The world needs saving and everyone must play their part, including publishers.
That was my key takeaway from a session at the PPA Festival in May, entitled, ‘The climate economy: how publishers can lead and profit from sustainability’, hosted by Immediate Media CEO Sean Cornwell and naturalist Chris Packham.
“We are in deep, deep trouble,” Packham said: “We’ve just had the hottest first day of May on record.”
80% of the population want governments to act, he said, but many see the challenge as simply too difficult.
For those demanding climate action, it’s all about the three ‘m’s’: motivation, method, message.
Publishers can help with the third ‘m’, the messaging, by changing the narrative, getting the message across that things can change.
Governments can invest more in renewables; people can choose to put their money in ethical banks and insurers; the super rich can ditch the private jets; we can eat more vegetables; we can stop taking money from fossil fuel advertisers; Coca Cola et al can stop using plastics.
Packham and Cornwell painted a picture of how publishers can change attitudes for the better. We live in a world where trust is so hard to find, but we as publishers have it.
We have the opportunity as storytellers, not to preach or be gloomy but to talk about it in a joyful and empowering way. We can normalise the choices, make them tangible, help people find positive alternatives and to see the climate challenge as an opportunity – eating more vegetables means less risk of cancer, for instance.
We have the opportunity as publishers to influence our audience, to help change the way they think and behave.
As Packham told the audience: “people trust you – you’re powerful.”
In a world where climate denialism is on the rise, it’s imperative that publishers use that power to best effect.
Immediate Media’s Jo Beattie wrote an excellent article for the May / June issue of InPublishing magazine on the positive climate messaging Immediate Media is deploying across its titles.
(Also, if you haven’t done so already, please take a couple of minutes to complete our Media Shapers survey. Your opinion is of interest to us! The poll closes on 6th July.)
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
