Climate project engages audiences and influences daily behavior

Climate Solutions, a collaborative of news outlets convened by the public media partnership StateImpact Pennsylvania, wanted to get feedback about its project from the community. It formed a listening group of nine people, which it assembled six times between 2022 and 2023, and asked how their behaviors had changed as a result of reading climate solutions stories produced by the collaborative. Those stories included coverage of home energy savings and responses to flooding, as well as a seven-part video series titled “What can I do about climate change,” created in response to a question that emerged from its engagement work. Twelve of the top 50 performing stories on StateImpact Pennsylvania’s website were solutions oriented. Participants in the group unanimously shared how they learned from the information and talked about it at work or in their personal lives. Some described a growing awareness of climate change and taking small actions in their day-to-day lives to mitigate its consequences or getting involved in local climate-focused projects.