Over seventy five percent (75%) of Canadians are truly worried about climate change and want a climate action agenda that is more bold and ambitious. Unfortunately, most supporters—45% of the Canadian public—fall into the muddled “moveable middle” where the demand for action is much less than the concern over climate.
Climate Change and the Muddled “Moveable Middle”
Key take-home points from a March 2021 presentation on Canadians’ opinions on the climate crisis from Climate Access were:
- Most Canadians agree global warming is a crisis
- But 89% think we’re average or better than most countries
- Most Canadians can’t name a climate policy
- Sadly, less than 50% of Canadians can correctly name a GHG too
- Happily, most Canadians see the COVID crisis as a good time to act
- Importantly, most (45%) supporters fall into a muddled “moveable middle” and we should consider them the most when communicating
Think of somebody you know who’s in the moveable middle
We are clearly in a climate emergency. Most Canadians recognize that we are in crisis, but public support is not reliable. The moveable middle is an important target audience. How would you reach the moveable middle to help them better understand carbon pricing? Think of somebody you know that is in this population segment. How might you talk to them to move them from concerned to alarmed and armed with realistic ideas specifically about carbon pricing?
Resource:
Webinar: What Canadians Think About Climate
In case you missed it:
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): A Death Sentence For the Planet
Message to Justin Trudeau: Canada’s on Fire – Act Like It
Accelerating Climate Impacts Setting Off Alarm Bells Worldwide
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Two years ago I created a website called http://www.act4us.today, I took it down, recently for lack of traffic. The site was ahead of its time. It invited Canadians to answer a couple of questions which put them into 4-5 segments that included the Moveable Middle (as you call it). The site went on asking people to invite their family and friends to complete the survey – so they could talk about where they stand on the issues now and explore what they could/should do about it. It have the content. It was base on segmentation done by GlobeScan – integrated with a survey research firm. If you think it could help, we could connect on this.
Research is a self and social network discovery tool that can be used to surface current feelings about the climate crisis, stimulate discussion and action. I am a retired career market researcher. With Health Care we were able to denormalize smoking. Now the challenge is to denormalize fossil fuels. Encouragingly, 70% of Canadian plan to buy an EV before 2030. And since the majority rules the car companies are paying attention and going all-in on EV’s this decade. With consumer demand in place, now it is an issue of supply (at affordable prices). Deep suburban home retrofits are the next opportunity area. People can get their heads around a 5 and 10-year plan – so this is where the opportunities lie.
Hello Bill – thank you for the offer to collaborate on denormalizing fossil fuels
I’ve sent you an email here to explore this further. I want to find out more.