The Team
Summary
The perception that environmental policy poses inherent trade-offs for the economy is a pervasive belief in our modern political landscape. To illustrate this problem, its origins, and the reality of environmental policy, we created an explainer which dives into perceptions, policy, and research in an approachable way.
Our final explainer took the form of a medium article which includes a policy visualizer and an information navigator.
Our process began with research about the economy, environment, and policy in the form of interviews (5 participants) and secondary research into the reality of environmental policy and its political implications. From the models generated from this stage we learned that a perceived dichotomy between the environment was often related to political ideology and that the ways in which a person interacted with the environment and climate policy were varied and multi-faceted.
Then, we conducted second round interviews (4 participants) around a specific dichotomy between the environment and the economy, including which mediums and rhetorical styles were most convincing on matters of climate policy. After multiple rounds of synthesizing and ideation, we decided to create an explorable explainer which could tell the story of climate perceptions and educate users in an approachable and personal way. Our interviews led us to include personal stories of the impacts of renewable energy and climate policy, in addition to visualizing the measured and projected effects of climate polices.
The final product was a Medium article with embedded Unity WebGL content, intended for use on a desktop or laptop.
Secondary Research
Our Secondary Research included research on both current environmental economics models and on the connection between economic, political, and environmental ideology. Our research revealed the impact of renewable energy on human welfare, global and US GDP, and environmental sustainability. According to recent OECD and IRENA reports, a worldwide transition to renewable energy showed an unequivocal benefit to human welfare. Particularly in developing countries, sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy have myriad impacts on reducing poverty and increasing employment, welfare, gender equity, and sanitary food and water access.
In terms of GDP and global growth, a transition to renewables will benefit most developed and developing nations, only seriously impacting economies dependent on fossil fuels (Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc). Overall, a restructuring of first world economies is predicted (starting from the energy sector and affecting neighboring sectors, especially in resource acquisition and processing).
Macroeconomic models suggest that transitions to renewable energy sources will laterally shift the low skilled workforce in the United States involved in the energy sector and neighboring sectors, but will not seriously affect total employment. The OECD outlines numerous competing factors when considering total employment due to sustainable energy transition, but concludes that similar transitions have occurred before in the US and that total employment should remain relatively stable. A small drop in the total size of the energy sector is predicted due to efficiency regulations curtailing the energy demand in the US.
Research by Longo and Baker (2014) also finds close ties between environmental, political, and economic ideology, suggesting that a sensitivity to political ideology will be necessary to accurately addressing environmental ideology.
User Research
We interviewed four members of our target audience for our preliminary interviews. We asked participants about the energy landscape in the US, the regulation of energy in the US, the relationship between the government and the environment, also had them draw and describe the sources of energy they were familiar with.
Synthesis
From this sea of information, we then transcribed key ideas and insights gained from the interviews onto sticky notes and coalesced them among all group members.
Next, we began the process of affinity mapping: grouping together sticky notes based on commonalities. We found that our initial round of interviews could be collected into the following categories:
- Personal Energy Use
- Specific Examples of Environmental Phenomena Affecting the Economy
- Questions about the Mechanisms of Lobbying
- Information Overload Regarding the Environment
- Lack of Specific Information Regarding the Environment
- Corporate Power Leading to Unfair Economic Policies
- Having to Choose between Policies Supporting the Environment or Supporting the Economy
We were particularly compelled by the last category in the list: the perception that one must choose between supporting policies that benefit the environment and not the economy and vice versa. This sentiment was shared across many of our interviewees, yet our secondary research showed the reality to be otherwise. We then generated our problem statement.
Detailed explanation of our interview process and materials can be found in the appendices (A and B)
Problem Statement
We decided on a target audience of young adults (18–24) who were motivated about Climate Change but were hesitant about climate policy implications on the economy. Our research suggested that convincing those who were skeptical about the existence of climate change would be a significantly different task, and so we excluded that audience.
In addition to educating, one of our goals was also to convince those motivated by Climate Change that many popular environmental policies were economically wise decisions. We also set a goal of presenting the information in a digestible way, so that users have a few key take-aways from the experience.
For further information see Appendix D
Secondary Interviews
We decided to conduct another round of user interviews with a more focused set of questions, aiming to understand college students’ beliefs on a dichotomy between the environment and the economy (see appendix for interview guide). Our guiding questions were: (1) How do users see the relationship between the environment and economy and (2) what sources of information have the most impact on that perception.
As an add-on to the second question, we also began our round two interviews with an activity. We presented the users with the following media sources centering around the topic of oil spills and asked them to (1) react to each source verbally and (2) rank them in terms of their impact.
Synthesis
The second round of interviews confirmed our hypothesis that college students perceived the environment and economy to be at odds in the realm of government support. From all of the interviews, we were able to generate the following mental models to depict how our users thought of (1) the relationship between the environment and the economy and (2) what factors contribute to a salient media source.
For Interview Guide and Further Information Please See Appendix C
Modeling the Problem
From our preliminary interviews and secondary research, we constructed models as a way to focus and refine our own thinking. These models served as the basis for future conversations within the team. Each of our models addresses a question which arose through our interviews or research.
What specific stories are resonant when discussing the relationship between the environment and the economy?
What sources of information are most salient when communicating about the environment and the economy?
How does a reduction in the fossil fuel industry relate to total energy employment?
These models identify three essential themes for our design:
- Specific measures of environmental and economic success
- Effective formats for communication (Personal Stories and Impacts)
- Accurate and Approachable Depiction of Climate and Policy Data
Ideation
Our exploratory stage of ideation centered around different tools or mediums for engaging our audience to think about energy more critically. We considered physical interventions, such as giving students a solar panel to charge their phone with, books or informational leaflets, and board games. Our digital interventions focused around ways to model the problem with simulations, outreach on social media, and multimedia storytelling experiences.
We narrowed onto a range of interactive simulations and visualizations as a way to tell the complex story of climate policy in a visual and approachable way. From our interviews we knew that personal stories would also be key, and so we also decided that an explorable information applet would allow users to access however much information they desired about the topics discussed in the visualization.
For Full Documentation Please See Appendicies D, E, F, G, H,
Testing
Testing on the explorable explainer consisted of two phases: 1) Observing users interacting with the page 2) A short follow-up interview about their experience. The interview questions looked at the perceived purpose of the explainer, its salience, usability and capacity for enjoyment.
After conducting testing with four people on the explorable explainer, the findings were synthesized to a few main themes. Positively, our policy visualizer was highly interesting, and the representation was understandable. Constructively, we needed to incorporate more logic and reasoning into the first interactive portion. We also needed to make the information navigator more engaging. Users often skipped it or found it unengaging. Thirdly, we needed to present more information regarding what was hurt as a result of policies. Although on whole the policy information may help, some users regardless didn’t find the arguments convincing because they didn’t see any negative effects from certain policy outcomes.
As a result of the feedback we incorporated a baseline graphic into the policy visualizer and included an existing policy which was shown to be effective (the Clean Air Act reduced emissions by up to 40%). We also edited the content of our information navigator to be more digestible and exciting.
Final Product
We created a explorable explainer in the form of a Medium article with embedded Unity content to introduce users to the reality of climate policy. We feature both a policy visualizer and an information navigator.
We address each of the themes we identified in our modeling:
Specific measures of environmental and economic success
We compiled projected policy implications of a handful of climate policies and their projected impacts on GDP, Air Quality, Water Quality, Welfare, and Employment.
Effective formats for communication (Personal Stories and Impacts)
Our information navigator features both headline summaries of policy studies and personal instances of the benefits of those policies/technologies on families and communities worldwide.
Accurate and Approachable Depiction of Climate and Policy Data
Our policy visualizer shows compiled policy impacts in an abstracted and visual way. While nuance is lost in a small explainer, the implications it shows are well backed by climate science.
Our final product introduces users to the dichotomy between the economy and the environment and sets up the arguments made for it that we gathered from interviews. We then use our policy visualizer to show that many of those arguments do not hold true, and prompt users to find out why in our information navigator. We then explain the research behind the phenomenon of the dichotomy. Finally, we present a personal call to action and further resources on environmental policy.
The Final Product is viewable here.
Usability Testing and Iteration
Our Usability Tests revealed a number of areas of improvement. Overall, we learned that:
- Our Policy Visualizer interaction loop was engaging, but poor visual clarity inhibited users from easily exploring.
- The Information Navigator felt disjointed while the Policy Visualizer was perceived as unfounded in Policy Research.
To solve these problems, we integrated the Information Navigator into the Policy Visualizer to give optional informational depth to the Policy Visualizer. By merging the two interactives, our final product was perceived as more cohesive and having a more impactful message.
To clean up the visual design, we overhauled the colors, type, layout, and hierarchy on the explainer and the surrounding information. Making our buttons more reactive better informed users that they could interact with both Policy Panes and Effect Panes, exploring the interactive with greater ease. We also rephrased the Policies, Effects, and Information Navigator Pages so that they flowed more seamlessly. Our Information Navigator Pages were simplified and separated into a headline and two supporting take-aways.
We also added our sources more clearly at the bottom of the pane and added a Baseline and Vertical Axis in the Policy Visualizer to illustrate the specificity of the data.
On feedback that our Medium article was crowded, we introduced color and hierarchy to three panels to help users move through the article more easily.
Conclusion
We created an explorable explainer to tackle the perceived dichotomy of climate and economic growth. Through our interviews, research, and ideation, we identified core themes, models, and strategies for making a successful explainer which was approachable and salient.
While we are proud of what we have accomplished, we also recognize that effectively communicating the impacts of climate and proposed policies is one of the greatest challenges of our era. While a majority of Americans are personally worried about climate change, national and worldwide policy-making is still very difficult because of the complexity and scale of renewable solutions.
We hope to continue looking for better ways to educate and motivate about climate policy and combat the unfounded and toxic rhetorics found in our present political discourse.
Citations
IRENA (2016), ‘Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring The Economics’. IRENA, Abu Dhabi
IRENA (2019) Supporting the deployment of bankable renewable energy projects in the Caribbean
IRENA(2019) Advancing Renewables in Developing Countries
IRENA(2019) Climate Investment Platform Targets Increase in Flow of Capital to Clean Energy Projects
IRENA (2019) “Unprecedented momentum for green hydrogen”
OECD(2019) Can we reduce emissions without hurting jobs or companies’ financial performance?
OECD(2019) EU Emissions Trading System does not hurt firms’ profitability
OECD(2019) Pollution havens? Energy prices are not key drivers of offshoring
OECD(2019) Environmental policies and productivity can work together
OECD(2019) Environment and trade: Do stricter environmental policies hurt export competitiveness?
OECD (2017), ‘Employment Implications of Green Growth: Linking Jobs, Growth, and Green Growth”
Stefano B. Longo & Joseph O. Baker (2014) Economy “Versus” Environment: The Influence of Economic Ideology and Political Identity on Perceived Threat of Eco-Catastrophe, The Sociological Quarterly, 55:2, 341–365, DOI: 10.1111/tsq.12052
EPA (2017), “Working Paper: The Impacts of Environmental Regulation on the U.S. Economy” https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/working-paper-impacts-environmental-regulation-us-economy
Akio Yamazaki (2015), “Jobs and Climate Policy: Evidence from British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax”, Journal of Enviornmental Economics and Management, Vol 83, 197–216, doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2017.03.003
Project Drawdown, “In-Stream Hydro”, 2019
Project Drawdown, “LED Lighting (Commercial)”, 2019
Appendix
Appendix A — Participant Screener Questionnaire
Appendix B — Preliminary Interview Guide
Appendix C — Round 2 Interview Guide
Appendix D— Ideation (Sticky Notes)
Appendix E — Ideation (Index Cards)
Appendix F— Ideation(Full Pages)
Appendix G— Ideation (Chosen Solution)
Appendix H— Prototype Interaction Walkthrough
