Why we teach – communicating transformational social change
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Next in our series looking at themes and topics explored by students on CAT Master’s degrees, Dr Cathy Cole explores the role of communication in enabling the right responses to our changing world – what it means, why it matters, and some of the main teaching methods used on our courses.
As a young girl growing up in Kent in the early 90s, I remember fondly the comforting burst of sweet juice as I popped the first ripe blackberries of the season into my mouth. Prowling along the hedgerows around our house, fingers stained purple and sticky, dodging the nettles and thorns, we reaped our harvest throughout September. On the first day of October, so my mother said, those fruits would be touched by a witch’s fingers and dry up… and so they did. In recent years, I have picked blackberries with my own children in early August, and the witches have cast their spells over the crop well before the autumn winds have stirred.
As stories of our changing climate go, this is far from one of danger and fear. It is part of a bigger story of shifting seasonal events, but it also feels powerful to me because it is woven with deeply meaningful family memories. Connecting with climate change is not just about understanding the facts and the risks, it’s about creating meaning and connection. The aim of the Communicating Transformational Social Change module is to give students the tools to connect meaningfully with diverse audiences and transform information into stories and experiences that enable deep, long-term societal shifts.
Why is communication important for transformational social change?
Since the middle of the 20th Century, scientists studying our climate system have warned of the warming effects caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. The scientific evidence has become increasingly clear, demonstrating the severe dangers we face unless we take urgent action. It’s hard to understand how we can ignore such an emergency, yet other priorities seem to take centre stage in global politics. Clearly, repeating the state of alarm, even with new information and renewed vigour, is not enough.
Scholars of science communication have homed in on this paradox. We’re learning more and more about human psychology and how information is received and processed, and importantly how this differs between individuals, communities and cultures. Effectively communicating with people requires much more than ‘telling’ – it is just as much about listening. We need to understand our audience, which can only happen when genuine relationships are forged. To move beyond our echo chambers, we must first attempt to lower the social barriers that prevent people from engaging meaningfully in the first place. This is a vital precursor to transformational social change, and central to our teaching on this module at CAT.
What are the main teaching methods?
Through practical workshops, interactive seminars and lectures, we create space for students to develop and test communication strategies and skills; to generate ideas through participatory discussion; and to learn about the academic field of science communication. In addition to the expertise of our academic staff within the Graduate School, we invite guest contributors from organisations at the cutting edge of climate communication. Our students have unique opportunities to meet and engage with professional communicators from a wide range of disciplines, embracing ecolinguistics, environmental storytelling, performing arts, filmmaking, podcasting, social movements, environmental leadership, community co-design, and more. We enjoy the breadth of skills and experience our students bring to the module. This creates a different atmosphere and focus each time.
At the heart of this module is the creative assignment students work on to produce a powerful communications piece. Past students have gifted us with immensely moving works, including Katharina Mayer’s beautifully illustrated handbook for activists, Hope.
Katharina says, “If we want change, the first thing we need to do is believe that it is possible. The course showed me how stories can create a little space to move (and how to do it targeted), which helps us to believe in change. We can do so by storytelling, art, conversations about opportunities and choices. And we can make it bigger by sharing ideas, dreaming collectively, and joining ongoing projects or starting our own. All the courses at CAT showed me how much easier it is to ‘make hope’ in a supporting, engaging community.”
How do students use this learning?
Our students go on to be changemakers in many different ways: embarking on new careers; launching their own businesses; empowering their local communities; and taking fresh skills back to their workplace. Employers across every sector recognise communication skills as vital, and we are immensely proud of our recent graduates and the positive difference they make to the world. Here are just a few examples…
- Ben Wilding has launched and is currently growing Sun Bear Biofuture, demonstrating real-world behaviour change through their development and communication of sustainable alternatives to products like palm oil.
- Rhiannon Munro has co-founded a community climate action group, Climate Action Torfaen, building networks and skills to respond to climate and environmental challenges that directly impact local residents and working with the council to enhance their impact.
- Rachel Tuckett is the new Innovation Lab Manager within CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain Hub, following her dissertation and voluntary work that she contributed during her MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change. She will be leading the team to connect people across diverse sectors to identify effective climate solutions that overcome political, cultural, economic and psychological barriers.
- Jelena Krivosic is now studying for a PhD at the University of the West of England, researching how Natural History documentaries communicate climate and ecological justice, and focusing on how co-creation with filmmakers and audiences can diversify crisis stories and encourage engagement with behaviour and systems change.
About the author
Cathy is a senior lecturer within the Sustainability and Behaviour Change Programme and teaches across several modules offered by CAT’s Graduate School of the Environment. She has a PhD and postdoctoral research experience in marine science and climate change, and professional expertise working as a climate science communicator for the Met Office and UK Government departments. More recently, she taught science communication at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She is now living in Mid Wales with her young family and enjoying being part of the CAT community where change feels possible…and is happening.
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