"If the problem were called 'Atmosphere cancer' or 'Pollution death' the entire conversation would be framed in a different way."

Right. It would be dismissed even more readily by people inclined to oppose it, since that is more alarmist than the standard rhetoric.

The reason most people don't care about climate change is that impacts are either indirect or don't occur, or happen at a pace which can be attributed to other things. Note the persistence of the inane "things go in cycles" rationalization.

The problem with the climate change "marketing method" is that it's all punishment and no reward. Contrast that with the appeal of say, religion as a unifying life purpose, and then perhaps one can understand why people flock to it willingly, while people either stick their heads in the sand or flat-out deny climate change, or at least oppose actions to mitigate it.

It would be alarmist, but for once, it's a thing that would be worth being alarmist about.

I'm not saying I personally would market it like that, but the way that it has been done so far clearly isn't working very well even if it is more honest, and if you look at past events where people really became preoccupied and wanted something to be done, it usually was around a "frame" that was quite exaggerated and amplified (WWII, Appolo mission.. heck, even the Iraq war (I'm not condoning any of those, just looking at how things are "sold" successfully to the masses)).

Sure, I'd rather have a careful, scientific and measured approach and have so-called mainstream people react to that. But the marketing guru is saying we need more emotions and better images (if you read the whole post at his site), and I think it's worth thinking about, if only to just partially adopt as a method or correct some of the mistakes we've been making.

There will always be a certain portion of people that will do nothing and deny reality, but the portion that does something and want to help certainly could be bigger than it is now, if only to have a political impact.

Seth writes: "Human beings want: totems and icons" In other word as long as our environmental heroes are Ed Begley and Good ol'Leo we're in deep trouble. The real heroes get chopped off at the knees like Abbie Hoffman (do you really think he offed himself? Talk to his son...) We need "real" heroes, and we need to huddle around and protect them! Not shrug away in fear of their radicalism! Do you really think celluloid stars are going to do the trick, prancing on green carpets at the Oscars, blowing air kisses to hype the next brand of vegan friendly cel phones? If anything, this just turns off middle-America even more!!! We need heroes who are going to take down the auto and oil cartels (who lied to us about batteries) and make these metal shop kids who built that 0to60 in 4 seconds hybrid into the real heroes... They should be "man of the year" on the cover to TIME magazine, before GM gives them cushy jobs so they keep their mouth shut! I'm sorry, woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

remy u a blast even when grumpy!

me i think we need a war. war on the anti-earth. I'm almost afraid to say it cause sually peopel die in wars. a lot of people. but what other way is there to overhaul the military industrial? in WWII it took no time for GM and Ford to re-tool and make what the Govmt told them to make. So if we were in wartime (against the anti-earth, not against "terror" or "fright" or "unpleasantness" or "poverty" or "drugs" but against the real seed problem...) if we had such a war, then the industry woudl be TOLD how and what they will be manufacturing... We could overhaul the systrem like yesterday... it coudl be illegal and unpatriotic to not be dealing with your waste and to be manufacturing stuff that is toxi or who's process is toxic. OK Im a bit of a dreamer, and an optimistic one to even think that this wouldn't lead to the anti0earths in Oceania getting slaughtered, but still, what we need is something we can latch on to and run with as a whole people... So far bad- monkeys have only learned to do this with wars.... well I'd like a War on Anti-earth much more than our effort to "curb pollution death"

mayeb Godin has a point, but could it also be that climate change is a multi-causal event and one that in particular is tied to our species behaviour patterns and consumptive choices? I mean call it a rose call it whatever you want, it's not like signing up to save your nuts & bolts or get against the japanese, germans, iraquis... it's about YOU and changing YOUR HABITS. the name an dtimescdale are one thing. Radically changing one's life, that's a kettle of a different spot!

i do like where he says meters will help. and look at the killa watt (wattbug?) and other meters that people like bruce sterling have been calling for for ages... and it's so true, yougive people these tools (and change more for the juice) and all of the sudden everyone is aware of how much electricicty they are using... we need more meters more guages and more sensors!!! NOW!!!

yes, we need make the real environmental heroes the totems and icons.

a better name would be good. "global warming" does not convey the dire nature of the crisis. it was ok for the 70's but not now.

even in the event of a controversy concerning the renaming, the act of adopting a new name would help by bringing attention to the urgency of "global meltdown" itself.

how about a th name contest?

how about "stopping the Coming Ice Age"? i mean that doent have the lovey-dovey Global that Godin is complaioning about, and no one wants to end up figid and under Ice....

not to mention that the glacier on Western Greenland (right where Santa's Workshop *was*) gas been growing at 12Km/Yr for a couple of yeasr now (it's finally warm enough to snow in the previously white desert). I know it may confuse soem, but scare the beejesus out of other peeps...

"i do like where he says meters will help."

Yep, I was quite happy to see that since it's an idea I've been promoting for a while now.

Let's revisit this conversation about mid-way through the comming hurricane season. Right after the "God is doing this because you are sinners" cult makes their prouncement. The door to public consciousness will remain open a small crack for maybe a few weeks. We've got til then to find a better monicker.

how about "stopping the Coming Ice Age"? i mean that doent have the lovey-dovey Global that Godin is complaioning about, and no one wants to end up figid and under Ice....

not to mention that the glacier on Western Greenland (right where Santa's Workshop *was*) gas been growing at 12Km/Yr for a couple of yeasr now (it's finally warm enough to snow in the previously white desert). I know it may confuse soem, but scare the beejesus out of other peeps...

meter everything!

these color changing power cords are genius.

.....maybe we need more viridian contests... they did a great job with the WattBug and had a great Greenhouse Disaster Symbol Contest... maybe this is the kind of thing we need much more of now...

oops, here is the power cord.

love that wattbug. wasn't too crazy about the winner of the symbol contest, but a great idea for a competition.

I can't agree with this guy-- most of the people I've met who aren't getting the message are already finding the whole idea "overbranded."

The whole movement smacks of overblown marketing and hype-- and because marketing hype is so often wrong, people are *more* inclined to give contradictory messages a chance. Less marketing hype and more science would get people's attention. More hype will just make their brains turn off. "If this is real," they will wonder, "why does it need an ad campaign?"

Simple: Global Climate Destabilization

This is what we are worried about. Slow changes in the climate might be okay. Change all the plants and animals-- agriculture and cities might continue just about the way they did before. Climate destabilization means that warm air might stop going to northern Europe and that ice ages might take place in a matter of decades, not centuries.

There is a fair bit at stake here according to Ronald Wright “[Studies of ancient ice cores] show that the climate has bee unusually stable for the past 10,000 years – exactly the lifetime of agriculture and civilization” (A Short History of Progress, 2004 Massey Lecture)

We need marketing and hype for climate change exactly because we've failed to communicate our main point. Can you picture leaders standing up and saying “We not convinced that Global Climate Destabilization will be a bad thing”? This is bad marketing.

We only need to change one word to say what we mean.

Look how Bush got to go to his war. He used terms that pushed peoples buttons, i.e. created [fearful] picture in peoples heads. This is what should be done. Godin is on the right track. Old and already used terms/language is not going to get to people any more, and get to their conscious awareness levels to create habitual changes. Change needs to first take place before change can happen.

It is clear that these issues are becoming more mainstream, however the real bang or click is not quite there. How can this be implemented, and by whom? Who will champion this – we can not count on our government to do this for mankind.

wonderful post
thanks a lot!