Message Framing Matters: Communicating Climate Change with Forest Landowners

To enhance their livelihoods and important ecosystem services, forest landowners in the southeastern United States could benefit from being aware of the potential impacts of future climate changes on their forests. Communicating information about climate risks, however, is challenging. This study explored the effect of message frames in videos on forest landowners' attitudes and intention to implement forest management practices for adapting to potential climate changes. Videos were sent electronically to landowners with a prevideo and postvideo surveys. Although the four videos motivated modest intention to act, only those that included stewardship values in their message framing resulted in increased feelings of efficacy. Perceived similarities between the viewer and the speaker were important for the viewer to trust the speaker, and when values portrayed in the video aligned with viewers' values, the viewers were more apt to like the videos, trust the speakers, and express an intention to act.