I Value A Healthy Climate Instagram Campaign

@ivalueahealthyclimate is an Instagram campaign started by Claire and Gracie to test the power of one’s social network. Our goals were to go viral, stay unbiased, and spread appreciation for a healthy climate.

Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders from the government, Instagram and other social media outlets have spiked in use especially for a younger demographic.

This younger demographic seemed to be the ideal target audience, as we understand the trends of our peers. For example, our campaign “I Value A Healthy Climate” was inspired by the viral “challenges” that have taken place on Instagram since the stay-at-home orders began. These challenges required people to upload a photo on their Instagram Story -a post which disappears after 24 hours- that related to the theme of the challenge. Previous challenges included posting a picture of one’s dog, a favorite music album, or a picture of oneself for appreciation, as well as one that involved doing ten push-ups and posting a video of the endeavor. These “challenges” went viral and swept Instagram for over a month.

Here are some of the challenges that were posted and tagged out page -  

In addition to the challenges, we made posts by @ivalueahealthyclimate that linked to articles from various sources. We tried to use sources that weren’t known for leaning on one side or the other of the political spectrum.

Here are some images we posted - 

Our methods came from the book What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming, where author Stoknes discusses the impact of one’s social network on their opinion and overall decisions where one’s peers act as major influencers of how one acts and thinks. Stoknes also emphasizes the function of personal stories in communication (Stoknes, 2015). We viewed this challenge as a way to combine the power of peer influence and personal narratives to foster open communication about climate change. By asking people to post their own story about why a healthy climate matters to them, we encouraged them to self reflect and personally relate the issue of climate change. We believe that this establishment of a personal relationship is one of the most effective and only ways to motivate people to act or care about a subject. Also, personal stories can frame climate change values in a non-threatening manner as not to intimidate people. By creating this challenge, we involved our audience, allowing them to feel more part of the climate change efforts and also engaged their social network.

Our page didn’t go viral, which was expected. We learned that it was difficult to get participants in our challenge because the page itself didn’t have a loyal following or very much of a following at all. Despite getting in touch with ECOS Environmental Responsibility club, to have us promoted, and asking all of our friends to join in on the challenge and follow us, we ended up with 14 participants and 40 followers. We learned that it’s harder than it seemed to get people to participate in the challenge. Maybe because this challenge included having to speak out for an opinion which as we learned can bo polarizing. Speaking out for a viewpoint on social media can be difficult and feel vulnerable. We hope that our campaign brought a little more awareness of climate change and inspired others to begin speaking out for what they believe in more. 

Check out our page @ivalueahealthyclimate 

Reference - 

Stoknes, P.E. (2015) What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action