Storytellers pervade our society: they are the authors, journalists, poets, directors and actresses of the world, and they are the sustainability advocates too. Kelly Hilyard, sustainability coordinator for the City of Middleton, told The Daily Cardinal effective language is central to the success of sustainability efforts.
Hilyard focuses on community-centered sustainability initiatives, including Middleton’s Efficiency Navigator Program. The program helps residents who live in affordable housing lower their energy bills through eco-conscious upgrades like weatherization and solar panels.
Hilyard said the city’s communication strategy for the project shifted significantly once staff recognized that technical climate language was failing to connect with residents.
“In the past, we focused a lot on words like decarbonization and climate mitigation — these dry, big words that if you're just struggling to pay your rent, your food bill and your heating and cooling bills, whether someone is decarbonizing your building, you don't really care,” Hilyard said.
She said the city reframed their communication around affordability and health and safety in order to incentivize residents to participate.
“Personal framing worked much better than talking about climate goals,” Hilyard said.
As of 2024, the program successfully improved 18 units in Middleton, and Hilyard said 11 more units have been improved since with more set to receive upgrades soon.
Hilyard said storytelling gets people engaged emotionally, and once people engage emotionally and personally with an issue, she said they'll do the harder work of understanding the technical aspects.
“I could make a rock solid case with the science and the data to try to convince people to do something about climate change, but what has worked the best is getting people to relate and see themselves in the solution in a hopeful way,” Hilyard said.
Before even proposing an initiative, Hilyard feels it is important to ask the local community what their needs, priorities and aspirations are — and involve them in early-stage planning.
“You can have people start to envision and imagine what things could be, and then you ideate with them…It’s got to be a conversation,” she said.
