Earth Day 2014. Calling all artists: Earth to Artists! Earth to Artists! Rise! Choose your weapon. This is your moment…

The rest of us have failed:  Nobel laureates, journalists, politicians, parents, academics, activists, CEOs.  No one — yet — has found that elusive holy grail of climate change communication that will resonate with the general public. That special metaphor capable of unlocking the floodgates to climate action.

To date, we’ve learned that:

1. Fire-and-brimstone, doom-and-gloom, fear-based approaches don’t work;
2. The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence doesn’t translate well to the masses (nor to the media, in some cases);
3. Grandiose political oratory followed by inaction doesn’t fool anybody;
4. Environmental activists are, more often than not, preaching to the converted; and
5. Even Hollywood can get its fingers burned drawing attention to the urgency of climate action.

Considering that we, the collective we, seem to be adrift without a compass on the rising seas of climate (mis)communication, logic suggests that we need…