Are our brains wired to ignore climate change?

“Why, when the evidence is so strong, and so many agree that this is our greatest problem, are we doing so little about climate change?”

Climate change communications specialist George Marshall has been grappling with that question since he co-founded the UK charity, the Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN), in 2004. Next week he will be Victoria for a free public lecture on Tuesday hosted by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), and visiting Vancouver and Kelowna as part of a North American tour to promote his new book: Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Ignore Climate Change.

Marshall’s book has attracted praise from climate scientists including James Hansen, the former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and television’s Bill Nye (the Science Guy), as well as Canadian author Naomi Klein. The book examines the psychology of climate change denial, following discussions with Nobel Prize-winning psychologists, Tea Party activists, leading climate scientists and their main critics; as well as liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals.

In his book Marshall applies the complex social psychology of climate change to explore one of the most urgent questions of our time: Why, after 20 years of discussion, do so many people still ignore the scientific consensus and, increasingly, the evidence of their own eyes?

“Environmentalists and scientists alike continue to assume that climate change denial can be overcome with more reports and data. They are wrong,” Marshall says. “More than any other issue climate change requires a sense of shared humanity… and must be understood as an appeal to peoples’ values and identities.”

WHAT: Free PICS public lecture by George Marshall: Author and co-founder of COIN
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 3 to 4 p.m.
WHERE: PICS, University House 1: University of Victoria
Live Webcast: http://pics.uvic.ca/events/are-our-brains-wired-ignore-climate-change 

Bio: George Marshall has worked at all levels of the environmental movement, including as a senior campaigner for Greenpeace US and the Rainforest Foundation. Through COIN he provides academic, government and campaign training in climate change communications and public engagement, and is a lead advisor to the Welsh Government. Marshall writes articles for publications including The New Statesman, The Guardian, and New Scientist, and frequently updates his blog www.climatedenial.org

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