Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / Why Facts Fail and Stories Save the Ocean, The Science of Changing Human Behavior

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Why Facts Fail and Stories Save the Ocean, The Science of Changing Human Behavior · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Facts don't change behavior. Stories do.
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  You can show someone a
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  graph of declining fish stocks.
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  And they might nod and be
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  like, "Okay, that's great."
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  But when you tell them
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  a story about a fisher
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  who can no longer feed their
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  family, it suddenly matters.
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  And if you want people
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  to protect the ocean,
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  we need to stop informing people and
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  start moving people.
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  If you care about protecting the oceans
• 0:28
  and want to understand more about what
• 0:30
  actually works in protecting that ocean,
• 0:33
  follow How to Protect the Ocean podcast
• 0:34
  wherever you listen to podcasts
• 0:37
  and share the episode with someone who
• 0:39
  you think needs to hear it.
• 0:41
  This is the How to Protect the Ocean
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  podcast where we turn ocean science
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  into stories that actually drive action.
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  For years, conservation messaging has
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  focused on crisis, collapse, urgency.
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  And those things are real. Like, let's be
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  honest, they are real.
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  We are seeing coral
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  bleaching on global scales.
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  We have fisheries pushed to their limits.
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  Plastic pollution in every ocean basin at
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  every depth of the ocean.
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  But here's the problem. When people are
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  constantly exposed to negative,
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  overwhelming information,
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  they don't act. Quick story. When I was
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  first introduced to CrossFit,
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  I joined a gym. And it was
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  great. I met a lot of people.
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  And you know, CrossFit is a bit of a cult
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  in that you make friends and you go out
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  and you eat and
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  somewhat healthy or someone
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  not healthy, depending on the gym and
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  depending on if you're going
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  out to blow off some steam.
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  But we went out to a dinner and I was
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  with a bunch of people in my and I was
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  doing YouTube videos at the time.
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  This is early on in my science
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  communication career. And my gym owner at
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  the time was like, hey,
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  Andrew, I've been watching
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  your videos. They're great.
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  But I had to stop at watching them
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  because they were depressing me because
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  they just showed so much
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  so much like doom and gloom.
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  And that really made me think about how I
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  need to change the way I tell the stories
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  to provide optimism in the stories.
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  Now, that's not just the first story.
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  When I went to the IMCC, International
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  Marine Conservation
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  Congress in 2014 in Newfoundland,
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  there were a lot of people that were
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  talking about optimism and how ocean
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  optimism actually matters
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  when it comes to conservation.
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  So people, when they hear the doom and
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  gloom, they disengage. People feel
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  powerless. They feel guilty. They feel
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  unsure where to start.
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  So instead of acting, they just kind of
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  scroll past. So what actually works?
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  Let's take a look at some examples.
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  The United Nation Development Program
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  tried something different. They created a
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  campaign with a talking dinosaur.
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  The message? You have a choice. Don't
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  choose extinction. It was funny,
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  unexpected and shareable.
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  And it reached millions of people.
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  Organizations like Sea Legacy took
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  another approach. They
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  don't just show data.
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  They show a whale looking directly at the
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  camera, a reef before and after
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  bleaching, a shark as a
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  vital part of the ecosystem.
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  They create emotional connection to the
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  ocean because people protect what they
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  care about and they
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  care about what they feel.
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  In Randy Olson's book, Don't Be Such a
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  Scientist, it's one of the first books I
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  read on science communication.
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  And when I read it, you know, he talked
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  about how scientists talk to the brain
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  and we talk with numbers and
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  we talk with graphs and we say,
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  hey, here's the logic behind what we're
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  doing to the earth. If you if I give you
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  that logic, if I speak to your brain,
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  that logic will tell you,
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  hey, we need to change our behavior. But
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  that's not always the case. We know
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  that's not the case.
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  He says to speak to their gut because
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  that's where the emotions are. They sit
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  in your gut, whether it's funny, whether
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  it's sad, whether it's anger.
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  That's where your emotions sit. So speak
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  to the gut and you will actually be able
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  to move people to change their behavior.
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  So let's just make this real. Here are
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  two ways to communicate the same issue.
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  Version one, 90% of large predatory fish
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  are gone. Version two, a fisherman now
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  travels twice as far for half the catch
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  his father once brought home.
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  Same issue, very different impact. If
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  your message doesn't connect, it won't
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  spread. And if it doesn't
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  spread, it won't matter.
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  Here's the truth. People are not lacking
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  information. They are lacking connection.
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  Storytelling is what turns
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  science and understanding.
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  Understanding into emotion, emotion into
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  action. If you are communicating to the
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  ocean, know your audience, speak their
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  language and connect to their values.
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  And most importantly, make the audience
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  the hero of the story because people act
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  when they see themselves in the solution.
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  There are a lot of scientists and
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  conservationists of all ages that are
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  using social media as a way of
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  communicating the
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  work that they are doing,
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  whether it's different jobs, whether it's
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  traveling and volunteering at different
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  organizations as they travel or whether
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  they're showing what they're doing in
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  their research and their graduate
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  programs or even the research they do at
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  their jobs, which is wonderful.
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  You get great visuals on TikTok, on
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  Instagram, on even YouTube if they're
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  going that far. And it's a great way to
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  show what marine biologists do.
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  The key now for many of those people who
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  are actually telling those stories is to
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  really understand how storytelling works.
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  You know, make sure, like I said before,
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  you put the audience as the hero. What is
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  their thing that they need to do? You are
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  the guide. They are the hero.
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  How are you going to help them make that
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  change in behavior? What do they need to
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  do? What's their problem? How do they
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  speak that problem?
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  How do they communicate?
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  How do they listen and what they need to
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  do to change their behavior and what's
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  going to help them change their behavior?
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  What impact can they put on and what
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  benefit can they get when
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  they put on that impact?
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  That's what we've been talking about
• 6:00
  today. We're going to be
• 6:00
  talking about it again.
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  And there's a big announcement that I
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  have soon enough that if you're watching
• 6:07
  on my socials, you'll probably see it.
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  But it's a lot of fun. I can't wait to
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  share that with you. It's about
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  storytelling. It's about science
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  communication. It's going to be great.
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  But until then, if you are interested in
• 6:19
  listening about the ocean, about the
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  solutions, about the problems and what
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  solutions can scale to help, you know,
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  find those solutions to
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  help enact those solutions.
• 6:29
  Why don't you just follow this podcast
• 6:30
  and don't miss the next episode because
• 6:33
  we're going to be talking
• 6:34
  to Peter Sinek from EarthX.
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  He's the CEO of EarthX and he's going to
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  be talking about a conference that
• 6:39
  they're putting on April 20th to the
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  22nd, 2026 where they are going to be
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  having 20 conferences in one.
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  So if you know anything about the ocean
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  or interested in any part of the ocean or
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  earth and protection and conservation and
• 6:50
  business and solutions, you're going to
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  want to attend this conference.
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  I talk about the conference and the
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  impact it's had on the past businesses.
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  Some of them we talked about this week,
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  but we're going to talk
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  more about it tomorrow.
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  So tune in and follow this podcast so
• 7:05
  that you can make sure you tune in.
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  And if you have any questions or
• 7:07
  comments, let me know in the comments.
• 7:09
  If you are on Spotify,
• 7:10
  let me know in the comments.
• 7:11
  If you want to give me feedback, speak up
• 7:13
  for blue dot com forward slash feedback.
• 7:15
  I'm going to be putting out a survey soon
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  for all those of you who are learning
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  from this new structure that I have.
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  So I'd love to hear from you on that.
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  Keep an eye out for that
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  soon in a couple of weeks.
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  I'll probably have it ready.
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  Thank you so much for listening to this
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  episode of the how to
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  protect the ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lohan.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next
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  time and happy conservation.