Slogans like these have been plastered on bumper stickers and chanted at marches for years. But despite being succinct earworms, they've all failed to address one key question: Why? Why should the typical American — worried about holding on to their job, providing for their family, and a million mundane challenges — get invested in protecting the environment? Because it's our moral responsibility as stewards of the planet, environmentalists argue.
Marketing, at its core, is about shaping perception. And while the complexity and scale of the climate crisis can be difficult to capture in a tagline, we need to draw on the profession's proven expertise at persuasion to help raise awareness, mobilize the public, and shift our national priorities. Consider the Keystone XL pipeline, which was designed to bring oil sands from Canada into the US. The political left opposed the pipeline on environmental grounds, including its perpetuation of fossil-fuel reliance and the potential for oil spills. The right supported the pipeline on economic grounds, claiming that its construction would generateBut the battle over the pipeline should never have been framed as a choice between the environment and the economy.
"While there were images of the pristine wilderness, there was also a lot of messaging about the impact this project would have on our global climate — and, consequently, on our ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and not suffer ever-worsening hurricanes, floods, and fires," DiPaolo said.oil- and gas-lease sales in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Still, a new administration could easily switch back to more fossil-fuel-friendly policies.