Science Moms, Ad Council Issue Dire Warning on Climate Change

Climate Change isn't your typical school dropoff/pickup conversation, but Science Moms is hoping to change that.

The group, along with the Potential Energy Coalition, have partnered with the Ad Council on a climate change campaign targeting moms and starring moms ... who are also scientists.

"While moms and others know that climate change poses a threat, they don't feel confident in their understanding of what climate change is or, more importantly, what they can do about it," says Dr. Melissa Burt, research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science and assistant dean for diversity and inclusion at Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering at Colorado State University, and a Science Mom.

"The news feels overwhelming and uninformative, environmentalists are too extreme, and friends don't really talk about it. Moms need a credible, neutral messenger, such as the Science Moms, who can explain the issue in simple, relatable and entertaining ways and make it easy for her to take action."

A 60-second ad, "By the Time," doesn't sugarcoat its message that the window to act on climate change is akin to watching a child grow up. You blink and you miss it. As milestone events take place in a child's life, staggering statistics are shared: "The day she gets her first pet, there are thousands of newly extinct species she'll never meet." 

A pair of 30-seconds ads are narrated by and star two Science Moms—Dr. Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer, atmospheric chemist and associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.

Pictures of the doctors with their children are juxtaposed with photos of natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. "Later is too late to protect our children's future," closes both ads.

The campaign will run for at least a year. Heidi Arthur, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council, tells Muse that a climate change campaign has been in the works for years.

"Climate change has been a top-of-mind issue for the Ad Council for several years but we haven't launched a national PSA campaign in over a decade," she says. "We've been working with Potential Energy and discussing ways we can collaborate for the last two years, and the Science Moms campaign was the perfect opportunity to reach moms and families throughout the country with a powerful, poignant and relatable campaign. I can't think of a more powerful message than these moms who are also climate science experts."