This is a great opportunity for climate communicators.<\/strong><\/p>\n Background:<\/u><\/p>\n In 2004, Naomi Oreskes published The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change<\/a><\/em><\/span>, <\/em>in which she established the substantive \u201cscientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change.\u201d The paper was widely cited, including in the Academy-award winning movie An Inconvenient Truth.<\/em><\/p>\n Several years went by. CO2 emissions continued their upward trend.<\/p>\n A team of scientists led by John Cook decided to revisit Oreskes\u2019s findings and provide an update. After examining 21 years of published papers and over 12,000 abstracts, in 2013 Cook et al. published Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature<\/a><\/em><\/span>. The conclusion: 97% of scientists agree.<\/p>\n Cook\u2019s paper went viral, in the manner of an academic paper with nine authors and twenty-three references; as I write, it has been downloaded 862,789 times. An advertising director named Matt Birdoff, of SJI in New York, proposed a pro-bono social-media campaign: The Consensus Project<\/a><\/span>. \u201cMatt\u2019s website was terrific, and it was helpful in raising awareness of the paper.\u201d Cook says. \u201cAn AP journalist wrote about it, and President Obama tweeted a link to the article. I\u2019m thinking, that\u2019s a big deal!\u201d<\/p>\n But then, the 97% Consensus balloon popped.<\/p>\n In the world of climate solutions, which is populated with world-class heroes and also villains, you\u2019re onto something powerful when the trolls come out and the deniers kick in. And so it went for Cook: \u201c\u2019The Lie of the Century!\u2019<\/a><\/span> read one especially virulent headline. Cook decided to refute the noisy (and unfounded) claims. \u201cI got together six of the other consensus people, my heroes [Oreskes, Ed Maibach, and four others], and we co-authored a rebuttal to say, We agree with each other<\/em>.\u201d \u201cThe Consensus on the Consensus\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/span> was published in 2016:<\/p>\n \u201cWe examine the available studies and conclude that the finding of 97% consensus in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies.\u201d<\/p>\n The other 2 or 3%? As HBO\u2019s John Oliver says<\/a><\/span>, Who cares? This is a fact, not an opinion! The science is settled. A consensus has been identified, confirmed\u00a0 and re-confirmed. Danger is upon us. Now the question is what to do about it.<\/p>\n Giants of contemporary communications have seized on the 97% consensus: John Oliver<\/a><\/span> is one. Jimmy Kimmel<\/a><\/span> (\u201cThe planet is going out of business!) is another. David Fenton is a third.<\/p>\n Fenton\u2019s advertising firm has created a quick, brilliant video called The Dentists<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Opening scene: a dentist peers into his patient\u2019s mouth and shakes his head before giving the bad news. Voiceover: \u201cIf 97% of dentists told you a tooth couldn\u2019t be saved, you\u2019d pull that tooth.\u201d Cue the dreaded whirring sound of a dentist\u2019s drill.<\/p>\n Next: zoom into two construction engineers in hard hats. \u201cAnd if 97 percent of all engineers told you your house was unstable, you\u2019d move.\u201d Cut to a nice house \u2014 crashing to smithereens as the cliff below it crumbles.<\/p>\n Third scene: airline employees advising passengers not to board the plane.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dentists<\/em> did really well,\u201d Fenton told me. \u201cOff the charts.\u201d Pause. \u201cEven with skeptics.\u201d The Dentists<\/em> was funded by The Partnership for Responsible Growth<\/a><\/span>, a seasoned, bi-partisan group advocating for a price on carbon and focused on Capitol Hill policy-makers.<\/p>\n Like the Consensus Project campaign, The Dentists utilizes best practices of climate communications:<\/p>\n Sadly, the ad was aired for only one week, and in only one market (Washington, D.C.).<\/p>\n Ed Maibach<\/span> is the founding director of the George Mason University Climate Communications Center, a Six Americas<\/a><\/span> collaborator, and a Trusted Messenger expert. His communications mantra: \u201csimple clear messages, repeated often, by a variety of trusted sources.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0The corollary: \u201cmake the behaviors we are promoting easy, fun and popular.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n The Dentists<\/em> satisfies these requirements. It\u2019s a simple message, repeated in a fun way by three sets of trusted sources. It\u2019s easy to watch, and it\u2019s short. Is it popular? It will be when more people see it! According to Maibach, it will be more effective as it is repeated<\/em>. Which is exactly what a 30-second spot is designed to do on television. \u201cMessage repetition works best when many different messengers repeat the same set of messages, consistently, over time.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/igs\/files\/2018\/11\/Secondary-Image-for-Sarahs-Blog-344x636.png\")
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