The Power of Listening: Communication for Environmental Impact
- Luis Diego Molina
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
This blog post is based on insights shared during our August 12th Alumni Webinar Series presentation, Communication for Environmental Impact, featuring EPI's Communication & Development Coordinator Erick Bolaños. |
Erick is a restless, energetic young man. He loves hiking through the forest, practicing yoga, and sport climbing. Curiously, despite his energy, he considers his "totem animal" to be the three-toed sloth, "because it's slow, present in every movement, and moves through every level of the forest, from the canopy down to the ground and the river."
He is a graphic designer, audiovisual producer, and content creator at heart. He currently works with EPI as Communication & Development Coordinator, but true to his restless nature, his journey began much farther away. It started in the southern tip of his native Costa Rica, in Puerto Jiménez of Osa, which National Geographic once described as the most biodiverse place on Earth.
Roots in Puerto Jiménez
This small region holds nearly 3% of the world's biodiversity, with Corcovado National Park as its crown jewel. But beyond its natural beauty, the most valuable part of the place for Erick is its culture and its people. He arrived there to volunteer as a communicator with a local organization called Biriteca Agroecológica, founded by three young women and dedicated to agroecology and food sovereignty.
Working with them, he discovered that his job wasn't just about taking photos and shooting videos, it was about crafting powerful messages that connect people. This ties into a nice anecdote he shared during the webinar:
"Instead of following the online trend of asking Chat GPT to describe me, I asked my colleague Azul, who said that I'm a bridge builder, and I really identified with this, because I like to connect people, connect communities, connect friends."
For Erick, that's the essence of communication: building bridges between people, organizations, communities, donors, and more. That's why one of his favorite projects from his time in Puerto Jiménez, where he worked with several organizations, was a communication campaign with Osa Birds, a nonprofit focused on environmental education and birdwatching.
In that campaign, the team worked with children from the community, creating educational materials and outreach pieces to help identify local bird species. As a result, people learned about the ecosystemic value of these species and ecotourism projects centered on birdwatching began to grow.
"I like this work because it was very immersive in the community and in the forest," Erick shares.
An important message Erick shares is that communication isn't just about using digital platforms and chasing likes. In fact for him, rather than opening a social media account just because it's trendy, the first step is understanding where your audience actually is, getting to know them, and understanding them. And to do that, the most important skill is knowing how to listen.
What Is Communication?
For Erick, communication is connection. It's the process of connecting people and places. Communication even exists in nature, like a birdsong, and we can learn a great deal from it.
Communication doesn't always start with a message; it starts with questions. Erick believes this is especially important in rural communities, where connectivity is often low, yet where valuable ancestral knowledge is abundant.
In these areas, a printed newsletter, a meeting at the community hall, or any other offline form of communication can be far more effective.
Know Your Audience, Choose Your Channel
This is why it's essential to know your audience: their interests, age, language, needs, motivations, and access to digital and analog channels. In Puerto Jiménez, for example, WhatsApp works better than Instagram or Facebook ads for organizing community meetings, though in other areas, the opposite might be true.
Once you understand your audience, you can start crafting powerful messages. People only resonate with topics that matter to them, that affect them, that move them. That's why a message needs to make the "what" crystal clear, but also the "why it matters," and, from an organization's perspective, "how" people can get involved.
For example, if you're working with sea turtles, it's important to communicate the risks they face while also making it clear how people can be part of the solution, whether through volunteering for night patrols, making donations, or other forms of support.
Crafting Calls to Action That Work
Beyond choosing the right channels and formats (reels, podcasts, and so on), it's vital to create strong calls to action so your audience isn't just a passive spectator, but someone you can engage clearly and directly.
If you want someone to volunteer for your project, say so, and it's better to avoid generic CTAs in favor of something specific, with more substance behind it. Instead of simply saying "Volunteer with us," it's more effective to say "Volunteer to protect sea turtles and support their conservation with [organization name]."
"Don't start with what you want to say, start with who you want to reach, what they care about, and what you want them to do", explained Erick.
AI and the Human Touch
Toward the end of his presentation, someone from the audience asked Erick about his views on AI and the overwhelming amount of information online. He responded that, in his own work, he finds it useful for organizing information or handling specific technical tasks — like extending the background of an image — but not for creative work which he believes should remain human and come from the heart. At the end of the day, humans connect with other humans, not with machines.
Erick also encourages us to be the face of our project. All communication needs a human story, something that creates closeness. Digital influencers aren't the only ones with a voice, in a community, a teacher can be an influencer, or a community leader. So, he invites us to shake off the fear.
The topic of communication in social and environmental organizations is vast, and here we wanted to share a glimpse of it as part of our webinar series for EPI alumni. We invite you to join us for the next session in the series, on Beavers as Climate Allies. All the details here.
