Social Change Communications 

The Effects of Climate Change Created by 

America 
By Alexa Tufenkjian 
 

 
 
 

Table of Contents 

Intro 2 

Systems Map 2 

Norms 3 

History  3 

Laws 6 

Cost-Benefit Matrix 8 

Context Analysis 9 

Best Practices 9 

Action Plan 10 

Vision  10 

Goals 11 

Strategy and Tactics 11  

Changemakers & Stakeholders 11 

Communication Plan: Storytelling & Message 13 

Communication Plan: Social Media Marketing 14 

Timeline 16 

Budget 17 

References 18
 

 
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What is Climate Change? 

Climate change is an increase in the overall global climate caused by the 
overproduction of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) and other types of pollution 
created by humans. Greenhouse gases come from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are 
energy sources used to run factories for coal, oil, and gasoline, slaughter cattle, 
create transportation, and cut down trees. Another huge issue is the 
overproduction and consumption of plastic products. The change in climate caused 
by this pollution is melting polar ice caps, raising ocean ph levels and water levels, 
killing the food chain, ruining animals habitats, causing health problems, etc. 
 

Systems Map
 
 

 
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Good Norms Bad Norms

Recycling Plastic Products

Reusing Factories

Carpooling & Energy Saving Cars Slaughter-houses

Solar Power Deforestation

Biodegradable Products Transportation

 
Some of the norms we have today are helping stop climate change while others are 
making it worse. All of the bad norms contribute fossil fuels that are polluting the 
air and causing climate change. We might not be able to get people to stop 
commuting, but we can get brands to switch over to energy efficient transportation 
by establishing laws. Setting laws in order to maintain fossil fuels for big brands will 
put an end to climate change as they are the biggest contributors. The good norms 
are not enough to end climate change as it will take more than just individual 
actions. If all businesses in America use these good norms and apply it to their way 
of business, it can make a difference. Such as having your business recycle, use 
biodegradable products, and run on solar energy. 

History  
As you know, climate change is an increase in the overall temperature of Earth 
caused by greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) that are created by human-made 
industrialism. NASA states “The current warming trend is of particular significance 
because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the 
result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is 
unprecedented over decades to millennia.” This was right when the industrial 
revolution began. On their site, they also mention how “The planet's average 
surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) 
since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and 
other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.​”​ Overall, this increase causes 
oceans to rise, ph levels to rise, ice caps to melt, glaciers to retreat, lakes to 
evaporate, animal to lose their habitats, and become extinct. 
 
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As shown in the TED Talk with David Keith, emissions are increasing at a dangerous
rate each year.
 
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting and shrinking. “Data from 
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average 
of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost 
about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same time period. The rate of 
Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.​” Moreover,
​
this loss of ice 
causes all the ice to melt and flood over land.“Global sea level rose about 8 inches 
in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that 
of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.” This loss of ice is causing 
polar bears to starve and will become extinct! National Geographic explains that 
polar bears need to catch their prey using the ice. Polar bears eat mainly seals; So 
they wait by the seals’ breathing hole in the ice until they come up for air in order to 
attack them. Without the ice, the polar bears lose their main food source. 
 
It is predicted that if we do not slow down climate change, New York will start to 
flood in just 50 years. As mentioned in a TED Talk with Vicky Arroyo, New Orleans is 
already half underwater ever since Hurricane Katrina. Speaking of hurricanes, 
climate change is causing natural disasters to occur around the world. “The number 
of record high-temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while 
the number of record low-temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. 
The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events. 
 
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Unfortunately, our president Donald Trump does not believe in climate change and 
calls it fake news. The good thing is we can rely on our people, brands, and 
Congress to create stricter laws to stop climate change. Brands like Patagonia, 
Levis, IKEA, Panasonic, Nike, REI, Seventh Generation are all environmentally 
friendly brands. There are also many famous people that are activists to end 
climate change. Such as Leonardo Dicaprio, Meryl Streep, Ben Affleck, Channing 
Tatum, Pierce Brosnan, Natalie Portman, etc. 
 

In this Google Trend search, you can see the main states and countries that are 
searching the most about “climate change”. Unfortunately, out of all the countries, 
the United States is number 18 out of all of the results. This is because our country 
needs more awareness of how serious climate change is. We need more laws and 
regulations on climate change. We also need a president who is more serious about 
climate change. All of these countries like Fiji and Ethiopia have strict laws on 
climate change because they are being directly affected by it. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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Leonardo Dicaprio spoke at the 2014 Climate Summit and said, “this disaster has 
grown beyond the choices that individuals make..” and ..” our governments around 
the worlds taking decisive large scale action.” He says we need to put a price tag on 
carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for oil, coal, and gas 
companies. “The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the 
oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.” Mentioned in The Role of New 
Media in Engaging the Public with Climate Change, it states that using celebrities 
and social media brings a whole new way to get more awareness on climate 
change.  
 

Laws 
1963 was the far beginning of enforcing climate change regulations. The Clean Air 
Act (CAA) was created. It is a federal law made to keep climate change under 
control. The CAA tracks emissions caused by stationary and mobile sources. It was 
originally created to prevent public health risks associated with contaminated air. 
Yet, it became a bigger global issue that is affecting the whole planet and everything 
living on it. The CAA is controlled by The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
which was created in 1970 as an independent agency of the United States that 
protects the environment. You would think that with all these important systems 
climate change would be under control. Unfortunately, there is only so much they 
can do without being overruled by Congress and our monopoly of big businesses. 
Luckily, we have improved slightly since some of these rules were put in place and 
more energy efficient technology has come out. No matter what, climate change 
will continue to rise without a bigger systematic change.  
 
The Paris Agreement began in 2015 with the United Nations in order to control 
climate change. “It has the central goal of keeping global average temperature rise 
this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to as 
close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The United Nations brought leaders from 
across the globe together to make a difference. There is also the plastic straw ban 
which had just recently started trending. The goal is to eliminate plastic straws as 
they are harmful to our planet, end up in oceans (and animals stomachs), and take 
thousands of years to disintegrate. For people that need straws, sturdy paper 
(biodegradable) ones have already been made. Across the U.S., people are fighting 
over the straw ban. They are fighting mostly because they do not understand there 
are working alternatives to the straw ban and the positive effects it has on the 
environment.  
 

 
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“In just the U.S. alone, one estimate suggests 500 million straws are used every 
single day” While another study suggests “8.3 billion plastic straws pollute the 
world’s beaches.” Cities in California, Seattle, New York, Miami, and Chicago have 
proposed and/or already implemented these bans. Brands are starting to ban 
straws as well. These are great stakeholders to have. If the government won’t 
change the laws, it is up to them! Starbucks has a goal of eliminating plastic straws 
by 2020. Bacardi, The Marriott Hotels, and American Airlines are just a few of the 
brands participating in this ban.  
 
Another important regulation towards stopping climate change are plastic bag bans 
and tax. The plastic bag tax is literally putting a price on plastic bags to encourage 
reusable bag use (and give the cities money). Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San 
Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, New York City, Portland, and Washington D.C. all have 
plastic bag bans and fees. Eliminating plastics needs to start somewhere and 
getting rid of just straws and plastic bags eliminates tons of waste in just one year.  
 
Nonprofits are starting to form at a local level to stop climate change. Plant Chicago 
is a non-profit organization that supports a circular economy. A circular economy is 
all about eliminating plastics, reusing waste, and recycling while creating economic 
benefits for people in their community. Brands like these help educate locals and 
students on how to be sustainable. This can expand into teaching local businesses 
on how to be sustainable like them. This is another stakeholder that can help bring 
more awareness of climate change in order to create change.  

 
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This Google Trend search was based on the search “Plastic Straw Ban.” You can see
South Dakota, Washington. DC, California, and Oklahoma all have the most action with
this ban.

Cost Benefits Matrix 

 
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Context Analysis

Best Practices

1. Set laws on the amount of fossil fuels that can be used.

2. Switch businesses and car makers to solar powered energy.
3. Ban the creation and sale of plastic.
4. Educate brands on how to be sustainable and open a sustainable business.
5. Bring awareness of climate change through social media.

 
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Action Plan
1. Bringing awareness to climate change is the first step to get businesses,
Congress, and other higher powers to follow along the footsteps in stopping it.
Running a social media campaign that shows businesses how to be sustainable
can show them that is not so hard to switch and all the benefits that go along with
it. Once all these businesses switch over, it will show the bigger businesses that
they are losing customers. Moreover, they will switch to a sustainable business to
compete with the market.
2. Another step needs to be to open a sustainable business, like a restaurant, that
can grow into a chain and will educate consumers on climate change. This will
overall get them to support sustainable brands and boycott the rest. This is
another tactic on how to get other brands on board with making their brands
sustainable as they will lose customers.
3. Running a social media campaign to bring awareness to the terrible effects of
climate change while campaigning for laws to be put in place to ban plastic, limit
fossil fuels, and encourage solar powered energy can get these laws actually
implemented. Reaching out to influencers and brands to spread the word to sign
a petition to Congress will get this noticed. If you find the right influencers, they
might know some of the people in Congress to validate their vote.

Campaign Type: ​National

The Vision 
 
The vision is to reduce greenhouse gases and overall eliminate plastic waste by 
changing our social norms. Doing this will overall save our planet and better human 
lives. I think it would be amazing if small businesses would have refillable items, 
biodegradable products and containers, zero plastic, and solar powered energy; 
hoping to change the norm of big brands over time to follow in our footsteps. 
Moreover, getting laws put in place to ban the use and sale of plastic and to limit 
the production of greenhouse gases in each state, can put an end to climate change 
over time. This type of change can take 50-100 years to actually get rid of a lot of 
that carbon dioxide in the air and change social norms. Yet, doing so will stabilize 
our planet, decrease illnesses, decrease natural disasters, and save our ecosystem. 
 

 
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Goals and Execution Plan 

Goals  Strategy  Tactics 

Be a model for running a  Open a sustainable  Work with Coca-Cola to 

sustainable business  business in Chicago that will  have biodegradable 
become a chain across the  products inside the 
U.S.  business 

Teach other businesses on  Run a social media  Show how easy and 
how to be sustainable by  campaign on how to be  affordable it is to be 
changing norms  sustainable   sustainable 

Bring awareness of climate  Run a social media  Show statistics and real-life 
change by changing  campaign showing the  image 
people's’ attitudes  horrible effects of climate 
change 

Changemakers and Stakeholders Roles 

Greenpeace will partner with me and help fund this plan. Their strong team of
researchers, organizers, volunteers, and scientists can help make this happen. Since
they are a greatly honored non-profit, they will be supporting all the funds for this
campaign by reaching out for grants.

 
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Brands  Non-Profits  Celebrities  Politicians 

Patagonia  Greenpeace  Leonardo Dicaprio  Mike Levin 

Toms  Environmental  Lil Dicky  J.B.Pritzker  

Defense Fund 

Coca-Cola  WWF  Meryl Streep  Jay Inslee 

Levis  Plant Chicago  Channing Tatum   Michael Bloomberg 

Lush  Climate Reality  Natalie Portman  Francis Rooney 

Project 

All of these stakeholders play a role in helping this campaign come to life. Brands will help 
promote and bring awareness to this campaign through sharing on social media. Coca-Cola 
specifically will be used to have a biodegradable section of Coca-Cola products in my store. 
By reaching out to local Coca-Cola headquarters, we will advertise their products in 
exchange for them to give us a specially branded biodegradable environmentally-friendly 
products in the store. This will not stop them from selling plastics but it is a start to letting 
consumers know that they can choose to purchase earth-friendly products over plastic 
without costing more money or making them go out of their way to get it. Over time, we 
hope to change the norm and have every consumer choose biodegradable over plastic 
making soda-companies stop creating more plastic product. 

Moreover, all non-profits will be supporting us and bringing awareness to this campaign. 
Plant Chicago will help with the launch of the Chicago sustainable business before it 
branches out all over the country. Plant Chicago is a sustainable non-profit so they can help 
educate us on how to run our sustainable business and where to find sustainable brands 
to feature in the store. Scientists from Greenpeace and The Environmental Defense Fund 
will be used to get real data and facts about climate change to share and make our 
campaign valid and convincible to non-believers. All celebrities will be our Instagram 
influencers by advocating for our campaign and sharing our content. Politicians are going 
to help from the inside by advocating for putting prices on carbon emissions and limiting 
the amount of plastic production.  

 
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The Team Roles

Greenpeace Fund Will help take over & support this plan

Climate Reality Project Will help take over & support this plan

Plant Chicago Will help educate on how to run a

sustainable business

Employees Needed for the business

Graphic Designer Needed for social media graphics

Communications: Storytelling & Message  

Climate Change is causing our planet to fall apart. The increase of greenhouse gases
caused by us humans have caused the planet’s overall temperature to rise and it is
continuing to rise. This can’t be fixed just by us individuals, but by all major
corporations. Ice caps are melting, animals are going extinct, oceans are rising, and are
causing major human health problems. We need to come together and turn every
business into a sustainable one by reusing waste, using solar powered energy,
eliminating plastics, and putting regulations on carbon emissions. Our planet is all we
have. Let’s come together and save it from the damage we have caused. It is our
responsibility.

Message End Climate Save Our Planet Live Sustainably

Change

Hashtags #SaveOurPlanet #EarthFirst #GreenMovement

 
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Communications Plan: Marketing & Advertising 

Mood Board 

Words Climate Change, Colors Jfejefjwhaewfh 

Earth, Hasgdfkdhfjjha 
Sustainability, haefhewhflkjlh 
Pollution

Theme Environment Fonts END​CLIMATE​CHANGE 

Abstract Sadness, Fear, Brand Name EarthFirst

Anger,
Compassion,
Movement

Images Dying animals, Message End Climate

Plastic in the ocean Change, Save Our
Planet, Be
Sustainable

Brand Mapping 

Message  End Climate Change  Sight  Garbage in ocean, 

Dying animals  

Shapes  Circle- Earth   Sound  The wind, waves, 

Waves- Ocean  birds chirping 

Rituals  Paris Agreement,  Taste  Earthy, Ocean Salt 

Earth Day & Hour 

Traditions  Recycling,  Smell   Earthy, Ocean Salt 

Carpooling,  

Symbols  People holding  Texture  Sandy, Rough like 

hands, Animals   plastic in the ocean 

 
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Social Media Examples 

Instagram Awareness Campaign 

Sustainability Twitter Post Example 

Click on our bio link for a few tips & tricks on how to make your business sustainable.
#EarthFirst

Other types of advertising: ​Billboards and Email Marketing

 
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Communications Plan: Public Relations 

● Media Kit 
● Press Release 
● National & Local News like ABC 
● Daily Climate 
● Greenpeace  
● Environmental Defense Fund 
● Climate Reality Project 
● Climate Change Blogs  

Timeline: 

 
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Budget: 

This is an estimated budget based off grants from Greenpeace. 

 
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Bibliography 

Climate change evidence: How do we know? (2019, March 18). Retrieved from
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y
Nations, U. (2014, September 23). Leonardo DiCaprio (UN Messenger of Peace) at
the opening of Climate Summit 2014. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTyLSr_VCcg

Fou, M. L. (2016, November 17). The Greatest Speech Of Leonardo DiCaprio |

Climate Change | by MirekLeFou. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cc8E3BWOqA

MacMillan, A. (2019, February 09). Global Warming 101. Retrieved from

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsZ3kBRCnARIsAIuA
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Plastic Pollution Coalition. (2015, December 10). Plastic Pollution and Climate
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https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/11/17/plastic-pollution-and-climate-chan
ge

Who Is Working To Stop Climate Change? (n.d.). Retrieved from

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mate-change

UNITED NATIONS Climate Change - Summit 2019. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.un.org/en/climatechange/

Gibbens, S. (2019, January 03). A brief history of how plastic straws took over the
world. Retrieved from

 
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/07/news-plastic-drinking-straw-his
tory-ban/

Brueck, H. (2018, October 22). The real reason why so many cities and businesses
are banning plastic straws has nothing to do with straws at all. Retrieved from
https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-straw-ban-why-are-there-so-many-2018-7

Keith, D. (n.d.). A critical look at geoengineering against climate change. Retrieved

from
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Arroyo, V. (n.d.). Let's prepare for our new climate. Retrieved from
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https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vLxq8Y3skaAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA233&dq=
celebrities climate change

17 Celebrities Who Actively Work to Protect the Environment. (2017, November

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Overview of the Clean Air Act and Air Pollution. (2019, March 14). Retrieved from
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rming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/

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8/

 
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