Talk.Eco

  • About
  • Updates
  • Resources
    • Guides
    • Reports
  • Contact
  • About
  • Updates
  • Resources
    • Guides
    • Reports
  • Contact

Talk.Eco

Resources for Environmental Communicators

Talk.Eco
  • Guides

Common Cause for Nature: A practical guide to values and frames in conservation

by talk.eco · Published January 1, 2013 · Updated November 5, 2018

Source: Public Interest Research Centre

Author(s): Elena Blackmore, Ralph Underhill, Jamie McQuilkin, Rosie Leach, Tim Holmes

Year: 2013

Excerpt:

This guide offers recommendations for the conservation sector and others on how to ensure their work strengthens the values that motivate people to protect and enjoy nature. Part of a longer report produced in collaboration with 13 UK conservation organisations, it is based on original analysis of these groups’ communications, workshop discussions, survey responses and in-depth interviews….

Psychologists, advertisers and politicians have long understood that we are not rational. The ‘rational individual’ does not exist; even the most scientific or logically minded are influenced by values and emotions. Marketers use this knowledge to sell products, appealing to whichever values do so most effectively: to our desire for status in selling cars; to our hedonism when selling holidays; and so on. When selling a particular product to a mass audience, this approach works well.

When the objective is broader—as it is when communicating about environmental issues—problems arise. When we appeal to a particular value, we do not simply affect a purchase decision: we also influence people’s social and environmental behaviour as a whole. Appeals to self-interested goals—wealth, status and public image among them— can actually reduce our environmental concern.

The conservation sector has enjoyed many successes; but a vast range of indicators point to a natural world in decline, and public concern about the environment is at a 20-year low.1 Something must change drastically if we are to stop the loss of wildlife or limit the impacts of climate change. If we want people to care about the natural world and act to protect it, we must promote values that motivate them to do so—and think very carefully before encouraging self-interest.

Based on information gleaned from across the sector and psychological research on human values, this guide aims to help conservation groups consider which kinds of values will help them achieve their goals.

PDF icon Download PDF

Are you familiar with this resource?
If so, please give it a rating:
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...

Tags: behaviourcampaignsconservationforestsframinglanguagenaturepsychologypublic engagementstorytellingUKvalueswildlife

  • Next story Communicating Climate Change: What You Can Do
  • Previous story Common Cause for Nature – Full Report

Follow:

Online Course

Looking for some professional development? Consider the IECA's online course Environmental Communication: Research Into Practice, beginning every January and September.

Suggest a Resource

Search Resources

Categories of Resources

  • Guides (49)
  • Reports (49)
  • Updates (1)

Tags

adaptation animals attitudes audiences behaviour biodiversity business campaigns Canada climate change consumerism energy Europe food forests framing government health identity images language marketing meat metaphor narrative nature policy politics psychology public engagement public opinion religion resilience risk science communication storytelling sustainability UK uncertainty USA values visualization weather wildlife worldviews

IECA logo

This site is a project of the International Environmental Communication Association (IECA).

 

We're part of the .eco community.

 

Inclusion of a resource on this site should not be considered an endorsement.

 

Privacy policy

The resources listed here are copyright or licensed by their original authors and publishers. Please read this note about fair use.
Creative Commons LicenceContent authored and first published here by Talk.Eco (The IECA) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.