Evidence-Based Hope & Climate Solutions
A Project of the David Suzuki Institute led by Elin Kelsey, PhD
Social media influencers and youth recognize the suffering of eco-anxiety and the politics of climate doomism. We’re gathering with them to make evidence-based hope and climate solutions more dynamic, impactful and shareable on social media.
Pilot phase 2 update: June 2023
In spring 2023, Queer Brown Vegan and Elin Kelsey, PhD, collaborated on phase 2 of a social media campaign to shift the narrative of fatalistic climate doomism towards evidence-based hope and solutions. Following the recommendations for more visual content from phase 1, we co-created a long form video for YouTube that appeared as shorter video clips on TikTok and Instagram.
Analytics reveal that we reached more than 100,000 people across these platforms. (Engagement rate tells you how involved followers are with the content. Though industry numbers vary, a 2% engagement rate on Instagram is considered to be average.) We achieved a 10-12% engagement rate. This means our content is finding people. It’s hitting the right audience. They are commenting on it. They are liking it. They are saving it. They are sharing it. A qualitative analysis of the comments reveals high interest in Evidence-Base Hope, in Elin Kelsey, and in the solutions-focused stories we are sharing. People find this content meaningful and inspiring which is exactly what we had intended. We are sharing solutions to increase empowerment and climate justice engagement. For more specific recommendations, please see QBV deck here.
This project is made possible through funding from the David Suzuki Institute.
Pilot phase 1 update: November 2022
Collaborations between academics, non-profits and influencers with a common commitment to climate justice action are all too rare.
In 2022, Queer Brown Vegan, the Solutions Journalism Network and Elin Kelsey, PhD, partnered on Project Hope, a campaign to shift the narrative of fatalistic climate doomism towards evidence-based hope and solutions journalism.
Project Hope built upon the momentum of Climate Week 2022 and took the form of five posts which appeared over the five days in October 2022 on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tik Tok. You can see the posts here.
Analytics revealed strong interest in evidence-based hope and solutions-oriented content across all platforms, and a desire to see more collaborations between academics and influencers on climate justice engagement. Given the importance of visual content on Tik Tok, the next phase of this project will translate the content from the first phase into a video series that will appear on Tik Tok in January 2023.
This project is made possible through funding from the David Suzuki Institute.
How are you feeling?
If you’re worried or scared about climate change or the future, you certainly aren’t alone. And if you’re young, you’re likely really feeling it. 42% of the world is 25 years of age or younger. Youth are leading climate justice activism, and many are struggling with eco-anxiety, hopelessness, cynicism, apathy and an exhausted feeling that there’s really nothing they can do.
Two major international studies published in September 2021, as well as a national study of high school students across Canada in 2020, indicate that half to three-quarters of youth (ages 14-26 years) understand there is a climate crisis, are deeply worried about it, and feel helpless and defeatist about the future. And, according to a 2021 report by UBC researchers working with the Canadian Mental Health Association, these concerns are growing in response to the added worries of COVID-19, forest fires, war and other issues.
From “Eco-anxiety and Environmental Education”, Pihkala, Panu, 2020
We’re experiencing a “hope gap”
Some people worry about hope because they fear it will make us complacent. The psychological literature doesn’t support that. In fact, if we feel hopeless we are more likely to find it impossible to act. And, there's plenty of evidence that concern about climate change is very high and rising in countries all over the world. In a 2021 global climate poll of more than a million people from 50 countries, for example, 2/3rds think climate change is a global emergency.
The result is what Anthony Leiserowitz at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication calls “ hope gap” - a gap between widespread commitment to climate change and feelings of powerlessness to do anything about it. Hopelessness is blocking our ability to act. Indeed, in a 2018 study of 50,000 people from 48 countries, reported in the journal Climate Policy, people who believe climate change is unstoppable are less likely to engage in personal behaviors or to support policies to address climate change.
The environmental crisis is also a crisis of hope.
Why Hope matters: How to stay hopeful amidst the climate crisis
With the existential threat of climate change, it’s only natural to feel overwhelming emotions of anxiety, fear, or anger. But at the same time it is critically important to find sources of hope that can allow us to imagine a better future and work towards it.
In this video, author and expert Dr. Elin Kelsey explains the importance of being hopeful and offers tips on where to look for motivation in difficult times. For Kelsey, hope is a “brave political act” that requires courage and commitment in the face of uncertainty.
Reject climate doomism
If it truly was too late to limit warming below catastrophic levels, that would be one thing. But, as Michael Mann, the eminent climate change scientist says, “the science doesn’t say that.” In fact, he sees the spread of climate doom as a troubling political play. Climate doomism is such an effective mechanism for causing people not to act, that many now label it as the new climate denial. If climate change doesn’t exist, you don’t have to do anything about it. If we’re already doomed, you don’t have to do anything about it. By weaponizing climate doom, powerful players who profit from planetary destruction paralyze the behaviors and policies we know help us to fight climate change.
We’re inviting influencers and teens from around the globe to help us co-create a collaborative project to spread evidence-based hope and amplify solutions on social media.
45% of 15-24 year olds in a 21 country study conducted by UNICEF in 2021 say they most often access news via social media. Other studies demonstrate that people who follow climate solutions are more likely to be well informed on the issue and to actively engage with that issue than those immersed in problem-focused media. Climate solutions stories are also an empowering and proactive teaching tool to learn about larger climate change issues.
If you’re a social media influencer with a passion for climate justice, please contact us.
“This book comes at just the right moment. It brings a message of hope to help curb the negativity, the gloom and doom we are confronted with each day. It is NOT too late if we get together and take action, NOW.”
Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace”
Elin Kelsey is a leader of hopeful, solutions-focused environmental movements.
Elin Kelsey, PhD is a scholar, author and passionate leader in the evidence-based hope and climate change and environmental solutions movement. Her newest book for adults, Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical For Solving The Environmental Crisis was published by Greystone Books in 2020. Her influence can be seen in the hopeful, solutions-focus of her clients, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other powerful institutions where she has served as a visiting fellow including the Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Stanford University in the Graduate School of Education. In winter 2022, she was based in Finland on a Kone Foundation Fellowship where she worked with climate scientists, educators, journalists and children’s book writers on the Developing Climate Change Communication with Emotional Awareness project.
Elin is an Adjunct Faculty member of the University of Victoria School of Environmental Studies, and Western Washington University’s partnership in the Redfish School of Change. She is a feature writer and podcast host for Hakai Magazine and a best-selling children's book author. Her newest book for children, A Last Goodbye, was published in April 2020. Her first film, Breathe, was released by Amnesty International in December 2021.
For more about Elin and her work please visit her website.
Contact Elin for more information about this project: