Principle 9: Combine Hope with Actions
When provided with engaging stories that convey hope, people are more likely to take action. Narratives have unique persuasive power. People who are confident their actions will have an effect are more likely to feel motivated to act.
As psychologist Jerome Bruner (1991) argued, “Our experience of human affairs comes to take the form of the narratives we use in telling about them.” Indeed, some argue that the human capacity for the creation of meaning depends on narrative (Jensen 2016). Narratives can reduce counterarguing and psychological reactance (Moyer-Gusé and Nabi 2010). A meta-analysis of fourteen studies found that “a single narrative message has a stronger persuasive impact than a non-narrative message on attitudes and intentions at immediate as well as on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors at delayed measurement” (Oschatz and Marker 2020).
Engagement is unlikely unless individuals feel that “they can do something about the problem, and that it is worth doing something” (Howell 2011). Exposure to efficacy information indirectly increases hope and thus a willingness to participate—even, in some cases, among conservatives (Feldman and Hart 2016). An online experiment showed that “after a single exposure to a news story, stories including positive internal efficacy content increased perceived internal efficacy.” At the same time, “Perceived internal, external, and response efficacy all offered unique, positive associations with intentions to engage in climate change–related political participation” (Feldman and Hart 2016). Confidence that one is able to do what is necessary to take action is a key motivator of science-consistent environmental behaviors (Lam and Chen 2006).
The climate science:
“Climate change is intensifying the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions” (IPCC 2021).
Example 1: Deploying a problem-solution narrative structure—Good Morning America
In a May 20, 2021, segment of Good Morning America, ABC Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee told the story of the nineteenth-century Church of the Virgin of Dolores in central Mexico that had been underwater for thirty years. By design, the area was flooded to create a reservoir and a dam, but now in the dry season the church breaches the surface. Zee’s story vivifies a change across time with the emerging church as a symbol of the emerging drought in Mexico and the ongoing drought in the Western United States. “Last year the water level was so low that people could walk through the church on the ground for the first time in four decades,” Zee says. “Many reservoirs are at their lowest historic points” (Good Morning America 2021).
Using a problem-solution narrative structure, the segment also points to responsive action. “Human caused factors have made what would have been bad, ‘megadrought bad,’” says an expert who then demonstrates how those who work in “water-precarious environments” are installing harvesting systems that capture and treat rainwater. “Such a system can provide between 40 and 80% of a house’s water needs,” adds the expert. “The problem is shared; I hope the solution will be shared” (Good Morning America 2021). Zee notes that this, coupled with using less water, is something everyone can do now.
The segment also notes, integrating facts that show relationships to other phenomena, “The size of fires in any given year has increased by over 100 percent” (Good Morning America 2021).
“Lake Tahoe [is] now a foot below last year,” says Zee (Good Morning America 2021). Establishing that the emerging church in Mexico and the drop in the water level of Lake Tahoe are not atypical instances, data about climate change appear on screen.
The need:
Increase the scale and scope of engaging journalism that demonstrates solutions in a fashion that engenders hope and, with it, action at the local, national, and international levels.