There was an interesting story in the Daily Mail (yes, really) over the summer. Its science editor, a climate change sceptic, visited Greenland, saw the scale of the ice melt for himself, and there and then converted to a climate change “believer”. To me, the interesting thing about this was that the conversion was just as irrational as his rejection of the scientific evidence in the first place. This part of Greenland could simply be experienced a localised bout of warmer weather, or it could be the result of a single warm year, yet it clearly left a deep and emotional impression on him.
My own change in attitude from armchair environmentalist to highly motivated man-on-a-mission came from a similar damascene moment – massive destruction in Arctic Russia by acid rain from a nickel smelter. I’d read all the stats, but it took the emotional experience of being there to tip the scales.
To change attitudes in an organisation, data will never be enough – you need to tap these emotions.
If you want to make a point about recycling waste, say, try demonstrating it instead of saying it – tip the bins or skips out in front of people and divide the contents into recyclables and residuals. If you want to improve the energy efficiency of a process, take people to a (safe) place where you can feel the heat losses on your faces. Run human interest stories in your green communications, persuade people to try cycling to work just one day a year, lead people on a river clean up. These experiences will last longer in people’s memories and subconscious than any powerpoint slide.
As a million attendees of creative writing evening classes will tell you, the key rule is “show, don’t tell.”