Engaging Organizers on Climate Migration: How do we create Content to Grow Our Audiences With/Behind/to Push Our Solutions?

Two new resources offer narrative guidance for climate and migrant justice organizers looking for a place to start.

It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by the dismantling of our government and attacks on those who are speaking out for democracy and justice. But this is exactly the moment when narratives of determined collective action can generate hope.

For those of us working within climate justice and immigrant justice movements, the stakes could not be higher. Though much of our work right now involves defending against attacks, we must keep building our networks and relationships, and holding our ground. Building new connections, and tending to established ones, is the only path toward powerful movements that can step into the chaos and orchestrate a resurgence of democracy.

As narrative strategists, we have learned that stories that emphasize the underlying values of care, interdependence, and power in organizing can provide a path forward. Below are two tools to help organizers build an effective narrative strategy. Our Narrative Guide for Immigrant Futures, a guidance is based on original research produced by Define American and Harmony Labs, as well as research we conducted with Grow Progress. On March 31, we will be unveiling a new narrative strategy deck on climate migration specifically.

Narrative Guide for Immigrant Futures

Narrative Initiative recently published the Narrative Guide for Immigrant Futures, including research findings showing that many Americans who are currently very susceptible to fear-based messaging about immigrants rights can be moved to resist manipulation by fear. 

We have seen that people hold pro-immigrant values and generally are sympathetic to immigrants. But fear narratives circumvent those values and increase anti-immigrant attitudes.  To advance any of the climate migration narratives we value, we will need strategies that help us counter fear.

Though this guide doesn’t deal directly with climate narratives, it does reveal key elements for overcoming anti-immigrant fear narratives. 

Narrative approaches that counter fear:

• Personal storytelling: Our research shows that one of the most effective ways to counter fear is through personal storytelling. But we want to be clear that it’s not trauma stories that actually make the biggest difference: it’s the stories of people striving to reach their personal goals, of families expressing their feelings about current conditions, of people just living their lives. 

  
  

  • One of the most persuasive stories we tested was a simple story about an immigrant couple keeping their romance alive by dancing in their kitchen. 

    
    

  • For some inspiration, we lift up NPNA's incredibly exhibition, highlighting the experiences and stories of climate refugees through art.

• Acknowledge anxiety over change: For some audiences who are susceptible to anti-immigrant fear narratives, we’ve seen that acknowledging - but not validating - their fear of change makes them much more open to supporting immigrants and immigration. Including a simple acknowledgment couched within a broader pro-immigrant message can increase pro-immigrant support among cautious audiences by more than 20%. 

  
  

  • Here’s one acknowledgment we tested:  “America has changed a lot in the last 250 years. From outhouses to running water, from exclusion to opportunity. With so much talk of immigration it can feel like America is changing again. But history shows that change has made our lives easier, safer, and freer.”

• Show the future you want: Multiple research studies have shown that describing a better future has a transformative effect. Describe what a better future that results from the solutions you hope to advance looks like. Paint a picture of how that future is better for everyone.

  
  

  • The UNOCHR has a toolkit for helping audiences imagine a better pro-immigrant future.

    
    

• Model the alternative: Show how welcoming immigrants at scale has been done before and done well. Point to examples of how a particular community has been welcoming new folks and how their community is richer and better off as a result. When people see proof that a different approach is possible, it expands the possibilities they see for themselves and their own communities. 

  
  

  • Activists in Minnesota organized a "Super Eid for Everyone," to model the welcoming, inclusive world they envision. Similarly, United We Dream's "No Borders, Just Flavors" celebrates immigrant youth through a cooking show competition.

• Include mutual benefit: Tell people how your policy or solution will make all of us safer and happier. Research has shown that appealing to people’s sense of doing right for the sole benefit of another community has limited effect, but showing how a solution can make everyone’s lives better has more persuasive power. Mutual benefit is a key persuasive element that helps increase pro-immigrant support among some audiences.

  
  

  • Justice for Migrant Women's interactive, "The Humans Who Feed Us" project demonstrates the life-sustaining role  of workers across the food supply chain.

  
  

  • Don't resort to fear tactics to persuade audiences on climate, immigration or the nexus of the two issues. Fear tactics aren’t likely to work (i.e. "climate disasters could one day hit your hometown and you could be the one who needs to move.") You can't scare people into supporting immigrants. Scaring them will just make them shut down. [For further reading on narratives to avoid when talking about climate and migrant justice, check out this guide on dangerous narratives.] 

  
  

Frankly, the need to sooth your audience’s fear can be annoying to progressive communicators because we often find that fear is unfairly placed. For climate and migration, for example, the frame that wealthier nations who are most responsible for creating the climate crisis should be responsible for dealing with its consequences resonates with progressive people. But be wary of over-relying on this frame as it is likely easily countered by the opposition with fear narratives of the US bankrupting itself to heal the world’s climate problem. 

This q&a with scholars who completed a study on climate change, equity, and moral responsibility is worth reading. Our upcoming webinar, Narrative Strategy for Climate Migration: Creating Content to Grow Our Audiences and Our Solutions [include link to event page],  will delve into fear narratives and how best to challenge them and move audiences toward a pro-immigrant, climate resilient future.

As always, maintain smart communications practices.

• Never repeat your opponent’s frame: Lead with your own values and vision. 

• Show, don’t tell: Make the action you propose your message. 

• Explain why actions will work: Audiences want to understand their impact and role.

Narrative Strategy for Climate Migration: Creating Content to Grow Our Audiences and Our Solutions

As climate disasters intensify globally, millions are forced to leave their homes. Migrant justice and climate justice are interconnected and our movements must be, too. We will offer a webinar, Narrative Strategy for Climate Migration: Creating Content to Grow Our Audiences and Our Solutions, that explores current narratives at play, identify needs and opportunities, provide pragmatic guidance for communications and culture projects, and nurture coordination of our collective power to center human dignity and uplift democracy over disaster capitalism.

Join us on March 31st, 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m PST. Registration info can be found here.

Have feedback, questions, or comments? Drop us a line at content@narrativeinitiative.org.