Climate storytelling: How to spread the word in a time of denial

“There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation around, particularly coming out of the United States. There are a lot of policies being reversed.”

These were among the comments made by Irish Times Environment and Science Editor Kevin O’Sullivan when he appeared as a panellist at a special climate storytelling event co-hosted by the Earth Institute and Athena Media in Dublin last week.

His remarks came just days before (opens in a new window)US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of the country’s senior military leaders during a meeting at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, in which he called for an end to ‘climate change worship’ among the armed forces and described the issue as a distraction.

While talk of climate change on the other side of the Atlantic is seemingly being stamped out by leadership, those attending last week’s Telling Climate Stories; Inspiring Public Conversations event in the Museum of Literature Ireland wanted nothing more than to hear how to spread the word.

Moderated by journalist and broadcaster Ella McSweeney, the panel also featured nature poet Jane Clarke, podcaster and biodiversity officer Ricky Whelan, and Dr Treasa De Loughry, Assistant Professor at UCD School of English, Drama and Film.

As well as misinformation and disinformation, climate denialism is also “reasserting itself”, Mr O’Sullivan told the audience. Moreover, this is all set to the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s reversal of the progress on clean energy made by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Renewable energy project installations had been soaring in the US during the previous administration. Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay

“He’s scuppering big renewable energy projects which is, economically, hard to reconcile,” Mr O’Sullivan added.

Closer to home, Jane Clarke explained that for her, getting the climate change message out in the right way can lead to positive change. “What you want to do is make people care,”  she said. “I also think we need space for talking about loss and fear and I believe that the more we can express those emotions through stories, through poetry, that out of that hope comes. Out of that, the willingness to take risks to make change comes.”

Ricky Whelan, meanwhile, revealed that he has spent much of his career both telling and listening to stories. On bringing messages around climate change and biodiversity to those who are not always receptive, he said: “It’s all about being dynamic and pivoting when you need to and getting across all levels of society and different groups. It’s a challenge – not everyone is getting the message and not everyone is accepting the message but we keep trying.”

Funding the arts and journalism is vital to spreading the word, said Earth Institute member Dr Treasa De Loughry, adding that sharing local, familiar stories is essential for public buy-in. “For this to happen, we need very good resourcing  of the arts and this is something that I think could be really transformative in terms of climate stories and broader community attitudinal change.”

She also highlighted the need for more climate stories from different genres and media: “This includes traditional literary forms like the novel, short stories, poems but also TV shows, films, podcasts – whatever way those narratives can spread out into the world to reach as wide an audience as possible.

“The important thing is that these messages don’t tend towards the alarmist and that they’re accurate in terms of their messaging – that they’re not spreading disinformation.”

You can listen back to the full conversation (opens in a new window)here