What Makes Yale Climate Connections Stories Work

The document details how Yale Climate Connections (YCC) utilizes personal narratives, evidence-based 'climate framing', and diverse voices to bridge the psychological distance of climate change. It emphasizes the use of the 'Six Americas' segmentation to tailor content, the importance of centering hope through problem-solution narratives, and the strategic use of succinct 90-second radio stories to reach a broad national audience, including conservatives and opinion leaders.

• YCC uses personal stories to reduce the psychological distance of climate change, making the crisis feel immediate and tangible rather than distant in time and space.
• The organization employs a 'climate frame' to explicitly link extreme weather events to human-caused climate change, addressing a gap where many media services report on weather without making this connection.
• Featuring diverse voices, including Republicans and conservatives, helps shift perceptions of social norms. A 2021 YPCCC study found that programs featuring these groups increased conservatives' perception of how many Republicans are worried about climate change in seven of twelve tested programs.
• YCC balances difficult truths with hope by using a problem-solution narrative structure, profiling community changemakers and innovative solutions to inspire listener action.
• The strategic choice of a 90-second radio format allows YCC to maintain listener attention and reach a broader demographic, including the 'Doubtful' and 'Dismissive' segments of the Six Americas who rarely seek out online climate news.

APA

mallika (2024). What Makes Yale Climate Connections Stories Work. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/news-events/what-makes-yale-climate-connections-stories-work/

Chicago

mallika. What Makes Yale Climate Connections Stories Work. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2024. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/news-events/what-makes-yale-climate-connections-stories-work/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=mallika |title=What Makes Yale Climate Connections Stories Work |publisher=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |date=23 January 2024 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/news-events/what-makes-yale-climate-connections-stories-work/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mallika2024what, author = {mallika}, title = {{What Makes Yale Climate Connections Stories Work}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/news-events/what-makes-yale-climate-connections-stories-work/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }