Quote from Alex bobby on September 15, 2025, 4:05 AM

Dogs, Cats, and Hedgehogs: How Animals Are Helping Communicate Climate Change Across Europe

From cuddly dogs and shy cats to eco-conscious hedgehogs, animals are becoming unexpected ambassadors in Europe’s climate communication efforts. At the European Meteorological Society (EMS) annual meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, experts showcased a range of creative approaches that use pets and wildlife to engage new audiences with the realities of extreme weather and climate change.

Hedgehogs Inspire Eco-Awareness in Children

One standout example comes from Croatia, where the Meteorological Society has published a children’s book starring the Ježić family of hedgehogs. The story follows two baby hedgehogs on a school trip to an eco-home. Returning home, they enthusiastically encourage their parents to go fully green when expanding their own home. The result is a cosy, energy-efficient hedgehog smart home complete with solar panels, heavily insulated walls, a green roof, and water and waste recycling systems.

The project combines a cute, approachable story with a serious climate message. According to Vena Duričić, President of the Croatian Meteorological Society, the book’s text and illustrations were tested with real children, who contributed ideas on the type of animals and the visual style. This approach not only makes climate adaptation concepts accessible to young readers but also creates a bridge between educational content and storytelling that resonates with families.

Hedgehogs, in this context, serve as relatable symbols of small-scale, practical environmental action. Through their story, children can see that adaptation to a warming world can start with simple, everyday decisions and personal responsibility.

Cats Teach Practical Climate Awareness

Elsewhere in Europe, a sun-shy cat named Tom is helping teach Slovenian audiences about sun safety and UV protection. With skin cancer rates rising, Dr. Ana Benedičić and the Association of Slovenian Dermatovenerologists have created a cartoon series featuring Tom the Cat.

Tom learns that when his shadow is shorter than his body, it’s time to seek shade. He even dons a Legionnaire-style hat when hiking in the mountains and carefully avoids UV rays reflected off rocks and lakes. The use of a charming animal character allows complex health information to be delivered in a memorable, engaging way, particularly for younger audiences or those less likely to engage with traditional scientific messaging.

By personifying climate-related behaviours in a cat, the campaign makes abstract environmental risks tangible. It demonstrates that animal characters can effectively communicate protective measures, whether for pets or humans, while maintaining an approachable and entertaining tone.

Weather Presenters Get Creative With Animals

In Bulgaria, meteorologist Stanislava Tsalova has taken animal engagement to a live-audience level. Her weekend weather segments feature a mix of cuddly puppies, head-butting goats, and even brown bears. By weaving animals into her presentations, she draws viewers’ attention while explaining sometimes complex climate and weather phenomena.

For instance, during a heatwave, she might first explain how hot tarmac can injure a dog’s paws, before connecting the discussion to human heat stress and broader climate implications. This fearless, playful approach makes weather segments both informative and highly relatable, leveraging people’s love for animals to convey important environmental messages.

Tsalova’s method illustrates a broader principle in climate communication: emotions and relatability are powerful tools. People are more likely to pay attention to scientific information when it’s framed around familiar and beloved creatures.

Lifestyle and Regional Magazines Bring Climate Home

Taking cues from lifestyle publications, Italy’s regional environmental protection agency has developed the award-winning Signali Dal Clima magazine to engage local communities. The publication combines high-quality photography with in-depth articles on climate change, regional temperature increases, and impacts on wildlife such as deer. It mirrors the layout and visual style of coffee-table magazines to draw readers in, blending informative content with appealing aesthetics.

Articles cover a range of topics, from sustainable seasonal recipes to discussions of climate anxiety, highlighting how global warming is affecting people in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, from the Dolomites to the Adriatic Sea. The magazine demonstrates that using familiar formats and storytelling techniques can make climate science more approachable, particularly when it incorporates elements of local culture, cuisine, and nature.

Broadening the Climate Communication Approach

Across Europe, these initiatives reflect a shared understanding among climate communicators: messages about climate change cannot rely solely on traditional scientific channels. Broadening the audience, focusing on adaptation strategies, and making information inclusive and relevant to everyday life—including the lives of pets—is increasingly recognised as essential.

Animals—whether real or fictional—serve as effective conduits for these messages. Hedgehogs, cats, and dogs help contextualise complex topics, from renewable energy and energy-efficient homes to sun safety and heat stress. Their presence in books, cartoons, live broadcasts, and magazines captures attention and encourages audiences to absorb and act on information in ways that pure data and statistics cannot achieve.

By connecting climate communication to familiar, relatable beings, scientists and educators can foster a deeper understanding of environmental issues while sparking curiosity, empathy, and engagement. This strategy not only helps spread awareness but also encourages action, from small household adaptations to broader lifestyle changes.

The Future of Animal-Based Climate Communication

The European Meteorological Society’s annual meeting highlighted that the intersection of animals and climate messaging is more than a novelty—it is a growing trend. By creatively integrating pets and wildlife into educational campaigns, communicators are finding innovative ways to engage diverse audiences across Europe.

From eco-conscious hedgehogs in Croatia to sun-savvy cats in Slovenia and adventurous meteorologists in Bulgaria, the message is clear: animals can be powerful allies in the fight against climate change. They make science relatable, encourage adaptive behaviour, and remind us that both humans and animals share the same warming world.

As communicators continue to experiment with these methods, the hope is that such storytelling and visual strategies will inspire broader participation in climate action, ensuring that audiences of all ages—and their pets—become active participants in building a sustainable future.

Looking Forward

The use of animals in climate communication represents an exciting shift in how environmental messages are shared. By combining storytelling, visual appeal, and relatable animal characters, communicators are finding new ways to reach audiences who might otherwise feel disconnected from the science of climate change.

Looking forward, these initiatives have the potential to not only educate but also inspire action. Whether it’s children learning about energy-efficient homes from hedgehogs, families understanding sun safety through a cat, or communities engaging with climate impacts via pets in media segments, the connection between animals and climate messaging is proving powerful.

As Europe continues to explore creative methods for communicating complex environmental issues, the integration of pets and wildlife into educational campaigns may become a standard practice—helping to make climate awareness more inclusive, approachable, and impactful for audiences of all ages.

Final Thoughts

The growing use of animals in climate communication highlights a creative and effective way to engage audiences with urgent environmental issues. Hedgehogs, cats, dogs, and other beloved creatures make complex topics like climate adaptation, extreme weather, and sun safety more relatable and memorable. By presenting information through familiar and endearing characters, communicators can spark curiosity, empathy, and actionable understanding across all age groups.

These innovative approaches demonstrate that climate messaging doesn’t have to be dry or technical. Instead, it can be inclusive, visually appealing, and emotionally resonant—connecting people not just to the facts, but to the real-world impact on communities, wildlife, and pets. Ultimately, integrating animals into climate education represents a promising path forward, inspiring audiences to think critically, act responsibly, and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future for the planet.

Conclusion

Animals are proving to be more than just companions—they are becoming influential messengers in the fight against climate change. From hedgehogs teaching children about eco-friendly living to cats illustrating sun safety, and dogs helping meteorologists communicate heatwave risks, these creative approaches show that environmental education can be engaging, relatable, and fun.

By leveraging the universal appeal of pets and wildlife, communicators are able to break down complex topics, foster empathy, and encourage practical action. Whether through storybooks, cartoons, media segments, or lifestyle magazines, animals help bridge the gap between scientific data and everyday life, making climate issues more accessible to diverse audiences across Europe.

Ultimately, using animals in climate communication demonstrates that innovation and creativity are key to raising awareness and inspiring change. As these initiatives grow, they offer hope that more people—young and old alike—will understand the importance of adaptation and feel motivated to participate in building a more sustainable future for both humans and animals.

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Discover how pets and animals like dogs, cats, and hedgehogs are being used across Europe to make climate change and extreme weather more relatable, engaging, and understandable for all audiences.