Selling The Green Urban Advantage

Here's the condensed takeaway of this #CNU17 session: If CNU wants to have an impact on climate change, it needs to communicate with the public in something other than wonk-planner-insider speak. It needs a campaign that speaks to people about the issues in their own lives they already care about, in the language they'e already using. Don't talk to them about climate change or New Urbanism. Talk to them about the life they want, and redefine "The Good Life" in America. "We need to tell them the right story as fast as we can."

My own add: CNU needs to translate its planner-speak terminology into plain English that speaks to ordinary people, to trigger realization of how the principles that protect the planet also improve people's lives. The language CNU members use to speak to each other about these issues doesn't work with the general public. So a climate change campaign absolutely should not use the existing terminology; a translation guide would be a great CNU project for the coming year, so that everyone gets with new language.