Your Brain On Climate

Dave Powell

A show about climate change and climate psychology. But sideways. Explore human brains doing amazing or awful things, learn why, then see what it means for the planet.

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72 episodes
Updated Sunday

Episodes72

Newest first

Jul 31, 2024 · 46 min
Luck, with Will Snell and Anita Sangha
You are so much more lucky than you think, even if you think you're not. Most of us are dead proud of the good things we've done, and we tell ourselves how hard we have worked and how much we deserve it. But unfortunately we don't. This also works the other way round: we are never as much to blame for our 'failures' as we think. Thing is most things in life are down to luck: not just whether you win the lottery or meet the perfect person, but deeper stuff. Like who your parents were and where (and when) you were born. That's a big idea to get your head around and it runs counter to most things our society tells us. And it's as true about climate change as anything else - what it means to us, and how important we think it is. Joining Dave this episode are Will Snell and Anita Sangha from the Fairness Foundation. They talk all about their brilliant and challenging report, Rotten Luck. You'll never look the same way at someone down on their luck again. Owl noises: — 14:23 - Branko Milanovic says here “80% of your income can be explained by the two factors of your country of birth (60%) and your parents’ income position (20%)”. — 19:38 - Just World Theory, courtesy of the excellent Decision Lab. — 31:02 - Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future: “chilling yet hopeful”. — 36:18 - The Welsh Well-being of Future Generations Act is here. — 36:49 - all rise for the UN’s Summit of the Future, September 2024. — 40:45 - Over to Wiki for more on luck egalitarianism (or read Will’s report). Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Jul 1, 2024 · 52 min
Values Action Gap, with Gail Hochachka
Well you SAY you care about climate change, but you don't, do you? There's you, driving a car (!!!) or not putting that plastic bottle in the recycling (!!!!!). There's you, saying you value the planet, but acting like you JUST DON'T CARE. You and me and everyone else. The gulf between our values and actions is large you could drive an SUV through it. This is the 'values action gap'. Closing it is the stated aim of just about all behavioural science and climate campaigns and all the rest of it. But it is evidently bloody hard. Because although most people say they care about the planet, the plastic and the carbon emissions and the dead stuff keeps on piling up. So what is the values action gap all about, and how do we actually leap it? Joining Dave this week is Dr Gail Hochachka from the University of British Columbia in Canada. She explains her brilliant research which picks apart the values action gap in all its complexity, and gives us abundant reasons to be cheerful: perhaps the gap isn't as large as all that. Gail's paper on the gap (referenced throughout) is here. Owl noises: -- 12:28: This owl is a plug for Gail's paper, linked above. -- 13:16: We've talked about hyperobjects on YBOC before, can't remember where. Read this. -- 49:52: Gail has a fantastic new initiative, SALT. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
May 31, 2024 · 58 min
Mindfulness, with Jamie Bristow
Mindfulness: a technique for training your brain to reflect on what it thinks and why. It can help us make smarter decisions, and can even get the House of Commons to stop shouting at each other quite so much. Magic! But can it save the planet? Today's guest is Jamie Bristow, co-founder of the Mindfulness Initiative - an amazing organisation bringing the technique to the heart of policy and parliament. Jamie's trained MPs on skills of compassion and self-reflection, and thinks (as do I) that we could all benefit hugely from a bit more time spent thinking about thinking. He's also part of the team that's devised the Inner Development Goals. We talk about Jamie's report - Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out - a compelling and comprehensive guide to how mindfulness can help society change how we live on planet Earth. **EDIT: In introducing Jamie I wrongly say he started the mindfulness programme in the UK parliament. He didn't, he founded the associated institute. Jamie's asked me to correct that - happy to. *** Owl noises: -- 13:40: a short video in which Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about homo-sapiens-sapiens. -- 18:12: the Reconnection... report is linked above. -- 28:45: if you've never read The Unbearable Automaticity of Being, you should. -- 37:55: the Apolitical Foundation's Mere Mortals report. -- 41:58: A nice primer on Bob Kegan's levels of human development work. -- 48:38: The excellent Common Cause is a good place to read about intrinsic v extrinsic values. -- 51:55: I was going to link to some stuff I found on google about nature connectedness but you can google it yourself. Instead a plug for my chat with Lauren Hall Ruddell about this very thing. -- 53:16: Ian McGilchrist is a very clever man. I'm reading his The Master & His Emissary right now. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Apr 30, 2024 · 51 min
Conversations, with Alex Evans
Or: how chinwags can save the world. Imagine I could give you a superpower. The ability to make people trust you who currently don't. To help them change their own mind, on their own terms. And to maybe even heal society, perhaps just a little bit. WELL I CAN. It's called 'having a grown up conversation', and it's perhaps the most underrated thing we can all do about climate change. Joining me to talk about all things chatting, nattering and deep canvassing is the charming Alex Evans, founder and director of the charity Larger Us. We (yes) have a conversation about the best ways to have a good ol' chinwag, why we're all shouting at each other more, and the psychology behind why we perhaps we don't disagree anywhere near as much as we might think. Plenty owl noises this week: -- 05:19: Climate Outreach's Britain Talks Climate research toolkit, which is fab in which I have precisely no vested interest whatsoever. -- 11:18: Dave Fleischer's TED Talk about deep canvassing. -- 15:23: George Marshall's brilliant book, Don't Even Think About It. -- 23:55: Bill Bishop came up with the Big Sort idea back in 2004. -- 28:00: Hannah Arendt on totalitarianism, via Wiki. -- 30:52: Bobby Duffy's Divided Britain report. -- 36:30: Oil and gas workers team up with greenies. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Mar 22, 2024 · 50 min
Success, with Simon Mundie
So much of our silly short lives is spent chasing after trophies or money or glory. Success! But it's never really enough. We just want more trophies and more more money and one day we die and so does everything else, the end. As a culture, we've got success wrong. Today's guest says we should instead see success as learning to lose ourselves in things - whether that's playing the piano, or sport, or listening to jolly interesting podcasts. Pursuing, and cherishing, a flow state - the only state in which we are truly contented. And perhaps if we all did that a bit more, we might bugger up the planet a little less. Simon Mundie is a BBC sports reporter, host of the magnificent The Life Lessons Podcast, and author of the new book Champion Thinking: How to Find Success Without Losing Yourself. He's had just about every sports star you can think of on his show, and has learned more than just one book's worth of wisdom about what success really means, from those who've chased it, won it, and lost it. Owl noises: -- 12:48 - you can find Simon's episode with Caitlin Jenner here, and here's some words about it. -- 21:14 - Goldie Sayers chucks it long. -- 44:17 - Dacher Keltner's stuff on awe. I'll get him on here one day. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Feb 22, 2024 · 42 min
Biophilia, with Lauren Hall Ruddell
Frazzled? Go for a walk in the woods. It'll calm you down, fill your nose with lovely smells, and reset your eyes to room temperature. But why? According to today's guest, humans evolved to need to chill out in natural environments. It gives us nice chemicals like serotonin, is good for long term mental health, and generally resets our stress alarms. This is the idea of Biophilia, and it's rather nice. Joining Dave this episode is Dr Lauren Hall Ruddell - a journalist and naturalist who has spent many years thinking about the restorative power of being in nature. We talk about all things biophilic, and how losing the nature we evolved to need is one of the biggest tragedies of the climate crisis. The opening poem thingy is an extract from "A Transparent Eyeball" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, read by Ruth Everett. Owl noises: -- 08:43 - Attention Restoration Theory - a fascinating, still-developing field which posits that being in nature can restore your, well, attention. -- 12:12 - Default Mode Network - the surprisingly large amount of brain activity that goes on when you're not thinking about anything in particular. -- 18:53 - Savannah Theory crops up in this interesting article about why so many companies put pot plants all over their offices. -- 19:40 - Cows face north! Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Jan 29, 2024 · 50 min
(Dis)trusting Climate Science, with Laur Hesse Fisher
Some people think climate science is made up. This annoys other people. But calling each other dullards is unhelpful, and it misses the deeper questions. What determines who and what we trust, including science? And what can be done to make people and politics - particularly, Lord help us all, American politics - a bit less squabbly about it all? Joining Dave this episode is Laur Hesse Fisher, programme director for MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative. Laur's an expert in climate science communications that bridge political divides, which sounds like a very useful person to be. She's also the host of TILClimate. Listen. It's good. Owl noises: -- 15:22: Elke U Weber's 2006 paper on psychological distancing is here. -- 16:25: Far be it from me to blow my own trumpet, but I once interviewed that Katharine Hayhoe on Sustainababble... -- 32:38: Find out more about Americans being alarmed about climate change, via Yale. -- 34:37: Your political identity is a form of group attachment, it says here. -- 38:16: ... Toot toot! And here's my Sustainababble interview with the fabulous Naomi Oreskes. -- 43:47: important, un-great news: the Gen Z gender / ideological gap. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Dec 29, 2023 · 43 min
We, with Jonathan Rowson
WE need to take action on climate change. WE need a revolution. WE need to unite and tackle the problem. Etc. But who is this "we"? Politicians and campaigners love to invoke it. It has powerful rhetorical force. But does this confusing "we" give us any sense of what each of us can actually do? Is it a linguistic problem or something more profound about how our brains think about collective agency? And how the heck do "we" actually go from not doing enough, to doing so? Joining Dave to talk about all things "we" and collective agency is Jonathan Rowson. He's CEO and founder of Perspectiva, a charity working on the relationship between system, souls and society. He is also an author and a chess grandmaster (who once thrashed Dave at chess while being interviewed). Owl noises: -- 15:01 - Jonathan's Substack piece that prompted this interview. -- 18:46 - The United Nations High Seas treaty. -- 22:05 - More from Jonathan on the metacrisis. -- 27:08 - Hyperobjects. -- 29:07 - Off topic it may be, but here's the Jeavons paradox. -- 29:43 - A chat between Jonathan and John Vervaeke about the agent in the arena. -- 37:42 - I chatted to Rupert Read about the Climate Majority Project a few episodes back. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Nov 27, 2023 · 48 min
Behaviour Change, with Lorraine Whitmarsh
Are we responsible for how we behave? If so, should we feel bad about it? And if the answer to those two is 'yes' and 'yes' respectively, how do we change our behaviour? How much of 'behaviour change' is about nudging or encouraging individuals to change, versus how much is banning bad things and making good things easier and cheaper? And are simple answers stupid? (Spoiler: yes.) Joining Dave this month is the esteemed Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE. Lorraine is Prof of Environmental Psychology at the University of Bath, UK, and runs the Centre for Climate and Social Transformations (CAST). She's an expert in a hundred thousand things, several of which help her know how to change our behaviour and whose job it is. Owl noises: -- 07:34 - The Climate Change Committee advises the UK government on, er, climate change. It says about 60% of emissions cuts to come require behaviour change in some form. You might also like this report Lorraine wrote for them about how to do that. -- 20:25 - An excellent primer on nudging from the Decision Lab. And at 25:18, here's them on sludging. -- 24:01 - The Austrian nudging experiment. -- 32: 24: Fly lots? Pay disproportionately more tax. Here's the Frequent Flyer Levy idea. -- 43:17: Lessons from Covid for climate, from CAST. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Oct 27, 2023 · 42 min
Endurance, with Damian Hall
Try running for a few miles, and then a few miles more, and then several hundred few miles more. That's proper endurance that is, the kind demonstrated regularly by Damian Hall: ultrarunner, climate activist, author, and all-round lovely chap. He's the holder of the men's record for the 268-mile Spine Race, so he knows a thing or two about keeping going when things look grim. And when it comes to climate change, heaven knows we need a bit of that. What can running very long distances teach us about perseverance despite increasingly grim climate news? What has Damian learned about climate activism from running up mountains all day long? And is running REALLY as bad for the planet as Formula 1? (Spoiler: no). Damian is the co-founder of the Green Runners. Run? Join. Owl noises: -- Race owls: 07:20 - the Spine Race; 19:38 - the Barkley Marathons. 20:29 - UTMB. -- 26:37 - here's Michael Mann on Twitter, and if you want to hear Dave nattering with Katherine Hayhoe, you're in luck. -- 28:45 - herewith all of Damian's books. -- 36:36 - in case you missed it, what Rishi did. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Sep 26, 2023 · 43 min
Liberalism, with Christopher Shaw
The climate crisis needs all the ideas and imagination it can get. But today's guest says that liberalism - the system many of us live in, which cherishes individual freedom above pretty much all else - is a straitjacket on our imaginations, and our ability to think and act big. If it really is harder to imagine the death of capitalism than the end of all life on Earth, does that explain why most visions of the future are so, well, crap? Joining Dave this ep is Dr Christopher Shaw, author of 'Liberalism and the Challenge of Climate Change'. Chris has a very large brain and tells us why the rules of the system we live in have a huge influence on how we think about what's possible. Follow him on twitter @kalahar1. Owl noises: -- 10.01: One of the people credited with the phrase is the late Mark Fisher in his very influential (including I bet on Chris) Capitalist Realism. -- 11.34: Not cheery, but here's more in Science about the transgression of six of the nine planetary boundaries. -- 15.47: Chris means Hope in the Dark, a book I commend to you in the strongest possible terms. -- 32.35: Freud and his repression. For plenty more on Freud, check out episode 11 with Dr Aaron Balick. -- 40:44: The shortcut to Chris's Twitter thread. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Aug 20, 2023 · 44 min
Decolonisation, with Ayesha Siddiqi
Our ideas about climate change are filtered through layers of Stuff, and for us in the West quite a lot of that Stuff is inseparable from being gits to other countries for centuries. We've nabbed land, exploited populations and perhaps most enduringly of all, seen the world as basically being for 'us' to do with as we want. That Stuff dies hard, and, this episode's guest argues, shapes how we think even about what climate change is, never mind how and in whose interests to solve it. Joining Dave this ep is Dr Ayesha Siddiqi, lecturer in human geography at the University of Cambridge. Ayesha's a postcolonial geographer, which means she 1) is clever and 2) understands how the impacts of things like climate change overlap with legacies of politics, power and security. Most usefully of all for this episode at least, she talks warmly and accessibly about the need to decolonise research and the Western framing of climate change. So: learn stuff. Owl noises: -- 06:33 - the wet bulb test, and why it's scary. -- 40:40 - the Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, and why Matthews have it even easier than Daves. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Jul 17, 2023 · 52 min
Comedy, with Stuart Goldsmith
The death of everything: no ROFLing matter. Right? Well probably yes. But can chuckles save the planet? Does laughing at humans being silly confused bags of water help the climate fight or take the heat out of it? And just why is so much climate comedy, well, crap? Joining Dave this episode is a right proper comedy mastermind, Stuart Goldsmith. Stuart's spent aeons both behind the mic as a stand-up, and peering at other comics via interviews in his legendary The Comedian's Comedian podcast. He's drunk heavily from the comedy well, and knows more about the art (science? craft?) of rib-tickling than just about anyone. And - [applause, cheers] - Stuart now reckons he might spend the rest of his career doing comedy about climate change, such is his commitment to the cause. See Stuart's show Spoilers at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. Owl noises: -- 11:11 - The rule of three in comedy. -- 12:33 - This really is a most excellent, warm and wise interview with John Lloyd from the folks at Rebel Wisdom. -- 13:23 - Here's a TED talk - Why We Laugh - off of Professor Sophie Scott. -- 27:24 - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's climate Venn diagram. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Jun 22, 2023 · 44 min
Honesty, with Rupert Read
You can't handle the truth! Or maybe you can. But does the truth set us free, or bum us out? Do we all have a duty to say it like we see it - particularly on things we're not seeing clearly enough, like climate change? How much honesty can our flimsy little brains bear? Joining Dave this episode is Dr Rupert Read. He's an academic, author, agitator and activist, and used to be one of Extinction Rebellion's biggest thinkers and strategists. As well as a new book - 'Do You Want To Know The Truth - the surprising rewards of climate honesty' - he's launching the Climate Majority Project to help everyday people talk more honestly about the climate crisis. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenRupertRead. Owl noises: -- 18:09 - El Niño doesn't sound like fun. -- 32:58 - Rupert's call for a 'moderate flank'. -- 34:36 - Do check out the work of Larger Us. Cool stuff. -- 37:37 - A chewy chat with colossal-brained Daniel Schmachtenberger about the 'war on sense-making'. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
May 23, 2023 · 47 min
Negotiation, with Camilla Born
It's all very well demanding that everything happens NOW, but we're actually going to do - or not - about climate change is all about negotiation. What happens inside those fusty negotiating halls? How does one negotiate well and get what one wants, whether on climate or things more domestic? And does the climate have the time for us to negotiate our way out of a paper bag? Joining Dave this episode is Camilla Born MBE. Camilla's been at more top tables than you've had hot dinners, and has been there for the crunchy bits of some of the planet's most important negotiations - not least when advising COP26 President Alok Sharma. Find out how Camilla gets her way, and what she thinks about protestors demanding the seemingly impossible. Follow Camilla on Twitter @camillaborn. We don't talk about it in the episode but Camilla and I recommend this moving piece by Pete Betts, a legendary negotiator, reflecting on everything he's learned. Owl noises: -- 08:08: Anchoring bias explained over at the Decision Lab. -- 10:16: I should probably give due kudos to the thing that I read, which is these top 10 negotiating tips by the Harvard Law School's negotiation programme. -- 16:56: it really does matter whether we phase coal 'down' or 'out', and Carbon Brief explains why. -- 19:52: Professor Lee's thoughts on tactical empathy and much else - including more Camilla - in this Inside Science episode on negotiation. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Apr 15, 2023 · 35 min
Flies (and Fleas), with Erica McAlister
Yup, buzz-buzz-swat-buggers. Now, I can't guarantee you're going to come out of this one in love with flies (and fleas), but maybe you'll think a wee bit differently about 'em. About what we need to do to our brains to make small buzzing things our chums, not our nemesis. And why needing to do it is pretty dang essential for not wiping out everything that lives, including ourselves. Joining Dave this week is the legend that is Dr Erica McAlister, the London Natural History Museum's expert on all things dipeteric (flies) and siphonapteric (fleas). Never will you have been so charmed by one woman's protective affection for these unloved insects. Owl noises: -- 08:07: if you want more secret sexy fly stuff, you perv, check out Erica's talk on Youtube. -- 29:52: an obituary of Miriam Rothschild who believed in God because fleas have willies. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Mar 18, 2023 · 45 min
Bystander Effect, with Gerdien de Vries
Yes you probably WOULD walk by on the other side, wouldn't you, and don't say you wouldn't, because you would. Alas, a trio of brain wirings add up to the so-called Bystander Effect: our tendency to stand in a crowd of people watching someone flail in a canal, hoping it's not us that has to get our frock wet to jump in and save them. In this episode Dave learns all about the Bystander Effect with Dr Gerdien de Vries from TU Delft. What is it? Why is it? And can working out what'll make us jump in the canal, make us more likely not to stand by and watch the world burn? Check out Gerdien's excellent climate psychology talk here. Owl noises: -- 05:47: the sad story of Kitty Genovese and why as Gerdien says, it's not entirely right. -- 09:59: you really should know what cognitive dissonance is by now, but if not here's a primer from the always excellent folks at the Decision Lab. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Feb 17, 2023 · 54 min
Foresight, with Adam Bulley
Time travel! No not like Marty McFly, but in our heads. Backwards via memories, albeit imperfectly. And forwards, to make plans for the future and think about all the ways they could go wrong and then make new plans and then etc. Foresight is profoundly human and completely innate to your brain: just try and sit still with your thoughts for a bit, and you'll see how often you think about what comes next. Without foresight, no skyscrapers, art, podcasts or health service. No anything we call home, really. But also no climate crisis. Because it turns out that just like our memories, our ability to see and guard against bad things in the future is distinctly imperfect - cf, the global pandemic - and that's got us into a whole heap of trouble. What's to be done? Joining Dave to talk all things foresight is Dr Adam Bulley. He's a cognitive scientist and one-third of the authors of The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight. Follow Adam on Twitter @adamdbulley. Owl noises: -- 06:41: A great New Yorker article about Elizabeth Loftus's pioneering work on memory. -- 12:54: More about the patient who was scared of shaking hands. -- 35:22: Hyberbolic discounting, via the superb crew at Decision Lab. -- 40:23: Hal Hershfield says you make better decisions if you see your older self. -- 42:37: An extract from Tali Sharot's book, The Optimism Bias. -- 47:31: The book is Premonition, by Michael Lewis, and here's a review. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Jan 16, 2023 · 52 min
Metaphor, with Simon Lancaster
All I need to say to you is "Your Brain on Climate is a lovely cake of a podcast" and you'll drool and tell all your friends to subscribe immediately. Or something. No look: our brains LOVE metaphors. We think in stories and our brains like making connections between different ideas to make sense of the world - particularly things we can't always touch and feel, like climate change. Metaphors can constrain, divert or unlock our creativity, so we'd better get smart about the metaphors we use. Because rest assured, there are some very clever metaphor-wangers out there. Joining Dave this week is Simon Lancaster, political speechwriter and author of the essential book Connect!. He tells Dave all about the brain chemistry at work behind a compelling metaphor, and why the wiliest storytellers can use metaphor to have us for Brexit. Sorry, breakfast. You can find Simon @bespokespeeches on Twitter, or via his website here. Owl noises: -- 11:18 - here's what Wikipedia has to say about neurons firing together / wiring together. -- 22:45 - brace yourself, it's that Brexit Party rally from Newport. -- 33.24 - interesting exploration of the bystander effect and climate change. -- 47:50 - Paul Zak, the vampire neuroscientist, and why you shouldn't let him into your bedroom. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Dec 15, 2022 · 43 min
Play, with Lucy Hawthorne
We play when we're kids to try new things and learn how the world works, and when we think no-one's looking we do it as adults too. Play's important for our development and so you should probably do it or you'll turn out a wrong'un. But Dave's guest today says play is also a way to smash the Very Serious Rules of how to think about climate change - rules the following of which demonstrably are not working. If play = creativity, and creativity = necessary, is it time to lark about more in the name of saving the planet? Joining Dave this episode is Lucy Hawthorne. She's a creativity facilitator who uses Lego - yes, Lego - to teach adults a thing or two about how to think sideways about climate change and what to do about it. She even sent some in the post to Dave. Find Lucy at Catalysts Club and Climate Play. Owl noise: Find out more about Stuart Brown's eight categories of play. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.