign Director of 1Sky Campaign
Gillian Caldwell is a film-maker and an attorney with thirty years of experience advocating for social justice in the United States and around the world. Before joining 1Sky Gillian spent ten years as Executive Director of WITNESS, which uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. During this time Gillian led helped produce numerous documentary videos for use in advocacy. Under her leadership, WITNESS was also honored with numerous awards, including most recently the NY Times Award for Excellence in Communications (2007), Skoll Social Entrepreneurship Award (2005-Present), and Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Award (2000). She is also co-editor and author of a book called Video for Change: A Guide to Advocacy and Activism (2005). Edward Cameron, Consultant, World Bank
Edward Cameron is a specialist in climate change, sustainable development, and governance reform. He is currently employed as a Consultant at the Social Development Department of the World Bank, where he is contributing to an emerging work program looking at the social dimensions of climate change. Prior to joining the Bank, Edward served as Senior Advisor to the Government of the Maldives, a role that involved preparing the Maldives Foreign Ministry’s climate change strategy and leading the international initiative entitled “the human dimension of global climate change. He has also served as Director of the European Regions Research and Innovation Network; Senior Consultant to the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign; Director of European Commission DG Environment’s Environmental Governance Initiative; and as a European Commission TAIEX expert on environment. Juliet Eilperin, Correspondent, Washington Post
Juliet Eilperin has years of experience communicating climate change to a political audience and are well respected journalists on Capitol Hill. In March 1998 she joined The Washington Post as its House of Representatives reporter, where she covered the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and four national congressional campaigns. Since April of 2004 she has covered the environment for the national desk, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including climate change, oceans, and air quality. Lisa Friedman, Deputy Editor, Climate Wire
Lisa Friedman is Deputy Editor of Climate Wire, a web-based daily that covers climate policy and its effects on business, the environment and society. She previously served as Washington Bureau Chief for the Oakland Tribune and later the Los Angeles Daily News, covering everything from immigration to intellectual property rights. Edward Maibach, Director of the Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University
Edward Maibach is a highly experienced public health and social change professional in the field of communication. His work over the past 25 years has helped define the fields of public health communication and social marketing, and his book, Designing Health Messages: Approaches from Communication Theory and Public Health Practice, is widely used by academics and practitioners alike. Mathieu Mazza, President, NewsGroup Communications
Mathieu Mazza is a Washington-based videographer and has shot and produced award-winning documentaries and television series that have aired on the History Channel, Planete, PBS National and on networks in more than twenty countries. Some of his recent productions include “On this Island,” an Emmy nominated show that aired on PBS’s Independent Lens Series in Spring 2003, “415 M,” a MUSE-nominated short doc that is on a year-long exhibit in Washington DC’s City Museum. NewsGroup clients include the World Bank Group, Reuters Television, APTN, CBC, MTV, Entertainment Tonight and the State Department, for whom he covered the Afghan refugee story at the beginning of the Afghan war. Eric Roston, Author of the Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat
Eric Roston is a science writer and author of the Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat. The book, based on three years of research has been included in the Boston Globe’s list of the most-anticipated books of 2008. Eric serves as a Senior Associate in the Washington, DC office of The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. Previously, he wrote for TIME, in its Washington bureau, where he covered economics, politics and technology. An eyewitness to the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Roston was a part of the reporting team that won a National Magazine Award for best single-issue coverage. Presentation:
 Edward Cameron's Powerpoint Presentation (PDF)
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