In the process of looking for a designer etc to do some corporate branding for me I've found these guys who have done some interesting research into sustainability communications.

They have a couple of interesting publications here.

The site includes their research into Words that Sell: How the public talks about sustainability.

'give waste a second chance' is a cute example of personification. They argue that we've attached tangible or financial values to resourses but we have an oportunity to attach emotional value.

I think the research shows how fast the agenda is moving as few people had heard of the term carbon footprinting. It was done 18mths ago and I'd be really suprised if the general public hadn't heard of the term by now.

They also have a great document that has their recommendations to the Climate Change Communications Working Group (which I can't find a decent reference to).