Global CCS Institute uses memes to inform Australians about climate change technology
Melbourne-based Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute is educating Australians about new climate change technology by inviting audiences to ‘Join the Underground,’ in a meme-led campaign.
Put together by New Zealand agency Creature Design, the new campaign aims to address misconceptions about Carbon Capture and Storage – the process of putting carbon dioxide into rock formations underground so it cannot enter the atmosphere – by transforming traditional climate change posters into memes.
One meme strikes out the world “talk” and replaces the word with “action.”
Another reads ‘No longer up in the air: Join the Underground.’
Global CCS Institute’s global lead of advocacy and communications, Antonios Papaspiropoulos said the campaign faced a tight budget.
“We are a membership organisation which doesn’t have the kind of mass media funding to match NGOs like Greenpeace or WWF,” Papaspiropoulos said.
“The trouble is, not enough people know about it. We need more support and that support can only be won by stepping up our advocacy efforts.
“With limited means, we thought, ‘What about memes?’”
Creature Design’s managing partner, Brooke Ashton Taylor said it was a “purposeful and rewarding project”.
“We’ve worked extensively in the energy sector but the enthusiasm for this environmentally imperative piece of work was palpable. Here’s an organisation with a limited budget but a vital global climate change story to tell.”
The memes – which were previewed on Chinese television in line with the decarbonisation conference in Beijing, and are running in Australia – will form part of the Institute’s policy action.
Papaspiropoulos added: “Hopefully, these memes strike a chord with audiences and build a greater awareness about carbon capture and storage as a fundamental climate change technology.”
