Lessons from The Office for Climate Change Communication

Josh Ettinger
Nov 4 · 6 min read

It has been more than 6 years since the finale episode of The Office (U.S.) aired, yet it was recently revealed to be Netflix’s most popular show.

That is insane. How does a show about employees of a paper company continue to beat out the latest super high-budget superhero series, political thrillers and shocking documentaries? And what might those of us trying to communicate effectively about climate change (and other societal challenges) learn from the storytelling strategies of The Office?

Reaction of Netflix executives upon learning that NBC is taking The Office back for their own new streaming platform in 2021.

Among many reasons, there are three significant factors that help explain The Office’s enduring success from a writing perspective that offer useful lessons for climate change communication.

1. The show is about “real” people.

Among screenwriters, there is a well-known principle called Save the Cat. As the theory goes, audiences root for characters as long as the hero does something admirable shortly after we meet them, like saving a cat stuck in a tree or tossing a coin to a homeless person on the street (which you may notice in the first 10–15 minutes of loads of films).

However, another way of developing sympathetic characters is making them human and relatable, which reduces the distance between the audience and the people on screen. This is accomplished by portraying “real” people who exhibit both positive traits and serious flaws, just like us.

Even if we can’t ourselves relate to a particular character, we often know others who resemble such people. While some characters of The Office take their personalities to the extreme and display varying degrees of self-awareness, everyone who has worked in an office knows a Stanley who is just there for the paycheck; a Jim or Pam who gets stuck in a dead-end job; an eccentric Dwight; or a boss like Michael who wants to be universally loved at all costs.

What does all this have to do with climate change? Research from Climate Outreach highlights the importance of showing real people in climate messages. Among other reasons, this is why the Guardian is rethinking its environmental image guidelines. Climate change isn’t just about melting ice and polar bears. When we see actual people impacted by engaging with climate solutions it makes such actions appear much more in reach.

At the core of this strategy is the goal of establishing human connection. Renowned climate change communicator Katherine Hayhoe puts this into practice by first building common ground and values with an audience before getting into the science.

Effective climate communication means reducing psychological distance about climate change; portraying relatable characters can help close the gap. Whether you talk about rising seas or solar panels, don’t forget to bring interesting, relatable characters into the mix.

Be strategic about portraying characters in climate messages.

2. Michael Scott’s character adjustment after season 1

Go back and watch season 1 of the show. You will quickly come to a realization…season 1 Michael Scott has absolutely no redeemable moments (and a terrible haircut).

Although for the rest of the show Michael can still be extremely awkward, offensive and selfish, starting in season 2 the writers add in occasional heartwarming moments where we are reminded that he really does love his coworkers as a family (unless your name is Toby).

As YouTuber Nerdstalgic describes, this was no accident. Supposedly the show would likely have been canceled had they not adjusted Michael’s character to be a bit more lovable. They also cleaned up his hair and gave him better fitting suits, making him a bit less physically repulsive.

What can we learn from this case in the context of climate change communication? There is much ongoing dialogue about the role of positive and negative emotions about climate change. For example, there are pros and cons of evoking hope or fear about climate change. If you go too negative, you are likely to turn people off, but going too positive may not capture the dire emergency we are facing.

This is where the lessons of Michael Scott’s character adjustment offer a really helpful storytelling lesson. If we think of stories as a rollercoaster, we wouldn’t want to design a ride that was literally dropping the entire time. Nor would would we want it to be completely flat without any thrills. Emotional highs and lows complement each other. Michael Scott is given a license to be an awful (but hilarious) person at times because we are occasionally reminded that, at the end of the day, he is a good person.

“At the end of the day” is a particularly apt expression here because the writers specifically put the heartwarming scenes toward the end of the episodes. For instance, in the episode “Viewing Party,” Michael completely ruins a party but ultimately shares a kind moment with the character Erin Hannon at the tail-end of the episode. These carefully added moments of warmth keep us rooting for Michael Scott no matter how awful he behaves.

Climate messages containing both elements of negativity and positivity can amplify overall emotional impacts while also creating a more interesting, nuanced narrative.

3. The comfort of home

The character Creed Bratton, in one of his rare moments of lucidity, said, “No matter how you get there or where you end up, human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home.”

This quote from the finale episode really captures the essence of the show, including how the characters engage with their workplace but also how we, the viewers, relate to the series. After all, there is comfort in the familiar. Many devoted fans, including myself, love returning time and again to The Office’s nostalgic setting of ringing phones, clicking mouses, Scranton Froggy 101 radio station stickers, Meredith playing solitaire and Kevin contemplating the vending machine. Moreover, the greatest conflicts in the show come from major changes to their home; whether that be a new manager disrupting daily rhythms or Dwight relocating the staff to a “work-bus.”

We take this for granted but again, the creation of this fictional landscape was a highly intentional design by the show’s writers and creative team.

This sense of familiarity makes The Office the perfect show to sink into to escape the pressures of realities of one’s life. Of course, climate change is not exactly a comforting topic. Nevertheless, the show highlights the remarkable ability of humans to develop deep emotional attachments to our homes and communities. So if we want to mobilize people on climate change, we need to show how climate change can impact us here and now, affecting the stability of the places that we find personally meaningful. It goes back to reducing psychological distance — in this case, spatially — in order to wake people up on our dire situation.

The tricky part about evoking feelings of “home” in climate communication is that in order to tackle the climate challenge, we need to fix society at a systems level. Our homes literally and figuratively must change. This requires a carefully balancing act of showing how altering our lives for climate action is aligned with human values of responsibility, fairness, community and stewardship. So we are not really changing our homes but upgrading them for a more sustainable and just future. Just like how the characters of The Office evolve throughout the series, generally positively, but nevertheless maintain their core attributes and quirks.

Conclusion

These are just a few creative dynamics of an incredible successful show and there are certainly many other lessons to be drawn from The Office. The show proves that special effects, massive production budgets or intense action are not required to tell an emotionally powerful and enduring story that resonates with millions of people.

Instead of just critiquing Hollywood on whether or not they get science right, the scientific community should consider what it might learn from the entertainment industry about effective storytelling. A show like The Office doesn’t happen by itself; its success is due to thoughtful narrative strategies of its writers and creative team.

Finding ways to ramp up the impact of climate messages by learning from popular media could ultimately mean the difference between a climate message ignored and a climate message that sparks action.

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I intend to write more articles exploring storytelling lessons for climate change communication from other popular media. Please let me know if you would like to see more of this kind of analysis!

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