I am pleased to nominate Dr. Tom Crompton, WWF-UK Change Strategist, as Climate Change Communicator of the Year. Tom has worked tirelessly to enhance the effectiveness of climate-change communications campaigns through collaborations with leading environmental advocates and academics from around the world. His work bridges theory and practice in ways that challenge both social scientists and communications practitioners. Rather than engaging a specific aspect of the climate-change issue, Tom seeks to identify the generalizable factors that underlie successful campaigns. He shares his findings in a free and open forum that encourages feedback and advances understanding (see www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/campaigning/strategies_for_change). I believe this model of inclusive collaboration, in-depth investigation and analysis, open publication of findings, and promotion of discourse represents an important way forward as we face the defining social challenge of our time—global climate change. 

In 2008, Dr. Compton led work on Weathercocks & Signposts: The Environment Movement at a Crossroads, which advocated a fundamental reassessment of what works in environmental communications. Much the same way the 2004 essay The Death of Environmentalism by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus challenged environmentalism to become more than a “special interest” group, Weathercocks & Signposts challenged environmentalists to think more holistically about their message strategies. In particular, Weathercocks pointed out the problematic nature of using local, short-term economic arguments to tackle global, long-term environmental problems. 

With Dr. Tim Kasser (Knox College), Crompton further developed these ideas in Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Values. This book examines the critical role human identity plays in the interpretation of environmental messages, and began the process of understanding which types of environmental messages activate the most useful aspects of identity.  

Most recently, Crompton worked within a coalition of environmental advocacy and social justice organizations to develop the report Common Cause: The Case for Working with our Cultural Values. The Common Cause Coalition comprises five organizations that touch millions of people worldwide: WWF-UK; Climate Outreach and Information Network (COIN); Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE); Friends of the Earth (FOE); and Oxfam. Common Cause addresses the ways in which communications campaigns can work to enhance helpful intrinsic values while diminishing the importance of unhelpful extrinsic values. This report also engages the increasingly complex issue of environmental communications ethics. 

The impact of Tom’s work is felt through a two-step flow from campaign designers to audiences worldwide. Common Cause catalyzed debate at a full-day workshop in December attended by 100 delegates from a wide range of NGOs. Another workshop scheduled for March is also fully booked. Other NGOs, including Fairtrade Foundation and Friends of the Earth, have requested seminars based on the report for their communications staffs. A wide range of groups have begun to develop initiatives based on the messaging strategies suggested in the report, such as focusing on the impact of advertising on cultural values, and examining the risks of appealing to domestic energy security as an imperative to encourage investment in renewables.

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