Climate contagion: networks of belief and influence

Excerpt from one in a series of articles for the Network Canvas blog:

At its core, the climate crisis is a systemic issue, one that requires systemic thinking to tackle in any meaningful sense. But systems are made of people. By understanding the structure of our social relationships, we can gain insight into how climate action is supported, resisted, or ignored in day-to-day contexts in a way that girders the structural overview.

Network Canvas is designed with these hard-to-quantify human factors in mind. The software's visual interface and interview-based methodology respects participant agency and helps surface stories and patterns that would otherwise remain hidden in conventional survey formats.

As researchers and practitioners search for new ways to support climate communications, policymaking, and community resilience, network data provides a crucial lens to measure both individual attitudes and understand the social dynamics that drive change in the actually-existing world.

In a political context where misinformation spreads quickly and public trust is fragile, knowing who people listen to, and why, may end up being one of our most powerful tools in our efforts to shine a light through the fog of ideology, and create a liveable future for everyone.