Mother Nature’s Hit Single: A mixed-methods evaluation of traditional
versus musical climate change communication
Abstract
Climate change is an important issue that affects all aspects of human
life and the environment. Through this project, we wrote an original pop
song about the local impacts and solutions to climate change in the
Northeast. We used a mixed-methods evaluation to test the effectiveness
of musical science communication in relation to traditional methods, to
change the mindsets of college students and encourage them to take
political action. Marist students responded to surveys asking about
their sustainability and lifestyle choices, as well as their opinions on
climate change. After watching either the traditional presentation or
listening to the song, participants answered whether their stance toward
climate change had changed, whether they had learned more, and whether
they plan to take specific steps to make their lifestyles more
sustainable. Through a Fisher Chi-Square analysis, we determined that
the change in stances between the two treatments was not significant
(p-value = 0.33). However, to an 84% confidence level, there were
differences between the two treatments in whether students learned about
climate change, and whether they were more likely to change their
lifestyle. We found that the traditional science presentation was better
at teaching new information (p-value = 0.08), while the song was better
at convincing students to act in the future (p-value = 0.16). In
summary, we found that traditional science communication is better at
teaching someone about climate change, but if the goal is to convince
someone to take action to do something about it, then communicating that
message through music is the better option. Examples of these types of
communication can be found on YouTube, https://youtu.be/gXedvKkpLGs for
the song, and https://youtu.be/gbf6cTDNp18 for the traditional
presentation.