Welcome to Climate Access. The place for those working to engage the public in addressing global warming – in government, nonprofits and academia – to come together and convey the most effective ways of motivating individuals to support legislation and make behavior changes that safeguard their quality of life.
This is a critical task. The problem is more urgent than ever, but despite numerous efforts to engage the public, climate change has yet to become a top public priority. Such engagement is essential if we are to make the transition to a less carbon-intensive economy and prepare communities for the impacts of a changing climate.
The tagline for Climate Access is sharing what works. For years, we at The Resource Innovation Group’s Social Capital Project have been hearing from climate communicators at our workshops about how they lack the time and resources to digest the fire hose of polling, social science theories, and media examples and to track what is working on the ground. They told us they wanted a place to find out what they need to know.
Climate Access is that place. Our idea is to connect climate communicators with one another as well as with leading researchers, to provide them with a synthesis and analysis of climate change public opinion and messaging, and to promote the awareness and adoption of best practices. Featuring a resource hub, campaign gallery, members forum, expert interviews, roundtable discussions, case studies, blog posts and tips and tools on climate communications and behavior change, the site enables research and breakthrough ideas to move quickly to the field and allows researchers to learn from what is happening on the ground.
If you are doing climate communications work in the public and non-profit sector or in academia, we invite you to apply to be part of the Climate Access network. Basic membership is free and allows you to access exclusive content and have peer-to-peer connections and conversations; only Climate Access members are able to make and view comments, participate in roundtables and member forums, and upload content to the campaign gallery, tips and tools and resource hub. Climate Access will serve as a network of networks by providing a password-protected space for candid discussion within and across sectors about what is working and what’s not, and by helping to connect strategic framing and outreach efforts across organizations.
The active participation of members is what will make Climate Access thrive. We encourage you to dive right in with your ideas, stories, challenges and solutions as well as your contributions of polls, research articles, case studies, campaign examples, and commentary; this will ensure that the site is a rich and robust resource and idea exchange. And please let us know if there is anything else that you would like to see.
We are very excited to launch the Climate Access network in collaboration with the Rutgers Initiative on Climate and Social Policy and the Stonehouse Standing Circle. (A special thanks goes to Dr. Martin Bunzl and James Hoggan for their vision and support; we are also grateful for the contributions from our advisory committee.) We have high hopes for Climate Access – to expand the climate practitioner network and build the capacity of those working in the field; illustrate the ways in which climate change will impact our communities; develop compelling narratives that frame and mutually reinforce climate messages across efforts; and, ultimately, increase public support for climate policies and carbon reduction programs – and we look forward to working with you to make this a reality.
