What Moves Us: The Quiet Power of Optimistic Environmental Stories
Why hopeful stories may do more for the planet than headlines full of doom.
Two Stories About Elephants
In 2019, newspapers around the world reported on a growing crisis: elephants in India were killing people.
The stories were dramatic and full of tension. Farmers told of waking to find their fields flattened. Whole villages were afraid to leave their homes at night. Government officials were overwhelmed. Wildlife experts warned that habitat loss was pushing elephants into dangerous contact with humans.
One story from Assam described how a 60-year-old man died after being trampled in the dark. The elephant had come for his rice crop. He tried to chase it off with a torch. His son watched from a distance, helpless. The elephant didn’t stop.
This story was real. So was the fear. But it left readers with a heavy question: what now?
Now consider a second story.
In southern India, the village of Sollepura faced similar problems. Elephants often raided farms. People were injured. Crops were lost.
Then the farmers tried something new. They began planting chili and lemongrass, crops elephants dislike. They added beehive fences, which buzz loudly when disturbed. Elephants avoid bees.
After a year, elephant raids dropped by more than 70%. The farmers earned good money from the new crops. The elephants stopped coming. Both sides were safer.
This story didn’t go viral. It wasn’t dramatic. But it was also real. And it offered something rare: a way forward.
So here are the questions:
Which story made you want to act?
Which one gave you a reason to believe things could change?
The Problem with Doom
Most stories about the environment focus on problems.
And there are many:
Species are going extinct.
Forests are being cleared.
The oceans are warming.
This coverage is important. It helps people understand the scale of what we’re facing.
But here’s the danger: when people hear only bad news, again and again, they often shut down.
They feel small. They feel hopeless. They feel like nothing they do will matter.
This is called eco-fatigue or climate anxiety 1.
One study found that reading constant “doom” headlines about climate change made people less hopeful - and less likely to act2.
Another found that when young people feel hopeless about nature, they disconnect. They stop caring. They say, “Why bother?”3
If the goal is to inspire people, then fear alone may not be enough.
What the Science Says
So what kind of stories actually work?
Researchers have tested this. They’ve studied how people respond to different types of messages about the environment.
One key idea is efficacy. That means: do I believe my actions will make a difference?
In 2016, a team at Rutgers University ran a simple experiment4. They gave people two news articles:
One described climate change as a huge, unstoppable problem.
The other focused on a successful solar energy project.
The second article didn’t hide the danger. But it showed a solution - and how it was working.
The result? People who read the solution story:
Felt more hopeful
Believed they could help
Were more likely to act later
Even two weeks later, they were still more engaged.
This is called constructive hope. It’s hope based on real action, not empty promises5.
And it’s powerful.
The Evidence in Action
When Hope Leads to Action
Conservation Optimism, a global group, shares stories about positive changes for wildlife. These stories are not fluff. They are factual. But they show what’s working, and how6.
In Kenya, beehive fences around farms have cut elephant crop-raiding by over 85%. They’ve also helped farmers earn more income from honey7.
In Portugal, fishing communities now help protect the sharks they once hunted. They’ve turned to eco-tourism, and their incomes are stable. At the same time, shark numbers are rising8.
These stories inspire others. They say: “Look, someone like you did this. So can you.”
When Fear Shuts Us Down
A 2016 study by Geiger & Swim found that reading scary climate news over and over made people less hopeful and less likely to take action9.
Some people feel guilty or ashamed—but don’t know what to do. That leads to moral fatigue, not change.
In many schools, students feel overwhelmed by climate lessons. Instead of being mobilised, they withdraw.
Fear without action leaves people stuck.
The Emotional Mix
But it’s not just about hope.
Sometimes, anger is what drives people.
A study from Yale found that people who felt angry about climate change were seven times more likely to join a protest than those who felt hopeful10.
Anger can motivate. But it can also divide. If people feel blamed, or powerless, it can backfire.
And fear? It only works if you give people something they can do.
Experts agree: you need both the problem and the path forward.
What Better Stories Look Like
We’re not saying the world is fine. It isn’t.
We’re saying that better stories do three things:
They tell the truth. They don’t pretend everything is okay.
They show real examples of success. Like the chili farmers. Like the beehive fences.
They invite action. They show how you can help.
That’s what makes a story stick. That’s what gets someone to share it, act on it, or tell a friend.
That’s what turns awareness into agency.
Why This Matters Now
We’re living in a noisy world.
Every day brings more headlines, more crises, more despair.
But attention isn’t the problem. Meaning is.
People need well-told stories that help them understand - not just what’s wrong, but what’s possible.
We’re not calling for fluff or false hope. We’re calling for truth with direction.
As storytellers, filmmakers, teachers, and citizens, we can shape what people believe is possible.
We can tell the stories of people who are solving big problems.
We can remind others that change is already happening.
We can help people feel part of it.
The world doesn’t just need to know what’s going wrong.
It needs reasons to believe it’s still worth fighting for.
Why It Matters To Me
I’m setting out on a storytelling journey with the hope of changing minds about how we live on the planet. I favour optimistic stories and will be looking for good ones that could shift perspectives on human-wildlife coexistence in the ocean.
Hickman, C. et al. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people. The Lancet Planetary Health, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
O'Neill, S. & Nicholson-Cole, S. (2009). “Fear won’t do it” – promoting positive engagement with climate change. Global Environmental Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.10.003
Chawla, L. (2020). Nature and the lives of children. Springer.
Feldman, L. & Hart, P. (2016). Using efficacy information in climate change reporting. Science Communication, https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016635183
Ojala, M. (2012). Hope and climate change: The importance of hope for environmental engagement. Environmental Education Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2011.637157
Conservation Optimism: https://conservationoptimism.org
[^7]: King, L. E. et al. (2017). Beehive fences as a method of reducing human–elephant conflict. Conservation Biology.
Glaus, K. et al. (2019). From hunting to watching: Shark conservation through ecotourism. Marine Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103499
Geiger, N. & Swim, J. (2016). Climate of silence: The role of emotion in climate change communication. Journal of Environmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.12.003
Smith, N. & Leiserowitz, A. (2014). Emotion and climate change. In The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology.