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

Nov 15, 2022 · 52 min
Consciousness, with Anil Seth
Right then. Everything you perceive - including what climate change is to you - is a construction of your brain. And your brain is winging it. That's the reality of human consciousness, and everything I thought it was is completely wrong. So how do our brains perceive things, like buses? Are there even buses? (Yes, there are buses.) Have our conscious noggins evolved enough to cope with the reality of climate change? If not, er - can they, sharpish? And can the very fact that there even is consciousness guide how we might think about protecting life itself? Stand by for more 'Dave is patiently corrected by a genius' moments than usual, as I'm joined by Professor Anil Seth - cognitive neuroscientist, philosopher, and all-round wise and lovely chap. Anil's bestselling book, Being You, explains all about what consciousness is - what it is, how it works, and how it makes us perceive the world. Find Anil on Twitter @anilkseth. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 19:42: Jakob von Uexküll and his idea of 'umwelt' - every animal inhabits a world of its own. -- 19:59: Ed Yong's book, 'An Immense World'. -- 24:30: Check out Anil's Perception Census. Check it out now. Do it. -- 40:30: Stroboscopically induced visual hallucinations? Yes please. 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.
Aug 11, 2022 · 42 min
Schadenfreude, with Aaron Balick
We love it when someone gets what's coming to them - whether it's an individual we know personally and dislike, someone from a group we hate, or someone we just generally think is a wrong'un. That's schadenfreude - literally, "joy damage". Grubby, wonderful feeling. But what does schadenfreude do for us, psychologically? Is it a good and useful thing or a harmful thing? And can it be harnessed - or should it be feared - when trying to do something about the climate crisis? Joining Dave this episode is Dr Aaron Balick - pyschotherapist, author, academic and all round nice chap. He specialises in applying psychological phenomena to everyday life. You can follow him on twitter @DrAaronB. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 06:03: A YouTube explainer, involving icebergs, of Freud's ideas about the ego, id, and super-ego. -- 19:41: More on Freud's ideas about projection and transference. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All original music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Apr 22, 2022 · 35 min
(Super)Heroes, with Al Kennedy
When things get scary, we like hero(+ine)s. We kind of automatically create them - like there was always a hero-shaped hole in our stories that was just waiting for someone to pop into. Why? Are we really hardwired to look for heroes? Do they all wear capes? And for something as complex and fiddly and *wibbles hands expansively in the air* as climate change, is it a good or a bad thing that we cast Greta, David Attenborough and whoever comes next as a climate hero? Do we need new types of heroes? Or maybe none at all? Joining Dave this week is Al Kennedy, expert in superheroes as a thing, and a deep thinker on how and why hero stories work. You can follow him on twitter @housetoastonish. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 13:57: Scott Allison and George Goethals define 'hero', actually at a bit more length than I suggest in the show, oh well. -- 21.51: Massive at the time, but you may be too young to remember what an Inconvenient Truth was. -- 23:03: Severn Cullis-Suzuki addresses the world at the Rio Summit in 1992. -- 33:33: I appear as a guest on Al's splendid Desert Island Discworld podcast. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Mar 22, 2022 · 45 min
Disgust, with Yoel Inbar
What disgusts you? For starters, I bet, other people's oozings, or rotten meat, or other such things that hint at the Unclean. But you might also say corruption, or pollution. Or a particular politician, or a group of people. Or perhaps... even climate change itself? It's one of our most base, guiding emotional responses to the world, so in this episode we find out all about disgust - how it shapes societies, defines what's right and wrong, and affects how we think about who's to blame for a changing climate, and what to do about it. Joining Dave this week is Professor Yoel Inbar from the University of Toronto. Yoel's an expert in disgust and how it shapes morals, politics and societies, and a very funny and warm fellow to boot. You can follow him on Twitter at @yorl. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 11:10: Plutchik's wheel of emotions idea. -- 12:30: More on Jonathan Haidt's musings on elevation. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Feb 21, 2022 · 41 min
Psychogeography, with Philippa Holloway
We are the places we live, and the places we live are us. Places made by oil, coal, and gas, by roads, and by industry. Where the choices we make about what to feel and where to go are shaped by the very things that are at the heart of the climate crisis. Eek. Psychogeography's about turning left when you're supposed to go right. Going into nuclear exclusion zones when you're not supposed to. Wandering off the beaten track, seeing what happens and who you meet. And stopping to think for a bit to notice where you are, and what's around you - and what isn't. It's a bit of a brain-melter. So joining Dave this week is Dr Philippa Holloway - academic, author, novelist and professional psychogeographer, to talk him (very patiently) through it all. You'll find Philippa on Twitter @thejackdawspen. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 22:33: An introduction to Sartre & anti-praxis. Not for the faint of heart. -- 23.58: How colour-changing cats (really) might warn the future about nuclear waste. -- 28:09. The Situationists. All very French. -- 36.54. Philippa's thesis. I wasn't making it up, I've actually read the whole thing. It's ace. Philippa's novel, The Half Life of Snails, is out on 2 May. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Oct 12, 2021 · 40 min
Pluralistic Ignorance, with Deborah Prentice
An episode all about one of the weirdest but most important of all human brain-oddnesses: pluralistic ignorance. When you think something and lots of other people also think that thing but none of you think anyone else agrees with you, so nothing changes. Got that? Dave is joined by Professor Deborah Prentice from Princeton University to get his noggin around this deeply human trait. On the menu: just how common is it that we think we’re alone in an idea when we’re not? Is pluralistic ignorance to blame for imposter syndrome? And should climate campaigners fear or embrace it? Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 05.07: Deborah's 1993 study into drinking and pluralistic ignorance -- 18.37: Racial attitudes and pluralistic ignorance (1976 study) -- 22.01: Nudge theory explainer 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com. YBOC will return in early 2022.
Oct 5, 2021 · 38 min
Connection, with Alison Crowther
Being alive can be a lonely business, as can trying to do something about climate change. But how important to our brains is connecting with others? And in our individualised world, might we be hugely undervaluing the importance of interpersonal connection in helping society take meaningful and effective action on climate change? Joining Dave this week is coach, facilitator, and expert in the growing field of positive psychology, Alison Crowther. Alison works to encourage deeper connection and collaboration with others, learning from science and nature to form more resilient systems – be they at work or in the community. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 04:16: TED talk with Martin Selignan on positive psychology -- 12:17: CLANG of wellbeing (connect, learn, be active, notice and give), courtesy of MIND -- 18:16: The story of Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, from NRDC -- 31:51: What is Eudaimonia? 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Sep 28, 2021 · 49 min
Conflict, with Ian Leslie
Ever found yourself yelling at someone you love and thinking: hang on, what are we even fighting about? Or embroiled in a blood-pressure-raising ding-dong with a climate denier, which only succeeds in making you both hate each other even more than you did to start with? Conflict: some of us find it easy, and some of us (like Dave) very difficult. It has its own momentum and its own rules. What is for sure is there's good and bad ways of doing it. So what is the best way to ensure human brains meet each other for an amicable cuppa, not a plate-smashing flare-up? And is it even worth arguing with someone who thinks climate change is a made up plot? (spoiler: yes) Joining Dave this week is author, podcast host and writer Ian Leslie. Ian's the author of the brilliant book Conflicted (amongst others) which digs into the psychology of conflict, and how to learn to do it wisely and productively. You can follow him on Twitter @mrianleslie. No bonus owl noises in this one! 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Sep 21, 2021 · 41 min
Change, with Andrew Simms
Everything changes and everything stays the same. Imagine being a squishy human brain trying to navigate that. Add on a barrage of advertising and social norms about what 'novelty' looks like, and no wonder it's so hard to make sense of what we might really want to change in our lives. And then there's climate change. There's a clue in the name: it means Different. Are we kitted out for that kind of change? Has our thirst for newness got us into this mess in the first place? And what hope is there of changing how we live in time to do something about it? Discussing all this and more with Dave is megabrain author, analyst and campaigner Andrew Simms. He's the director of the Rapid Transition Alliance, founder of the New Weather Institute, and formerly Policy Director at the New Economics Foundation. He's also written a bucket-load of books about the climate crisis and what needs to change - and how to change it. Follow him on Twitter @andrewsimms_uk. A link, as highlighted by the owl noise: - 06:30 - The hedonic treadmill, a faintly depressing thing to read about. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Sep 14, 2021 · 40 min
Grief, with Ro Randall
When we lose someone or something we love, our brains want to grieve. Why? What's going on when grieve - when we do it well, or don't do it properly? Is it grief we feel when we see huge forest fires or melting ice caps caused by climate change? And if it is - where do we put that grief, in a society that doesn't recognise it? This week Dave speaks to the wonderfully kind and clever Ro Randall about the psychology of grief and loss - and what it tells us about living through the climate crisis. Ro is a psychoanalytically trained psychotherapist who has written and worked extensively about how to help people process the emotional impact of climate change. You can find out all about Ro's work at www.rorandall.org. A link, as highlighted by the owl noise: - 18:13 - Greek island on fire video 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.
Sep 7, 2021 · 39 min
Food, with Kimberley Wilson
Food: yum! It keeps us alive and keeps our brains healthy (or unhealthy, all-too-often). And the food that we eat - what it is and where it comes from - is one of the most important things we're going to have to get right when it comes to climate change. Kind of a problem then that there are very few things about which we're quite so uppity and strange. Food is drenched in cultural meaning, status, and individuals' neuroses, associations and family history. So what is our psychological relationship with food? And what do those trying to get people to eat more climate-friendly diets need to take on board? Joining Dave on this first episode of Your Brain On Climate is Kimberley Wilson - a chartered psychologist, nutritionist and author on all things to do with food, health, lifestyle and society. She was also once a finalist on the Great British Bake-Off, but Dave has the grace not to ask her about that. You can read much more about Kimberley and her work at http://www.kimberleywilson.co Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: - 07:30 - Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression, rule-breaking, and psychopathology among young adult prisoners, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20014286/ - 10:12 - Antecedents, Behaviour, Consequences: A nice intro document here: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/11951/behaviour-observation-sheets.pdf 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://www.designbymondial.com.
Jul 18, 2021 · 45 min
Risk, with Adam Corner
In this debut episode of Your Brain On Climate, Dave talks all things RISK with Dr Adam Corner (@ajcorner). How do our brains understand risk? Are we still part jittery lizard, and if so which part? How do we - individually and as a society - decide what's risky enough to do something about? What can we learn from the wretched pandemic? And what can all of that teach us about the fact that while there's a climate emergency going on, it's not being treated like one? Dr Adam Corner is an independent writer and researcher, formerly Director of Policy and Research at Climate Outreach. His website is www.adamcorner.uk. Extra reading as highlighted by the twinkly noises: - 06:43 - Social Amplification of Risk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNHdse6jFNI - 10.33 - System One and Two thinking ('thinking fast and slow'). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kahneman-excerpt-thinking-fast-and-slow/ - 20:32 - Lorraine Whitmarsh and colleagues work into how lockdowns increase perceptions of risk: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/uk-public-view-covid-19-as-a-threat-because-of-lockdowns-new-study-suggests/ - 31:02 - Daniel Gilbert & PAIN: https://medium.com/the-ascent/why-some-people-cannot-believe-in-the-science-of-climate-change-31c45b626b6b A full series of Your Brain On Climate will follow later in 2021. 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. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://www.designbymondial.com.