Climate Change Campaign

Transforming awareness into action

Context

Despite the growing awareness of climate change, many people feel overwhelmed, anxious, or powerless when faced with the constant warnings about environmental collapse. Traditional climate messaging often relies on fear, shocking statistics, long-term consequences, and melting ice (think the countless polar bear ads you’ve seen). All of this leads to emotional fatigue rather than action.

Challenge

How do we motivate people who already care about climate change to take meaningful action – without overwhelming them or triggering hopelessness?

Research

Fear-based climate change messaging can often backfire, especially when audiences already feel overwhelmed. However, if we frame climate change messaging through the lens of public health, we could see higher emotional relevance and reduce the political polarization around climate change. Why public health? The majority, if not most, cares about their own health (we hope you do, at least) and the health of their families.

Insight

When climate action is framed as protecting personal and community health – and broken into small actionable steps, people are more likely to feel empowered rather than paralyzed by fear and hopelessness.

Idea/Strategy

A social-first advertising campaign that connects climate change and its impact on everyday health - such as air quality, heat-related illness, long-term wellness, etc. Additionally, guiding people with actionable steps they can take to mitigate the effects of climate change.