Our total failure to communicate effectively was highlighted by some new research by IPPR which was released on Friday. The report contained the usual market research froth about targeting ‘now people' but the outcomes rang true and were not dissimilar to many other studies.

Basically environmentalists are seen as smug, as soon as climate change appears as a discussion topic people switch-off, people do not see a low carbon lifestyle as one to which they aspire and many still don't believe it is happening - citing the inconsistencies of Government (for instance over Heathrow) as evidence.

As always after this type of research there is much liberal hand-wringing, furrowed brows and stroking of various beards. Really though the answers are simple.

Firstly we need the Government to provide a coherent and strong lead by taxing carbon more heavily. Secondly, environmental communications needs to move with the times, satirising and ridiculing high carbon lifestyles would be a good start (look how effective Jeremy Clarkson has been at demeaning the knit-your-own yoghurt brigade). Finally, we need to provide an aspirational and believable vision for what a low carbon lifestyle will mean for people.

Where is the passion?

When I was at Friends of the Earth it was always stories about the rainforests that generated the biggest response and interest from the membership. Whilst doing some research for a new project this week, I trawled their website and that of other pressure groups to discover what they were now doing to save the rainforests. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. In fact, there was a distinct lack of connection between climate change and the impact that it will have on our living world.

The majority of communication around climate change is currently much more about ‘head' than ‘heart'. We have endless debates about likelihood of degree shifts in temperature, the impacts of protocols, etc, etc. It is no wonder many people are totally disengaged. Yet climate change will have a drastic impact on the wildlife and scenery that many of us find so compelling and beautiful. 

This week for instance we learned that the oceans around the arctic and Antarctic are becoming increasingly acidic to a point that they could start corroding shell fish and coral. Highlighting the devastating impact that this and other changes will have on nature will bring an emotional and heartfelt element currently missing from the debate. It is something that we need to consider at Global Action Plan.

Green jobs

Another reason why the message is not getting through is that the whole policy area is totally muddled. I am sure I drink too much because everyday I am trying to unravel the way that billions of pounds of Government funding is meant to be helping people to cut energy use - it makes the financial situation at Portsmouth FC look simple.

Ironically all this money is not always directed to the places where it could make the biggest impact. We have spent several months looking at how we could use the Future Jobs Fund to create new green jobs providing free energy advice and guidance to households helping them to navigate their way through the support available. Unfortunately the numbers just don't stack up. 

In order to provide accredited training, quality advice to households and good future job prospects we would need the Government to provide a third more funding per job than is currently available. We will have to find additional resources or not go ahead with this idea.

Collaboration

There has definitely been a growing movement towards localism. Nowhere is this better exemplified than the Transition Towns movement which is bringing enthusiastic people together in local communities all of whom are driven by a desire to create change. It is undoubtedly a success story.

Like any movement however it is about to hit that difficult ‘second album' phase when it has to not only maintain the initial enthusiasm but also engage with other people from the community. This phase often requires different skills and processes. 

One of the ways that this momentum can be maintained is by using our EcoTeams initiative and we have already trained a number of people from the transition movement to become EcoTeam leaders. It is something that we can add to the jigsaw puzzle of action and can do well.

Given this it is incredibly disheartening to see Transition Town Totnes decide to create their own ‘copycat EcoTeam initiative' with far less resource, knowledge and experience. 

Too often the environment movement replicates existing schemes building confusion and wasting resources. We all need to recognise what we do well, what lies outside our skill remit and work together better.  Things are slowly changing and this week we attended a meeting convened by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to discuss collaborative working. It is a really positive step by CSE and one that we will actively support.