Climate of Communication

There is an old adage that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and this holds particularly true for a society suffering from a deficit of accurate information and knowledge.

Dr. Matthew Nisbet noted that public skepticism derives from public ignorance or irrationality. In terms of climate change, the urgency of environmental degradation has been framed incompletely, leading to public ignorance and ambivalence. The issues of climate change must be communicated more effectively in order to overcome the debilitating ignorance that is creating serious environmental consequences.

Movements such as www.350.org have begun the communication revolution on climate action, and are beginning to make a significant impact. Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org, realized the importance of a global crusade to reduce carbon dioxide to 350 ppm, a value scientifically determined as the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He created the website to effectively, and creatively communicate the message of strong climate action, and has been able to make a significant dent in the armor of global public ignorance.

On October 24, 2009, the organization organized and supported over 5,200 events with people in 181 countries, who gathered to call for strong action and leadership on the climate crisis. The website has found a way to publically communicate the urgency of the climate crisis, and by framing the issue in terms of the harm generated worldwide, climate change was made relevant in the public mind. By demonstrating visual solidarity with the number “350,” the issue captured media attention without alarmism or fear mongering, that are off-putting to the public. 

The following is a video compilation of the global day of action in October hosted by 350.org:

Basically, the world needs more creative public campaigns that spread important social messages to the masses and promote grassroots mobilization. I honestly believe that creative communication is the key to overcoming the ignorance barrier, and making a real global difference. 

 

Internet Anonymous

In a world of the 24-hour news cycle, people are increasingly putting down their newspapers and opening up their laptops, mobile phones, and tablets to remain connected with the rapidly changing face of journalism. Newsreaders are ever more reliant on Internet communications in the form of blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts as the primary source of information.

Although these online sources provide the most rapid form of news and information sharing, one must question the reliance of Internet communication as completely factual sources of information. The recent scandal over the narrator of the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” displays the ease with which authenticity can be feigned online.

The blog, “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” claimed to be written by Amina Arraf, a gay Syrian female, but was revealed to have actually been authored by a straight American man. The blog was wildly popular in the blogging community throughout the world, and the hoax has raised questions about what “reality” means for the Internet.

I understand that creative license on the Internet is important, however I am not sure how to identify when creative fiction becomes flat-out lies. The blogging community is in uproar about Amina Arraf, but I’m not really surprised that she proved to be a character of fiction.

The Internet has long provided individuals with a forum of anonymity—

A place where you can provide commentary on news articles and pick fights with people about a video on YouTube. The Internet will always be a location for identity construction, and then reconstruction. We shouldn’t read too much into any particular opinion or editorial, we just need to understand that the Internet provides everybody a voice, even if it is not their real one.

Mobile Potential

This is James. He lives in a little village outside of Bungoma, a small town located in Kenya’s Western Province.  He walks an hour and a half to work each day because he is too poor to afford the relatively economical forms of public transportation—boda-boda (bicycle taxi), piki piki (motorcycle taxi), or matatu (minibus)—and has no savings, so he cannot even invest in a bicycle. He barely has enough to feed and clothe his family, let alone send his two daughters to school.  However, there is one thing James does have, and it’s a cell phone.

While I was volunteering at the NGO James serves as the caretaker for, the directors of the program suggested we pay James a few Kenyan Shillings in exchange for doing our laundry. We were told he would truly appreciate the gesture, as he was struggling to support his family.

James, a deeply caring and kind man, was immensely grateful. However, rather than spend the laundry money on food and clothing for his wife and children, he purchased a brand new mobile telephone. He has no one to call, no one to SMS, and no one to call him. He just has a phone, an asset he cannot even afford to charge at one of the local phone charging shops.

While I was initially dismayed by the news of James’s self-indulgent purchase, I know of the opportunities the phone can open to James’s family and village if social entrepreneurship is actively promoted. James could become the center of information for his village, if he uses his mobile device to attain information about crop prices for the village farmers, to search for employment and business opportunities for the latent capitalist, and to access educational resources for the community youth. 

The governments of poor, developing countries must understand the potential of information and communication technologies in the rural villages, and must actively promote the social and economic benefits these technologies can provide. Although offering government resources through free telephone hotline numbers and SMS services may not be feasible in the short term, governments should develop practical ways to make this kind of electronic information more accessible to the rural poor.

In this globalized technological revolution, if new information and technology services aren’t given life in the most rural regions in the world, individuals like James will continue to flaunt their effectively dead phones to no avail.