NRDC

It can be more effective to talk about (or show) the impacts of climate change (e.g. fires, floods, health impacts, species extinction) without using politically charged and abstract terms, especially when reaching a broad audience.

Don't always use the same language: Know your audience. People react to language and messages about climate change differently depending on many factors, including how they identify politically. When trying to reach the broadest possible audience, it can be helpful to avoid language that some people find triggering, including the term “climate change” itself.

Think creatively about how your characters could be impacted by climate change. People made the climate crisis, people are impacted by it, and people are solving it, too. Any of these angles could be entry points to characters and stories that engage helpfully with climate.

Don't make environmental activists eco-terrorists. The bad guys in the climate story are those profiting at the expense of our health and well being.

Focus on solutions that help raise awareness about exciting advances in sustainable living and offer agency to the viewer. It’s believable to show characters feeling anxiety, anger, despair, and grief about the climate crisis, but they don’t need to get stuck there. A character who discovers how they might become part of the solution can inspire viewers to action.

Don't Assume we’re doomed. The truth is, a range of climate futures are possible, from apocalyptic to green, equitable ones. Which future we arrive at is up to us now. The fight to make the choices that ensure a better future is heroic – an epic story of saving the world that happens within individual people, communities and nations.

Emphasize that Climate change is here and now, impacting our health, safety, and prosperity.

Don't only frame climate change in the distant future, focus on typical images like polar bears and melting ice caps and limit yourself to gloomy sci-fi dystopias.

Highlight that climate change is a scientifically observed fact based in thermodynamics, while climate denial is a fantasy

Don't treat climate denial as a legitimate argument. Climate change is not up for debate, it's settled science, just like gravity.