Ingenious techniques for avoiding having to confront Climate Change, including the “Spinach Pie” effect
By Ben Brangwyn 12th November 2010
This has just come through from George Marshall from COIN in the UK. It’s a very clever, concise and entertaining set of videos in which he explores the psychology of climate change denial and climate communications. There are three installments covering all the ground systematically and in a very easy to appreciate way.Take a look and see if you’ve experienced any “Spinach Pie” moments of your own.
Part one
- Risk – and why we don’t feel threatened by climate change
- Belief – why we can’t just accept the information and need to believe in it
- Attention – how avoiding talking about climate change is like avoiding talking about human rights atrocities
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOsl5-AUTv4
Part two
- Stories – the way we mediate information about climate change. The problem with polar bears and why human rights organisations are more interested in ice cream than climate change.
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb5Zu_YGxjw&feature=related
Part three
- Distancing – the strategies we adopt to keep the information at arm’s length
- Compartmentalising – how we can accept climate change and continue polluting behaviour
- Positive Framing – how we seek to turn climate change into a personal advantage
- Ethical Offsets – how we adopt the easiest behaviours as proof of our virtue
- Cynicism- the commercial appropriation of climate change images
- What happens next? – surprisingly – what happens next
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1zW3dG_ko
George comments:
“OK- it is hardly Inconvenient Truth or Story of Stuff. It was a lecture I gave last year at a climate psychology conference at the University of the West of England and I didn’t really twig that it was being taped or I would have worn a better jumper and not slouched about so much – but it was a nice lively audience and I got enough time to cover the ground well. All in all I am pleased with it and I think it is an entertaining introduction to the topic.
I really hope you do too.
Please share it with anyone who might like it and embed it anywhere you want”
Thanks to George for his continuing great work.