Whether advancing clean energy, stewarding forests, or shaping climate policy, grantees who invested in narrative power gained visibility, trust, and momentum. We saw that storytelling wasn’t secondary to strategy—it was strategy.
Across the United States, Potential Energy Coalition equipped advocates with shared tools and audience-tested messages, supporting coordinated campaigns on rooftop solar, clean energy, and rural investment. Their narrative infrastructure didn’t replace local voices; it amplified them, offering rapid response and long-term alignment across the field.
Who Tells the Story Shapes What Sticks
Where storytelling was strong, momentum held. Where it was limited, promising efforts faced headwinds. Policy wins became vulnerable and local efforts stalled in silence. Disinformation campaigns gained ground faster than the ability to respond. In those gaps, narrative wasn’t just a communications tactic—it was a direct defense against backlash and erosion of progress.
Some of the most resonant stories came from educators, artists, and organizers rooted in place and representing a variety of lived experiences. Early partners like Outdoor Afro and Covering Climate Now helped center communities most at risk in climate stories, while efforts like rural radio storytelling in Oaxaca invited more people into the climate conversation—on their own terms, and in their own language.
