Will Hackman
A Conservation and Climate Advocacy Expert
With nearly 15 years’ experience in U.S. political campaigning, public policy process, NGO / non-profit leadership, and global environmental issue advocacy.
Watch My New TEDx Talk:
"The Future of Climate Change is Personal."
There is a problem with climate crisis messaging––to the extent it is getting through at all, it is driving too many to despair, apathy, or polarization. By radically reframing our climate conversations around three simple principles, we can help people recognize their personal stake to the changing world around them, inspiring greater and more immediate connection to the issue and the collective buy-in for the rapid action society must take while we still can.
After all, climate change is personal. Solving climate change’s many threats isn’t about “saving the Earth,” it’s about saving us and our place within nature before it’s too late. In this inspiring talk, Will Hackman shows us how we can take action, change beliefs, regain our optimism for a hopeful future, and see our own personal role in the changing world around us while inspiring new conversations and ways of looking at climate solutions.
Reposted from original TEDx link, with over 20,000 views.
Featured In
About Me
During the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, Will served as a political fundraiser and campaign manager on four federal races for the U.S. House and Senate as well as a gubernatorial campaign. In 2013, he joined the public sector conservation community as a marine fisheries conservation advocate. Will first developed a love for the ocean as a commercial Alaskan salmon fisherman during the summers while in college. He later completed a season commercially fishing for Alaskan Bering Sea crab — one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Since 2013, Will has served as a senior strategist building advocacy campaigns and advancing public policies related to ocean and land conservation as well as energy and the environment.
Will spent years defending Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from industrial logging – the U.S.’s largest national forest and one of the world’s largest temperate rainforests; worked with local and indigenous communities across the western U.S. on public land and river conservation efforts; helped strengthen fuel-efficiency regulations for cars and trucks; helped pass major bipartisan legislation to combat illegal pirate fishing, and has engaged in international marine fisheries conservation efforts around the world.
Will also attended four United Nations climate change conferences, is a contributing author on energy, environmental, and climate change topics, and is currently pursuing a book project with his literary agent on climate change. Will has been interviewed on several climate change-related podcasts, published op-eds, and filmed a TEDx in 2022 on stage in DC challenging us to reframe our climate conversations. He is currently working on a book project that will feature his work. His ongoing day-to-day climate engagement can be followed via his Twitter account: @ClimateExplainr.
Will graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and received his Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University’s McCourt School in 2018. His graduate thesis was on the role of U.S. federal tax credits in stimulating growth in domestic solar installations. Will lives in the Washington, DC region and enjoys leading weekend trips for an outdoor adventure guiding organization he founded.
A New Era In Climate Communications
Featured as a Contributing Author in New White Paper
A New Era In Climate Communications
60+ climate and media experts were brought together to cover topics from storytelling to science, advocacy and activism, behavioral psychology, and mental health.
Solving climate change is not about the science, data, or facts any longer. It’s about the right emotional, psychological, communications-based approaches that connect people deeply and personally to the issue.
Here are my quotes and screenshots from the four chapters I contributed to:
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Chapter 4: Understanding Behavioural Science and Human Psychology
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Chapter 5: Climate Change Narratives
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Chapter 8: The Rise of Active Global Citizens
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Chapter 9: A New Era In Climate Communications
So many important points and suggestions to reframe our messages and advocacy to be more effective toward climate solutions, to combat apathy, get rid of climate doomism, and build the optimistic sustainable future we need. Honored to be part of this and excited to see the change it brings