Is social media creating a mainstream climate change movement ahead of COP15?

Today is Blog Action Day, which this year is about climate change. This campaign, as some other ones, got a lot of people excited, including me, about the potential for using digital and social media to confront climate change, and most specifically ultimately influence the climate change debate.

With the negotiation of a new climate treaty coming up in December, the web and social media have quickly appeared as the “new” way to organize climate action, both online and offline:

• By trying to move away from feelings of despair, indifference, or fear, as people can get empowered to make a difference, and to be part of something BIG. To become agents of change.

• By focusing on leveraging horizontal conversations, i.e. peer-to-peer conversations (family, friend, someone ‘like me’) that are the most trusted sources of information, rather than just from top to bottom (via elites), in order to raise awareness and trigger engagement.

• In few words… by attempting to make COP 15 a collective referendum on our future, with everybody being part of the debate … and the solution.

But are we getting this right?

Copenhagen is undeniably driving a lot of innovations and experiments. However, Blog Action Day today got me thinking about all I have seen, read or written about so far.

• Are we all singing the same song?

UNEP, Hopenhagen, TckTckTck, 350.org, Energy Action Coalition, and many others (including movies such as Home or Age of Stupid) – All organizations have been working to catalyze and inspire web-connected communities to take action for the climate, in some very creative ways.

However, what can we hear among this ‘noise’? Is there any single and consistent message we can get out of it? Urgency? Building the world for the future generations? or Hope? or Green = Good for the economy?

Aren’t we in the end increasing citizens’ eco-fatigue? Are citizens tired of being exposed to so many messages, or being exposed to such cacophony?

• Are we pushing the right buttons ? Are we telling the right story ?

Are we efficiently helping people connect the dots and clearly understand why December 2009 will be so critical to their future, and how climate change relates to them as individuals, i.e. to what they care the most, to what they are concerned about the most? Are we putting climate change in the right context, i.e. an issue for the world or an issue for your health? For your job? Etc..

• Are we using the right levers?

In the age of the social media, it is key to engage in a decentralized and democratic way, by giving the voice to the people. However, are we also mobilizing key influencers of all stripes, both online and offline (i.e. influential business leaders, and entrepreneurs, etc?)

In the end, the key question is are we getting COP15 and the climate change issue mainstream? Are all these social media strategies creating a cultural shift? Long-lasting engagement? Are we still trying to raise awareness or are we ready for action?

I am asking more questions that providing answers in this post as I believe this is a discussion we should all have today. So what are your thoughts?