Environmental protection: good storytelling can have disadvantages
Storytelling with emotional stories instead of dry scientific facts: According to a study in the journal One Earth, this approach is more likely to persuade people to do something for the environment and against climate change. However, there is a catch: Although the approach works well with liberals, good storytelling can even scare away conservatives - and is therefore perhaps not the best approach to communicating for environmental protection.
According to the study, people who had heard a stirring story about environmental pollution in which a man died then spent more on environmentally friendly products than when they simply heard scientific facts about water pollution. However, the majority of people in the study were Democratic, i.e. liberal - and with such people, good storytelling on environmental issues is likely to open doors, explains study co-author Paul J. Ferraro, an expert on environmental policy at Johns Hopkins University.
"For those who are not already inclined to take environmental action, stories may make things worse," but Ferraro warns. This is supported by an experiment with just over 1,200 participants that the team conducted at an agricultural event in Delaware. To help people understand the problem of nutrient pollution, they were shown either a video with scientific facts or the story of a man who died after eating contaminated shellfish. Then the team offered inexpensive products to minimize negative consequences of stormwater runoff in their own backyards.
A deep chasm opens up
Overall, study participants were more willing to spend money on them after hearing the story of the deceased. However, this was because liberals were 17 percent more likely to want to buy the products. Conservatives, on the other hand, were 14 percent less likely to want to spend money. In their case, the emotional story was therefore rather bad for promoting the will to make a personal commitment to environmental protection.
This divide was surprising to him, Ferraro said. That's because he normally observes little behavioral difference between Democrats and Republicans on issues like energy conservation. So the researchers hope their findings will spur further work on how climate change and environmental issues should best be communicated and why certain stories seem to appeal positively only to liberals. (pte)
