Spotlighting Climate Solutions With Matt Scott

Spotlighting Climate Solutions With Matt Scott
Communicating Climate Change

This episode features a conversation with Project Drawdown’s Director of Storytelling and Engagement, Matt Scott. It was recorded in February 2024.

Matt works to help everyday people find their role in climate solutions and climate justice at the community level. He’s the host of the climate solutions short documentary series Drawdown's Neighborhood, featured on the Weather Channel's Pattrn streaming network, and is the founding director of Drawdown Stories, both of which we get into during this conversation.

Prior to his work at Project Drawdown, Matt was the global community lead for NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge, the world's largest global problem-solving hackathon, engaging over 100,000 people across more than 150 countries. He’s also worked with the Australian Government, Pivotal Ventures by Melinda Gates, USAID, the United Nations, Nike, Walmart, and the Obama White House.

Amongst other things, Matt and I discussed the power of spotlighting climate solutions and the people working to implement them, how telling such stories can propagate hope and action, and the importance of passing the mic to diverse voices that often go unheard, as well as what happens when we don’t.

Additional links:

Submit your story to the Global Solutions Diary!

Explore Drawdown Stories

Get to know Drawdown’s Neighborhood

We can’t end the climate crisis without “passing the mic”

Project Drawdown homepage

You can follow Matt on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.


Dickon: Hi and welcome to Communicating Climate Change, a podcast dedicated to helping you do exactly that. I'm Dickon and I'll be your host as we dig deep into the best practises and the worst offences, always looking for ways to help you and me improve our abilities to engage, empower, and ultimately activate audiences on climate-related issues.

This episode features a conversation with Project Drawdown’s Director of Storytelling & Engagement, Matt Scott. It was recorded in February 2024.

Matt works to help everyday people find their role in climate solutions and climate justice at the community level. He's the host of the climate solutions short documentary series, Drawdown’s Neighborhood, and is the founding director of Drawdown Stories, both of which we get into during our conversation.

Prior to his work at Project Drawdown, Matt was the global community lead for NASA's International Space Apps Challenge, the world's largest global problem solving hackathon, engaging over 100,000 people across more than 150 different countries. He's also worked with the Australian government, pivotal ventures by Melinda Gates, USAID, the United Nations, Nike, Walmart, and the Obama White House.

Amongst other things, Matt and I discussed the power of spotlighting climate solutions and the people working to implement them, how telling such stories can propagate hope and action amongst audiences, and the importance of passing the mic to diverse voices that often go unheard, as well as what happens when we don’t. So, let’s get on with it. This is Communicating Climate Change with Matt Scott.

From your perspective, how can communication best contribute in humanity's response to the climate crisis? 

Matt: Maybe I'm a little biassed in saying this, but I personally believe that communication is everything. It's so important in how we connect with each other around climate change and other issues, it's so important with how we inform people when it comes to climate and other issues. And when it comes to climate, we know that some of the issues that we face the most are a sense of doom, a sense of distance from the problem, a sense of cognitive dissonance or denial. Lots of D words, by the way, and I have to give credit to psychologist and economist, Per Espen Stoknes, who really talks about the ineffectiveness of communication when it comes to climate.

And when we recognise the problems, when we recognise the role of doom, the distance that people feel from the problem, when we recognise conflicts with identity, we realise that we need to communicate in more brain-friendly human ways, which is why I focus on storytelling. And I really believe in the power of stories to move us in the direction that we need to when it comes to climate. Stories that are inclusive, stories that are human, stories that are relatable, stories that are valid and based in the science, but also in emotion and all the things that we are. So, better communication, better stories, I personally truly believe can help us address and solve - scary word - but solve the climate crisis. 

Dickon: For those less familiar with Project Drawdown, could you give an introduction to the organisation and its work? 

Matt: Project Drawdown is a global, nonprofit climate solutions resource that's really focused on stopping climate change as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible. And we actually used to say, speaking of communication, we used to just say, “our mission is to help the world reach drawdown” and then we would define drawdown, which is “the point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.” But in the spirit of better communication, we just said stoping climate change. 

Project Drawdown, beyond communication, does a lot of really powerful work when it comes to advancing the science of climate solutions, advancing the roles of traditional and new leaders when it comes to the climate solutions conversation. So, that might be business leaders, philanthropists and investors, folks in the international development community, and other leaders who are looking for resources when it comes to climate solutions, to equip them with what they need to integrate solutions effectively into their work.

And of course, as it relates to my work leading our Drawdown Stories programme, the organisation focuses on passing the mic to new voices and new narratives that often go unheard, which is so critical when we recognise that the community's most vulnerable to the impacts of climate are black communities, indigenous communities, communities of colour, and they're also often the least represented in climate spaces. But, we're working to change that. 

Dickon: In your experience, what are some common misconceptions about climate change that hinder effective communication, and how do you address them at Project Drawdown? 

Matt: I think the biggest misconception is that we can't do anything. We are overwhelmed in our society with the focus on the crisis, with the focus on the problem. And that leads to a bunch of hopelessness and people feeling like we can't do anything but something that we focus on at Project Drawdown are the solutions, not because we are these incredible optimists. I would say that I work with a bunch of phenomenal, incredible realists who realise that the science says that if we do work quickly, safely and equitably, that we can do something.

So much of the story of the climate crisis is about the problem, and it doesn't help that news media, as powerful and great as it can be, and has been at times, focuses so much overwhelmingly on the problems on the sensationalism, as opposed to the good news and collaboration and hope and the reality that climate solutions are in the world today. We know the problem, but what can we do about it? And that's what we really focus on at Project Drawdown. 

Dickon: And I guess that leads on nicely to the next question which is, climate communication frequently fixes on the disaster, the doom, the data, what can you tell us about the benefits of taking lemons like those and making lemonade? I guess, telling the other side of the story, what do we stand to gain? 

Matt: First of all, I love that idea of taking lemons and making lemonade. I don't know if you knew this, but that is such a core part of my own story.

It's important that we recognise that we have a role that we can play in changing the narrative, so to speak. When I look at our Drawdown Stories work, the beautiful thing is that it focuses on the real stories of everyday climate heroes who are making a difference, with a focus on underrepresented communities, with a focus on narratives that are often not represented. And one of the biggest benefits, I think, is that it just leaves people equipped with the knowledge that they could do something about the problems that the world faces. It also leaves people knowing that they have a role in doing that.

So, when I look at our storytelling work specifically, which is just one lever that Project Drawdown has, but an incredibly important one, it is so focused on helping people see that climate people aren't what the stereotypes have been for years. Like we're not all tree huggers. We don't all love to spend time outside. Climate people are people just like them, and that we are humans who go through obstacles. We're not all the most hopeful. We're not all the most optimistic. And I think by showcasing the range of people and the range of stories and communicating in this way, we help people see that everyone has a role when it comes to climate change and climate solutions.

You can't be what you can't see. You need to know that solutions are a possibility and that you have a role in that in order to even do something or else, you know, you're lost and can't do anything. So, I'm proud that we could help people find their role and see that they can actually make a tangible difference, not only in the future when it comes to emissions, and that ultimate goal of reaching drawdown, but also when it comes to benefiting our communities day-to-day with the climate solutions that exist in our role today. 

Dickon: How can solution-centric storytelling help audiences gain the confidence to act within their own contexts? 

Matt: That's a great question. I don't think of my storytelling as solution centric. I just think of it as telling that full story, right? So, it's giving a perspective on our world in general through someone's eyes.

And sometimes that story is a more difficult one to navigate. And sometimes that story is a more hopeful one. But I think that Project Drawdown, when it comes to our storytelling approach, prides itself on not aiming to shape a narrative that's just focused on solutions, but rather passing the mic to these climate heroes who are showing each and every day that solutions are real and that they exist.

I love just going into these interviews that we do and not having an idea of what the story is. So often media or journalists or podcasts sometimes right, we might focus on getting something from folks, getting a quote, getting a perspective. And I love just sitting down with someone and asking them a bunch of questions about their life, their motivations, their work.

The approach I take is a trauma informed one that's not prying and trying to get certain things out of them. It's just giving them this comfortable space to share what they want to. And out of that, maybe miraculously, all these positive stories come out and you know, we're so conditioned by the news media to think that the default story is one that is negative when the reality is that so often these, quote unquote solution stories are more positive stories just aren't being told, but they're everywhere around us. They're not as attractive to mainstream media, at times, but they're there everywhere we look.

It's odd that all of our stories do include solutions, but I think that's just because that's a reality, that people who want to change the world and who want to do something will take action. And when you're taking action, naturally, solutions will be part of that conversation, whether it's with climate change or any issue in our world. 

Dickon: What happens when we forget to include clear instructions, guidance or solutions for our audiences. Where do we leave them? 

Matt: I'm in such a fortunate position to be able to connect with a range of communities in the work I do. That's meant that I've been able to spend time in rooms with folks who are environmentalists or climate justice leaders, folks who are civil servants or work in the government, who come from nonprofits, who come from education, students, business leaders, investors, a range of people. And when we don't give people clear guidance when we don't give people clear solutions or a handbook, they are left asking what can I do. How can I do it?

And I think that part of why that hasn't been answered effectively is because people's powers, the superpowers that they could contribute to being the change their communities need, those superpowers have been overlooked and they haven't been valued.

And so no one bothered to tell you or me what we can do because no one thought that they needed us to solve the problem. But what we're seeing is that we are all needed to solve these problems. And when we give people that answer to what they can do, they feel a lot better. They feel that power, they move away from the hopelessness to hope and move away from feeling alone to seeing the power of collaboration, to actually start doing. It's so wild to me how simple it is like just tell people what they can do and tell them how they could do it, give them the resources to do it, answer their questions and they'll be powerful beyond measure. That goes a long way that does. 

Dickon: So, now maybe it's a good chance to tell us more about Drawdown Stories and about Drawdown’s Neighborhood. How does this kind of ethos manifest through those campaigns and through that work? 

Matt: The best place to start, honestly, might just be with my own story and perspective. Because so often the climate stories that we hear are ones of these lifelong environmentalists and people who really felt comfortable in this space, and people who are really great at science, and I am none of those things. I am relatively new to the climate change space in the last five or so years of my, you know, 31 years on this planet.

I was someone who felt so disconnected as a young black queer person, someone who just wasn't seeing themselves represented in the climate world. I heard about climate change. I knew it was a problem. I knew it was real. In fact, even prior to Project Drawdown, I was doing a lot of work with some of the world's most influential organisations. With NASA, with Nike, with the USAID, the Australian government, Pivotal Ventures by Melinda Gates. All these people who are working to be the change.

But the problem I saw was that I was often the only one of my identities represented in the room, and I realised that that was a problem for a few reasons. One that drove away me or other people who didn't see themselves represented. So that's a problem. Because we know that these complex problems are in all hands on deck effort like we can't have people saying, “Oh, you don't need me to do anything about climate change,” like we need people to show up and do something about climate. But the other problem is that when it comes to complex problems, we need diverse perspectives. We need stakeholders from every side of a problem.

You need to attack the problem from every angle and in very concrete ways. You could be someone who's the traditional leader of an organisation. You could be someone who is older, who's younger, you could be someone who is in a, quote, unquote, blue collar job, or white collar job, or you could be someone who loves comic books. You could be someone who loves playing board games. You could be someone who loves singing. All these different things can be superpowers when it comes to helping people address climate change in their communities. When it comes to getting other people on board when it comes to actually bringing these technical solutions to life.

And you don’t need to be someone who passed every science class. You don't need to be someone who's always been comfortable with environmentalism, or who even identifies as environmentalist, or someone who thinks about climate change. All you need to do is know what you need to do to take action in the ways that we need them to be taken, and that's really what I focus on with our storytelling work is helping people see there's no gatekeeping when it comes to climate change.

I truly believe that everyone is welcome and needed and important at all age levels at all backgrounds, all perspectives, all ethnicities and identities, because everyone has the power to build this groundswell, build this movement toward the solutions we need. I know that that comes across in our storytelling work and it comes across more broadly in our work as Project Drawdown. 

Dickon: What problems arise when diverse voices are excluded from the conversation and any decision making that might result from it? 

Matt: With the Drawdown's Neighborhood climate solution short documentary series. Again, I mentioned, that's really focused on these voices that often go unheard. It's been really interesting to connect with people in this place-based way. It goes city by city or location by location. So, Pittsburgh, PA, Atlanta. Georgia, New Orleans, LA. North New Jersey, New Haven, CT from the Bronx, NY. More coming up from the San Francisco Bay area, the momentum keeps going.

Broadly, I could tell you of course, and I think that most listeners know this and could reason this, that when you exclude the diverse voices those voices aren't consulted in decision making and are not brought to the table, are not beneficiaries or contributors to solutions because they're not given the opportunities. But I also think from the place based perspective, looking at a place like New Orleans, so many of the conversations I've had reflect how when the voices of, you know, primarily black people in that community weren't consulted, that led to those communities being disproportionately impacted by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent hurricanes there, and people actually dying as dark as is, that's the reality.

And I love being able to focus on this place based approach because it makes things so much more tangible and real. Victimhood isn't the only story, but there are people being victimised by their communities and disenfranchised by their communities. And again, having their powers overlooked on these very local levels as well as in the broader dialogue. So pick a location, pick a place. Famously, Flint, MI, or if you go out to Bangladesh, you'll see the different water crises and issues there.

Every day where people aren't benefiting from solutions to these problems, there are, unfortunately, people who are suffering and worse, people losing their lives and I want people to understand the gravity and the weight of overlooking underrepresented voices. But so often we think about these things in a very academic way, but we don't think about the. Importance of solutions.

Solutions are worth it because they're benefiting communities now. People I've interviewed through Drawdowns Neighborhood, they're feeding community members who would otherwise go hungry in line with reducing food waste. So, they're achieving a climate solution while also literally feeding people and saving their lives. They're improving the efficiency of schools, for example, so that kids from underrepresented communities, in particular lower income communities oftentimes, could focus on their studies or engage with their community and be healthy, productive citizens.

So yes, the problems are real, but also the solutions are saving lives today and that's something I don't want people to overlook, just the tangible nature of it all. 

Dickon: What are some of the challenges that you've run into when trying to elevate such voices? What potential challenges or barriers should other climate communicators listening be aware of when seeking to do the same kind of work? 

Matt: The biggest challenge, and the most frustrating one, believe it or not, is the people who leave amplifying diverse voices to others. I do so much public speaking. I've done so many different events and I could be in front of a room of 400 people and I could tell them bring these diverse voices into your spaces, give us platforms to amplify our work. Use your influence to engage your communities and get them on board. Share this type of work. And it doesn't happen. And I think part of that is that bystander effect that people think that someone else is going to do it. For those who aren't familiar, if you're in a situation and no one else is around and there's one person who's in trouble, you're more inclined to take action than if you're in a situation where there are three people around and someone's in trouble. You just assume someone else will do something. Well, that's the biggest problem I find is that there are so many people who have the power and the ability to do something and they don’t.

I'm so appreciative and grateful for the people who do choose to do something, who will choose to share this podcast, for example with their communities, rather than saying, “Oh, Matt and Project Drawdown will do it, someone else will do it.”

It makes a massive difference when you amplify someone's voice or their story to your community members because that's you saying to your community members, this matters to me and it should matter to you too. And I I only wish that more people would realise the necessity of them using their power and their influence to support this type of work and support underrepresented voices. 

Dickon: Looking ahead, what do you see as the most promising opportunities for scaling up community-based climate solutions and what steps can communicators take to support these kinds of efforts? For example, in their own local area? 

Matt: I would say to start small, like I love that you really focused on what people could do where they are, because so often when we think of impact, we think that it needs to be big and broad and I really felt like that for so long. We are so inclined to want a large number of likes, a large number of downloads, a large number of views and that leads us to forget the importance of impacting just one or impacting a group of ten and the ripple effect of that. That ripple effect is really what we aim for and in fact that is where real impact comes from.

I actually do really like to reference the climate Venn diagrams, or the Japanese concept of ikigai, but Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson is someone who’s popularised the idea of the climate Venn diagrams which is as simple as focusing on: What it is that you're good at? What it is that needs to be done in terms of the work? And then what it is that brings you joy? And by taking action that's in the middle of those things like that's where you could have a really fulfilled life.

Ikigai roughly translates to, “the reason for being”, so it's really about having this meaningful life. And I think by focusing in on what your powers are, your own superpowers are, focusing in on what you like to do, focusing in on what needs to be done. That's the best place to start.

We actually have this initiative coming out very soon in Earth month it'll be announced more publicly, but it's called the Global Solutions Diary and it's literally just our opportunity to invite stories, filming with phones or with a webcam to share what climate action you're taking in for or with your community, to share who or what inspired you to care about climate. It's our way of capturing more of those stories that will have the power to influence people and show them, “Oh, there are people in my community wherever I look. Who are part of the solution.”

What's so great is that you or anyone listening could not only submit what they're doing, but you could share that with your communities. You could send that to people to say, “Hey, share what you're doing and then we'll actually feature it and showcase it pretty, pretty widely.” Already, before we've even launched, we've gotten a handful of partners on board, but we have 50 plus videos that have been submitted from, I would say, like 20 plus countries at this point and it is stirring to be reminded that people everywhere not only care about climate change, but there are people everywhere who are working on solutions.

One thing that I'll actually do just for you for your listeners, I will send you a link to the submission platform now. I shouldn't be saying this too loudly. I feel like I should whisper, but I'll send it now in case they are interested in submitting. And back to what we said about the bystander effect, I really want all of your listeners to submit to the Global Solutions Diary and to find someone else to submit to the Global Solutions Diary because those stories matter. And again, you never know the full impact, the full ripple effect that they will have. 

Dickon: I will commit right now to doing it myself. 

Matt: Oh wow, I'm excited. 

Dickon: What's the single most important aspect of communication that we should be paying attention to in our communication endeavours? 

Matt: To recognise that everyone, every single person, has influence and by extension, because so often we overlook the power of folks from underrepresented communities, often black and brown communities and others we talked about. We need to lean into being sure that the voices that are not in the room that are not in the conversations are still being consulted, are being heard from and are being represented. 

Dickon: Conversely, what's the biggest mistake that you see communicators make when attempting to engage the public on climate change issues? 

Matt: There's not one right way to communicate. So often communicators - and that goes for professional communicators, that goes for people who are advocating to their legislators, it goes for a range of folks that people think that there's a right way to communicate - they think, “I need to always pull in the science. I need to always pull in the data. I need to be angry with how I talk about this issue,” when the reality is we need that diversity of voices, we need that diversity of approaches, because different things resonate with different people.

Just like we all as communicators are people, well, the audiences we're talking to, they are fully fledged people. They are parents, they are, you know, people who nerd out for a bunch of different topics. They're people who have hopes and dreams and passions and quirky interests and all these things have the power to connect with others and resonate with them. And we need to lean into that rather than thinking that there's only one right story. 

Dickon: It was a blast talking to Matt for this episode, and there was plenty of food for thought. But what in particular stuck with you from our conversation? What will you take from it and apply it to your own work?

For me it was the value of these kinds of community stories for showcasing that well, as Matt said, climate people aren't any one kind of people. It reminds me of the classic marketing line. You are not your audience, no single one of us works as a credible messenger or a relatable role model for everyone. We need to diversify the stories and diversify the heroes they revolve around.

Then, I can't help but dwell on Matt's remarks about how exclusion from decision making can lead to serious and potentially deadly outcomes. This seems to lend a lot of credibility to points from previous discussions, such as with Markus Appel, where we talked about how what each of us says contributes to the shaping of our shared reality. Matt laid out the truth of that matter in ways that are hard to ignore.

So that's what I'll be taking with me. But how about you? What did you hear? What will you be incorporating into your communications endeavours?

Thanks to Matt Scott for sharing his time and enthusiasm with the show. It was great. You can find some links to relevant resources in the show notes. Thanks also to you for listening to Communicating Climate Change. If you enjoyed this episode, why not leave a rating or a review? You can find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts or by subscribing so you never miss out. You can find Communicating Climate Change on LinkedIn too, and if you think the series would be of interest to friends or colleagues, why not point them in the right direction.

Remember each and every episode attempts to add to our toolkits to help us develop the skills and the self-awareness that we'll need for this vital task. So be sure to stay tuned for more for anything else, just head over to communicatingclimatechange.com. Until next time, take care. 

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