NAPA VALLEY REGISTER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022 | A11

OPINION&LETTERS
Founded 1863 | A Lee Enterprises newspaper
Napa Valley Register, 1615 Soscol Ave., Napa, CA 94559
napavalleyregister.com/app/pages/vn/opinion

Editorial Board
JAY SCOTT President
DAN EVANS Executive Editor
CHRIS HAMMAKER Community member
ED SHENK Community member
CINDY WEBBER Community member
MARY JEAN MCLAUGHLIN Community member

START THE PRESSES

Opening LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Skyline Park could cease to exist. It is ironic
that originally the surplus land
the higher overlook areas.
No matter how many times you

the house
On Wednesday evening,
the Napa Valley Register held
its first open house in many
moons at its offices on Soscol
Avenue. About
40 people at-
tended, munch-
ing on the finest
snacks the Lucky
off Trancas has
to offer and
DAN EVANS drinking wine
donated by the
good people at
the Napa Valley
Vintners.
In a twist that occasionally
makes me wonder if I’m living
in a real-life version of a sit-
com, the wine was, ahem, ac-
cidentally misappropriated by
members of the Register’s ad
team prior to the start of the
open house.
This is partly my fault. I
placed the box of wine on
the table by the refrigerator
well as their thoughts about
what they did – and did not –
like.
Unlike the occasionally
harsh email or voicemail
criticisms directed our way,
face-to-face interaction is far
more of a dialogue. And, not
surprisingly, being able to ask
people why they felt what they
did — and being very upfront
about what I can, and cannot,
change — left everyone in-
volved feeling heard and un-
derstood.
It also inspired me to want
to have more of these on a reg-
ular basis, as well as solving
a bit of a dilemma I’ve been
having about what to do with
people I was unable to invite
to be part of our seven-mem-
ber editorial board. To my
great surprise, nearly 30 peo-
ple applied to be part of the
board, which discusses and
writes the official opinion of
is a gem designation was given to the park go up the trails the ever-changing
I want to voice my opposition so that the county could lease it light makes it a different expe-
to high density public housing on from the state and preserve it; and rience each time. How many
current park land in Skyline Park. now that same surplus land desig- people used the park during the
Community events at the park nation may be the cause of the end pandemic for their physical and
would be affected if high density of the park. mental health? Many. The park is
public housing were placed in the The value of Skyline Park as it a draw of people to Napa; and lo-
park where most of these events exists now is priceless. It is a gem. cals do not take it for granted that
occur. There are events associated The value of some things like Sky- they can be in a wonderful place
with the Martha Walker Garden line Park cannot be monetized. without driving for miles.
and Native Plants and disc golf, No amount of money can give you The Skyline community is not
archery and horse events, running what Skyline Park gives you. That opposed to low-income housing
events, bike events, Girl and Boy is why it should be treasured and in Napa, but it is opposed to sacri-
Scout Events and training sessions preserved. ficing the park in order to provide
for local volunteer groups. Horseback riders, bikers, hikers low-income housing to Napa.
Moreover, the lower 20 acres in from all over—not just locals- en- Sue Tredennick
question are used for camping and joy the park, connect with nature, Napa
horse camping, overflow parking, nourish their spirits and souls. In
re-enactment events, and Bot- the park, nature includes butter-
SOUND OFF: To
tleRock camping. The revenue flies, birds, deer, wild turkeys and submit a Letter to the
from these activities provides the other wildlife, varieties of trees Editor, point your
funds for the entire park. If this and wildflowers, the shaded cool- smartphone camera at
self-supporting Citizen’s Park ness of the low creek areas and the the QR code, then tap the link.
loses these sources of funds, it breezes and beautiful views from
Americans don’t care about climate
change. Here’s how to wake them up
NICHOLAS GOLDBERG and beneath them. marketing either. I’m part of the

in the break room after Rex
Stults – NVV’s vice presi-
dent – dropped off six bottles
on Tuesday afternoon. I put
the three bottles of white into
the fridge, as one does, and
immediately got distracted by
something, as one is, leaving
the three bottles of red in the
box.
By long tradition that par-
ticular piece of office furni-
ture is known as the “free”
table. Folks will put various
cookies, other treats or pro-
duce from home gardens on
the table, urging any and all to
take some home. Now, I knew
this, but seeing as on every
previous occasion a compa-
ny-wide email announcing
the availability of said goodies
has gone out, I didn’t think I
needed to say anything.
Clearly I should have, as a
later investigation determined
the three bottles of red were
gone within the hour. Even
more stress inducing, I didn’t
know they were missing un-
til an hour before our doors
opened. Oops.
Red-faced about the case of
the missing quarter-case of
red wine, I bashfully explained
the situation to Teresa Wall,
the NVV’s director of commu-
nications, who was one of the
first to arrive Wednesday.
“Oh,” she said. “No prob-
lem. I have a few open bottles
we were using for a tasting.
Do you want me to bring them
in?”
I did indeed, and the good
people of Napa were saved
from whatever random
choices I would have other-
wise grabbed from the local
grocery. My wine knowledge
is still growing, after all, and
it’s nice to have something
curated.
Wine or no wine, though,
I was impressed by not only
the volume of the people who
attended our open house, but
the interest they showed in the
inner workings of the paper as
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the paper.
The choices the staff and I
made as to who would be the
best candidates for the edi-
torial board were based on an
attempt to have it reflect, as
much as possible, the wide
variety of experiences, oc-
cupations and backgrounds
that make up Napa County.
But this means many very well
qualified candidates did not
get a spot, and I fretted about
what to do.
But here is the plan: I’m in-
viting everyone who applied
to be part of our community
advising board. This group
would meet monthly and dis-
cuss the overall direction of
the paper. It gives me a chance
to explain our choices to our
most dedicated and interested
readers, and gives those read-
ers a chance to provide their
views and hold us to account
as needed.
Though it is now too late to
apply to be part of the edito-
rial board, being part of the
community advising board is
certainly still open. If that’s
something that appeals to you,
please drop me a note at dev-
ans@napanews.com.
As for the editorial board
itself, once the group has
been fully and completely
confirmed, I’ll provide a brief
intro of each of the members
and explain a bit of how the
process will work, so stay
tuned.
Thank you to everyone who
showed up Wednesday, and
a big thanks to the reporters,
editors and to my colleague
Jay Scott for sticking around
after their long days to inter-
act with our readers, fans and,
yes, critics. You are all what
make Napa County Napa, and
I’m proud to be part of it.
Dan Evans can be reached
at 707-256-2246 or devans@
napanews.com. Tell him your
thoughts or suggest the next
wine he ought to try.
W
hy is the greatest threat to
the planet of so little con-
cern to most Americans?
It’s shocking, frankly, that
global warming ranks 24th on a
list of 29 issues that voters say
they’ll think about when deciding
whom to vote for in November,
according to the Yale Program on
Climate Change Communication.
Only 30% of voters say they are
“very worried” about it and more
than two-thirds say they “rarely”
or “never” discuss the issue with
family or friends.
How can people be so blithely
unconcerned when the clear con-
sensus of scientists is that climate
disruption is reaching crisis levels
and will result not only in more
raging storms, droughts, wildfires
and heat waves, but very possibly
in famine, mass migration, col-
lapsing economies and war?
Sure, there are some obvious
reasons for the apathy: High
among them is that fossil fuel
companies have spent decades
pulling the wool over the eyes of
Americans. And Republican poli-
ticians have been complicit.
But that’s not the whole story.
To try to understand a little
more, I had a conversation re-
cently with David Fenton, a po-
litical activist who more than 40
years ago turned his hand to public
relations and has now spent most
of his life in the communications
trenches, creating campaigns on
behalf of social change and pro-
gressive causes.
Fenton, whom the National
Journal once called “the Robin
Hood of public relations,” argues
that while yes, of course the fos-
sil fuel companies are villains in
a scam of historic proportions,
the other side — the anti-climate
change side — needs to acknowl-
edge some serious strategic mis-
takes as well.
In his forthcoming book, “The
Activist’s Media Handbook,” due
out in November, Fenton says
that the forces trying to rouse
the world to fight climate change
— including philanthropic foun-
dations, environmental organiza-
tions and activist groups, among
others — have by and large ignored
the most rudimentary tenets of
marketing and advertising, to
their detriment and the planet’s.
That’s because they believe that
the business of selling ideas is
fundamentally dirty, manipulative
They’re convinced that data,
truth and evidence are what mat-
ter, Fenton says. To them (and
we’re talking here about lots of
well-intentioned lawyers, sci-
entists and people who studied
the humanities), good ideas sell
themselves.
So instead of spending money
and resources on shaping public
opinion, they keep commissioning
more policy reports from think
tanks and convening more global
meetings of scientists — on the
presumption that the steady ac-
cretion of irrefutable facts will
ultimately prevail.
The other side knows better.
“People at the fossil fuel
companies and their allies go to
business school where they learn
cognitive and marketing science
— and believe me, it is a science,”
Fenton told me. “They learn how
to sell products and services. They
invest in defining messages and
reaching people. Our side does
not.”
What are some of these scien-
tific techniques of persuasion and
public communication that work
so well?
Deliver simple messages, for
one thing. In general, climate
activists lean toward complexity
and nuance because they don’t
want to patronize or condescend
or mislead by oversimplifying to
their audiences.
Once you have a simple mes-
sage, repeat it over and over. Did
you know that consumers gener-
ally have to see an ad more than
half a dozen times before they will
be persuaded to buy a product?
Embed facts and data in what
Fenton calls “moral stories that
tug at the emotions.” Anyone who
has ever watched TV ads knows
that strategy can make arguments
far more powerful.
Talk about what people care
about. There’s been too much talk
about the effect of climate change
on polar bears, and not enough on
what it means for humans.
Use language people under-
stand. Research shows, Fenton
says, that many people don’t un-
derstand the phrases “existential
threat” or “net zero” or “climate
justice.” They understand what
“pollution” is, but not what an
“emission” is — which suggests
that it might make more sense to
use the former term.
Now to be clear, I’m no fan of
problem Fenton is bemoaning
. I’m reluctant to oversimplify
or condescend to my audience,
and I worry that heart-tugging,
emotion-driven arguments are
manipulative. I like to believe
that adults can be persuaded with
facts, science and rational argu-
ments.
But I also know deep down that
marketing works.
And if the fate of the Earth de-
pends on delivering a simple but
understandable, rousing and per-
suasive message, then I think it’s
worth it. As Fenton notes, it’s not
about manipulating people — it’s
about un-manipulating them.
And the way to do it, he says, is
with a big, well-funded campaign
to build the public support, public
understanding — and then the
political will — required for social
change.
Here’s my only concern about
Fenton’s argument: He believes
messages shouldn’t be too down-
beat because “sacrifice doesn’t
sell.”
“I’m not saying there won’t
be suffering,” he explains. “But
multiple studies prove we can heat
our homes, drive our cars, take va-
cations and have decent modern
lives — if we just power them dif-
ferently. But we have to hurry up.”
Is he right when he says the
climate problem can be solved in
a way that enhances economic
prosperity? I hope so; that’d be
great. But I worry — and this is
just my opinion, not an expert’s
analysis — that we’ve waited too
long, and that to avoid the worst
effects of climate change we are
going to have to sacrifice, whether
it sells or not. I take the gloomy
approach.
Either way, we can all agree
there’s an awful lot to be done.
And Fenton is certainly right that
you can’t mobilize people for war
if they don’t know they’re under
attack. Public education is obvi-
ously a missing piece of the puzzle.
Somehow we need to awaken a
nation of sleeping, underinformed
and insufficiently motivated cit-
izens and persuade them to rise
to the great challenge of modern
times. To do that, the unmanip-
ulation process needs to begin in
earnest.
Nicholas Goldberg is an associate
editor and Op-Ed columnist for the
Los Angeles Times.

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