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Making the Case for Addressing Climate Change

This resource from PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group offers a curated list of existing message guides that provide clear, research-backed strategies to help advocates, health practitioners and policymakers craft compelling narratives that inspire action.

  • Lori Dorfman, DrPH, MPH
  • Diana Guardado with support from:
    Ingrid Daffner Krasnow
    Katherine Schaff
    Lori Dorfman
    Heather Gehlert
    Lunden Mason
young adults sitting on grass in the park

Making the Case for Addressing Climate Change: A review of select message guides for communicating about climate change and public health

Do you want to effectively communicate the health-related challenges associated with climate change? This resource, created by PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group with support by the California Department of Public Health, provides a curated list of existing message guides that offer clear, research-backed strategies to help advocates, health practitioners and policymakers craft compelling narratives that inspire action. Whether you need quick, ready-to-use messages or in-depth frameworks, these guides will equip you with the tools to make the case across diverse audiences.

view and download the resource

To help public health professionals identify messages that can effectively communicate the health-related challenges associated with climate change, PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) sought out existing message guides that prioritize addressing the public health and racial equity considerations of climate change action and provide high-quality, actionable resources for engaging communities, policymakers and partners.

Message Guides:

  • Guides for those short on time: Quick tips and examples to integrate into your work
  • Guides that connect climate change to health: Language for naming the health impacts of climate change
  • Guides that center racial equity: Messaging that ensures climate narratives are inclusive

Message Development 101 

Excerpt from “Making the Case for Addressing Climate Change”

When it comes to developing messages to talk about the health impacts of climate change or any other important topic, we recommend the following simple formula:

1. Name the problem.

2. Talk about why it matters.

3. Tell people what should be done and who should do it.

Although these components do not have to be in this order, every successful message should contain them. Once you have addressed the problem, why it matters, and the solution, you will have the core of your message, which then can be expanded or distilled, depending on the format you plan to use to deliver it.

Originally published by Berkeley Media Studies Group

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