Thoughts on climate change from the Impact Festival: ‘We need to be shifting to Plan B’ 

As part of the University of Edinburgh’s inaugural Impact Festival, ‘Engaging with the Climate Emergency’ brought together researchers from across the University of Edinburgh to share their experiences of working with policy and industry partners in response to a variety of challenges presented by the climate emergency.    

Attended by students and staff, the Impact Festival featured a programme of 28 events with colleagues from across the University, speaking on topics such as working with partners to develop impact; influencing policy and practice; maximising impact from fundamental and interdisciplinary research; and co-creating impact with artists, and with communities. The events focused on three key themes: Data Digital and AI, Climate and Environment, and Future Health and Care. 

Touching on the theme of Climate and Environment, this ‘in conversation’ session featured a panel of distinguished professionals including Smith, Mark Miller, Senior Research Fellow in Centre for Cardiovascular Science; and Bernice Maxton-Lee, Executive Education Lecturer in Sustainability and Climate Change in the Business School. The event was chaired by Dan Barlow, a Knowledge Exchange Manager of Climate Change Scrutiny in the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. 

Communications 

The topic of effective communications in climate change research came up repeatedly throughout the event. It was framed as both a challenge as well as an opportunity to bridge gaps between research and practice on sustainable transitions. Communicating about the climate emergency is essential for everyone to understand the magnitude of the situation, as well as be able to take action.  

“It hasn’t mattered whether I’ve been in in NGOs or organizations or business, everybody has their own thing that they talk about, and they’re convinced that it is the solution to all problems,” Maxton-Lee reflected. “So, whenever you get into a room, whether it’s with two people or 200 people, you tend to get people who are trying to hold court and convince you that is the one that you should invest in, that you should take seriously. I think the biggest communication challenge is going to be people talking at each other rather than people going into the room with open minds and curiosity and wanting to listen.” 

Research is frequently shrouded in scientific jargon that makes it inaccessible to the general public and busy policymakers. A solution to communication challenges like this one can come simply from practice, according to Miller. The more you practice with different audiences, whether it is with written or oral communication, you will get used to communicating in a way that allows people to understand your key messages. And most of all, avoid using acronyms, Miller advised. 

Speaking of key messages, you shouldn’t have more or less than three key messages when speaking on climate topics, and it should be about 5 words per sentence, according to the panellists. You have to be able to deliver them quickly and easily; essentially, master your lift talk/elevator pitch. 

“Practice in front of the mirror and imagine you’re talking to the scariest person you could possibly meet and practice what your lines are,” said Maxton-Lee. That way, if you run into, say, a government minister in the lift, you are prepared to pitch your key messages, she described. 

Back-casting 

In research engaging with the climate emergency, different kinds of futures frequently are considered as a way to frame predictions related to this crisis. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) uses Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) to model scenarios of peak emissions. RCP 4.5 is described by the IPCC as a moderate scenario in which emissions peak around 2040 and then decline.  

There is a whole variety of toolkits to illustrate these models, according to Smith.  

“One of them is back-casting because that has been, I would say, the most significant tool I have used,” he said. 

Back-casting, as Smith described, is essentially starting with your ending, with your main message you wanted to deliver, as well as working your way back from the result you had in mind. 

“I can remember we were we were pitching for a project. Our presentation was 20 slides or so. We had a slide talking about the timeline that was really available because everyone thought we had more time for the project. And what we’ve worked out was if you back-casted to what had to happen by a certain time, this had to be totally turned on its head to a faster pace. We decided to put that slide at the start. Let’s just hit them with the bad news straight off.” 

Everyone up to that point who presented before had that finding as the last slide whereas Smith and his colleagues started with it. 

“If you back-cast, you don’t have one year; you actually have six and a half months to deliver the project. So back-casting helped, but also upsetting the applecart of that sequence of slides of getting the message that you really wanted up front got their attention.” 

Climate change despair  

Barlow concluded the event by asking the panellists to reflect on if they have ever felt burdened by despair or hopelessness when engaging with the climate crisis. The panellists provided their unique perspectives. 

“Yes, the title of climate emergency is alarmist. I think it needs to be and I think we need to get more alarmist,” stated Maxton-Lee. “There is this narrative that we shouldn’t be too negative. We shouldn’t tell the negative story. We’ve gotten scared of being scared and I want to push that out there a lot more and get people much more worried. I’m always astonished that people are walking around and doing the things that they’re doing every day and not paying attention to the wildfire that’s coming to our house.” 

On the other side of this, sensationalism of the climate emergency can ultimately lead to misrepresentation in some cases. 

“There was a concern that net zero measures make our rooms more airtight, and our air pollution indoors builds up as a result. We don’t know anything about the health risks of this,” explained Miller. “Now, if you read [about this] in the Telegraph, basically sitting in this room now you’re not going to live till one o’clock. It’s panic, those kinds of messages. It is absolutely infuriating.” 

“I do despair sometimes,” added Smith.  

“Plan B is the worst-case scenario, and that’s what we need to be shifting to. The sea temperature rises that we have seen in the last 18 months are phenomenal. Things will happen a lot faster.” 

What I personally do to counter this [despair] is come to events like this panel, Maxton-Lee described.  

“The thing that gives me strength now is actually doing this job and having people come to us and ask for help in making changes,” she concluded. 

The panelists’ differing perspectives on climate change encapsulated the various emotions and views that come into play, or into conflict, in climate change research.