Elsevier

Energy Research & Social Science

Volume 31, September 2017, Pages 273-283
Energy Research & Social Science

Original research article
Using Narrative Workshops to socialise the climate debate: Lessons from two case studies – centre-right audiences and the Scottish public

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.029Get rights and content

Abstract

Climate Outreach works at the interface of research and practice. This paper explains how Climate Outreach have used a Narrative Workshop methodology to test and develop narratives around energy transitions and climate policy with a diverse range of UK citizens. The paper begins by providing the rationale for a more participatory politics of climate change, and why narratives are central to that political process. This is followed with an outline of recent forms of participatory climate change initiatives within the UK. The next section presents a more detailed account of the methodology through an analysis of two recent research projects where the Narrative Workshop methodology has been used. The first case study uses examples from a number of workshops held with centre-right public audiences to demonstrate how the methodology has been applied to identify climate change narratives and vocabulary which reflect conservative values. The second case study illustrates how the methodology was used to create a template for a national climate change conversation in Scotland. The paper concludes with a reflection on the strengths and limits of using the Narrative Workshop methodology to build a broader social consensus on the need for ambitious climate change policies.

Introduction

Narratives are widely recognized as powerful tools of communication. Meaning is created through language and it is in its narrative form that people most readily engage with and remember the meanings created through language.1 It is for this reason that narratives sit at the heart of the Climate Outreach2 methodology for engaging the public with climate change and climate policies.3 A basic definition of narrative is a story told through related events.4 A more formal definition is to say narratives are simple stories that describe a problem, lay out its consequences and suggest (simple) solutions.5 Our Narrative Workshop methodology has been developed out of the recognition that both science and policy are represented in technical ways or in the form of exposition, whereas the natural form of public engagement is narrative.6,7 The methodology has been used to develop narratives for a range of organisations. For example, the Scottish government is using the methodology to build a national climate change conversation as part of its strategy for delivering the world’s most ambitious climate change policies. The purpose of the current paper is to describe the Narrative Workshop methodology, and reflect on lessons learnt from two case studies for using this approach to socialise the climate policy debate, and ultimately increase public engagement across the political spectrum.

As we discuss below, Narrative Workshops are not intended to create behaviour change, though some workshop participants have reported they are more likely to talk about climate change as a result of participating in a workshop.8 Rather, the Narrative Workshop methodology has been designed primarily as a research methodology, by providing a means by which an otherwise largely disinterested and uninformed public can engage in meaningful deliberation about this complex subject.

Climate Outreach is a charitable think tank that aims to widen and deepen public engagement with climate change. The research team conducts original social science research, and partners with academic teams, using Narrative Workshops (and other methodologies) to help answer strategically important questions about public engagement with climate change. Unusually for an organisation with such a practical remit, we strive for a high level of methodological and theoretical rigour in our work, in addition to translating the evidence emerging from these research projects into practical guides, reports and multimedia resources along with advice and training. This means that we seek a balance between the rigour of the research we conduct and review and the practical applicability of the work we produce, operating at the interface between research and practice. A key focus of the organisation’s work is to turn climate change from scientific reality to social reality, which in part means breaking through what we have argued is a socially constructed silence around climate change.9 40% of 2000 British people surveyed in 201310 said that they never speak about climate change to their friends, family or colleagues. Statistics from Yale University paint a similar picture of US public opinion; only 19% of the US public hear about climate change in the media more than once a week, (with only 4% talking about climate change with others once a week).11 As the work of anthropologist Kari Norgaard has vividly demonstrated, people are capable of a spectacular form of double-think – socially constructed silence – when necessary. Over the course of two years, Norgaard interviewed 46 people in a remote coastal town in Norway. Awareness of climate change was high and people openly recognised that the weather was changing dramatically. In particular the ski hill, an essential component of the town’s local economy and cultural identity, was opening weeks later and only with the help of artificial snow. Despite this, there was virtually no discussion about climate change. As a local teacher put it to her “We live in one way and we think in another. We learn to think in parallel. It’s a skill, an art of living.12

Despite widespread acceptance that effective climate policies cannot exist independently of public engagement and debate about the societal implications of climate change there are some serious question about how deep public engagement with energy and climate change is. For example, a report by the British Royal Society of Arts used national survey findings to identify a large majority of the population who could be described as in ‘stealth denial’ about climate change.13 That is, while many people expressed high levels of concern about the issue, 65% also agreed that there was little they personally could do to contribute to tackling climate change. 48% said that they did not feel uneasy about climate change, and 27% said their own actions were not part of the climate problem.

Political cues have been identified as an important determinant of public concern about climate change.14 Yet politicians remain stubbornly taciturn when it comes to discussing climate change – in the recent US presidential elections climate change was mentioned once in each of the three presidential debates, and then on each occasion only as a subsidiary motive for backing clean energy.15 In the absence of any sustained public and policy discourse about climate change risks it is difficult to imagine how it will be possible to achieve the adequate levels of social organisation required for a meaningful response.16

In this paper we outline the rationale for a more democratic politics of climate change, and reflect on where the Narrative Workshop methodology sits in the hierarchy of citizen engagement. Subsequent sections present a more detailed account of the methodology, followed by an analysis of two recent research projects where the Narrative Workshop methodology has been successfully applied. The first of these case studies uses examples from a number of workshops held with members of the public who hold centre-right political views, with the goal of identifying a vocabulary which can support a broader positive societal engagement with climate change policy. The second case study illustrates how the methodology was used to create a template for a national climate change conversation in Scotland. This work was commissioned by the Scottish government as part of its strategy for building public understanding of the policy proposals for delivering its ambitious climate change targets. The paper concludes with summary of the strengths and limits of the Narrative Workshop methodology and offers a critical reflection on the broader interest in the role of stories and narratives as a means of building a cohesive and engaged climate citizenry.

Section snippets

What is the case for giving the public a greater say in climate policy decision making?

Efforts to socialise the climate change debate are based on the assumption that a more inclusive climate change debate is a better form of climate politics. There are two main reasons given for this belief. The first reason is that it is expected that greater public participation will lead to better climate policy.17 The second reason given is

Forms of participation in climate policy decision making

The way in which power, politics and science are interwoven into common framings of climate change has led to the emergence of a diverse set of practices of public deliberation.47,48

The Climate Outreach Narrative Workshop methodology

The Narrative Workshop ideally runs for 2–2.5 hours, and is divided into two parts. Each workshop has, on average 10 participants. The first part of the workshop grounds discussion of climate change in the participant’s values. The second part of the workshop builds on the subjective understanding of climate change developed in the first part to explore attitudes to different policy and campaign narratives. Prior to detailing how narratives are developed and used, the paper provides a brief

Case study 1: engaging the centre-right

Growing ideological polarisation has plagued the public discourse about climate change in the US.105 Views on climate change remain one of the clearest ways of predicting which way people will vote in North America, and the political divide among Senators remains as stark as ever. Democrats believe in climate

The Scottish context

In addition to its usefulness in engaging ‘hard to reach’ public audiences such as the centre-right, the Narrative Workshop methodology has been used to develop a ‘Climate Conversations’ framework for the Scottish Government, where the target audience was – ambitiously – the entire national population. The framework includes guidance on preparing for a conversation, a script for running a conversation, and a set of resources to use in the conversations.

The Scottish Government has some of the

Strengths of the Narrative Workshop methodology

Returning to our discussion at the outset of the paper regarding the organisational balance struck in the work we conduct at Climate Outreach between research and practice, there is ample evidence – exemplified in these case studies and much else besides – that the Narrative Workshop method ‘works’ for developing a deeper and richer understanding of public engagement. Participant feedback, the testimonials of the many partners we have worked with, and results emerging from application of the

Conclusion

Narratives are an important means by which people make sense of the world. The Climate Outreach Narrative Workshop methodology employs a values based approach to testing and developing narratives which allows participants to make sense of the otherwise abstract and technical phenomenon of climate change. Grounding the conversations in shared values creates a sense of common purpose in the room, and allows people to engage with the discussion constructively. Evidence emerging from the 'Climate

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