After yesterday's post, I'm adding (see below) a few more potential climate change memes — ideas or phrases that I'm trying to get into common parlance, like "household names." (Remember Spiro Agnew? Okay, forget it.). And that's got me thinking of Chip and Dan Heath and their study (that hasn't quite become a meme yet) of STICKY messages (Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die).The idea of "sticky" messages comes from Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point (how's that for a climate change meme?), which talked about how ideas and behaviours catch on in society. The Heath brothers took it further and researched what actually makes messages stick.
A Time article explains that "Together they find that the key to creating traction is to take your idea, whatever it may be, and present it as a Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional Story. 'We were a little embarrassed when it turned out that we could summarize it with SUCCESS,' quips Chip."
So sticky messages are those that are
- simple
- unexpected
- concrete
- credible
- emotional
- told as a story.
So, I'll let you decide if any of these potential climate change memes are "sticky"!
Progenycide. You're either for it or against it.We are unwitting accomplices in crimes against all future generations being committed today by world leaders and CEOs of big corporations who think the economy is more important than life itself.My favourite from green design guru, Bill McDonough: How do we love all of the children, of all species, for all time?Stop the killing. Stop the burning. Zero carbon means zero meat and methane, and zero fossil fuels.Why are climate change skeptics and deniers against making the world a better place for their children and grandchildren? Transforming our fossil-fuelled economy to a renewable-energy economy will make the world safer, cleaner, healthier, more equitable and more peaceful."Make love, not war" takes on a whole new meaning when faced with climate catastrophe. Get our soldiers home and retrofitting our cities. Zero carbon means no more wars.We need a Global Green Fund. Every country chips in 10% of their military budget.
