On September 11, 2018, the New York Times published an article detailing Monday’s announcement by the United Nations secretary general António Guterres in which he called upon global leaders to make substantial changes in order to slow our planet’s climate crisis.

Mr. Guterres said, “The time has come for our leaders to show they care about people whose fate they hold in their hands.” The article states that if we do not change course by 2020, we risk passing the point of no return when it comes to damage to our natural environment.

In order to combat this problem, I believe we need a major cultural shift in ideology and priorities, but from a PR standpoint, campaigns that attempt to reach that large of an audience typically fail. That being said, I have a few ideas for potential solutions that would allow Mr. Guterres’ points to be better understood.

Firstly, I think it would be beneficial for the United Nations to provide a situational analysis for businesses that are contributing to the climate crisis most heavily, such as fossil fuel and coal industries. These industries are concerned about displacing millions of jobs as well as losing profit if they change their ways, but an accurate cost/benefit analysis with potential job and profit opportunities can help them be more willing to change. This analysis can also explain the environmental benefits of making these changes.

Like I said previously, extremely widespread campaigns aren’t as successful as niche campaigns, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a common thread throughout the different campaigns. I think it would be wise of the U.N. to reach out to the local governments of the United States’ most influential and populated cities and form a campaign strategy that would encourage the population to make more eco-conscious decisions in their daily lives.

For this to succeed, each campaign would have to be based on the demographics of that area in order to fully reach their population of interest. Although the strategies of all of these campaigns would be slightly different, the common theme would be the same throughout the country.

Similar to Milwaukee’s major PR campaign, If Truth Be Told, I think that intense or slightly bothersome imagery of what the state of our Earth is soon to become could make for very influential campaign posters.