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Simplifying the language of the climate crisis


Simplifying the language of the climate crisis

The following is an excerpt from a maintain what blog post.

There is no silver bullet in climate and clean energy communication, in part because there is no single problem or solution. As I keep saying, “complexity monsters” are as much an obstacle to action as fossil fuel companies.

Screenshot of Andy Revkin powerpoint slides

But there are practices and tools that can help people avoid pitfalls.

Here’s an interesting example, along with some other resources.

Today, thanks to my friend Randy Olson (@abtagendaa “scientist-turned-filmmaker spreading ‘narrative culture’,” I found Up-Goer Five Text Editor.

simple word list

some of the thousand most common english words

It’s an engaging writing platform and exercise that limits users to the “ten hundred” most common words in the English language. (“Thousand” is not on that list, which is why the name and protocol are a bit blunt.)

This is the Up-Goer provocation you see visit website:

can you just use one hundred most common word? It’s not easy. Type in the box to try it out.

The platform is powered by Theo Sandersona young scientist Francis Crick Institute Work in a jargon-laden field—the genetics of pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 and the malaria parasite. Perhaps it was working in a field fraught with complexity that sparked his passion for simplicity.

I moved away from coverage of the IPCC’s latest jargon-laden report and tried to use the tool as a way of describing human-driven climate change.

When I use words like this, I immediately get a series of pop-up red alerts pollution, energy, warming, fuel, atmosphere Not in the list of the 1000 most common words.

This is what did i come up with:

People have been adding solar-absorbing substances to the air for years. This makes the world hotter. This change makes it harder to grow food, get enough water, and keep all people and other lives safe. Much of what is added to the air comes from burning materials that help us move around, work, build cities, and keep us warm or cool. We have to figure out how to live well without burning things. Everyone has work to do to get this done!

But I realize that’s not very appealing.

So I stopped to recall Randy’s ABT frame (short for “and, but, therefore”) helps you develop the habit of building narrative gravity in your writing, conversations, movies, and beyond. The most basic point? Whenever you see “and” in a sentence, try using “but” or “therefore” instead. I’ve been writing and promoting Randy’s work since gulp in 2009. You can browse my coverage at the bottom of the post.

This is my second attempt at using the Up-Goer tool with Randy’s structural hints.

For hundreds of years, people have been burning things to create energy to help us move around, make things, build cities, and keep us warm or cool. But all that burning increases the amount of solar-absorbing matter in the air, making the world hotter. This change makes it harder to grow food, get enough water, and keep all people and other lives safe. In order to continue to live a good life, we must find ways to get and use electricity without burning things. Everyone has work to do to get this done!

Obviously, there is of course more work to be done here, but hopefully you agree that this moves us in a direction that is clear to people who haven’t adjusted yet. Randy predicts that CHATGPT-4 and follow-on products might help do even better.

Read the rest of the story – and share your own sustainability-related Up-Goer attempts – on the Sustain What blog.






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