
“Actually we should not talk about bio-fuels, but about agro-fuels", I interjected, a bit didactic. Immediately Yolanda’s eyes lighted up: “Yes, I have to write that down”, was her reaction, recognizing that framed this way, it is much easier to talk about the down sides of this development. A week earlier in Brussels I had had the same reaction when I heard the term agro-fuels for the first time from Sonja Ribi, representative of the Swiss National Committee for IUCN. We have to spread the message, I had promised.

The CEPA toolkit on page 27 of section 1 talks about framing: People have conceptual maps in their minds – or frames - that help them sort incoming information quickly and to make sense of it. The first words of a story can trigger a certain “mental model” in people’s minds so that they say to themselves “Aha, so this is about....” and stop listening to the details. This can make it difficult to change people’s ideas. Research shows that "framing" is a valuable tool for redefining an issue. Good examples from the political discourse are e.g. right-wing catch phrases such as ‘tax relief’ (positioning tax as negative; not as the basis of all the collective provisions we benefit from in our society) etc.
The creative challenge for communicating climate change or biodiversity is ‘how to frame the discourse’.
You can find more on the issue at: 'Framing Science' or 'Media attacked for climate porn'.
3 comments:
Frits,
It was great to see you and catch up with our lives! thanks so much for the visit to the park and museum and the ride to Sassenheim. And ..... for the agro-fuels word - I have already started to use it in a paper!
Un abrazo
Yolanda
Dear Frits and Wiebke,
Thanks for taking up the term agro-fuels and planting it. I can see you got the message!!!
Warm regards,
Sonja Ribi
Dear Frits,
Thanks for the link to your blog and the information on "Not bio-fuels: agro-fuels!" which includes the lines:
“Actually we should not talk about bio-fuels, but about agro-fuels", I interjected, a bit didactic. Immediately Yolanda’s eyes lighted up: “Yes, I have to write that down”, was her reaction, recognizing that framed this way, it is much easier to talk about the down sides of this development.
I'm sharing the link with Tom Spencer, our Vice-Chair who is also following the this issue closely.
Regards,
Ron
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