If you want someone to change their mind, it's best if they persuade themselves. And they're much more likely to do that if they actually *do* something new, rather than just pathetically feeling like they *should*.

There's nothing like getting yer metaphorical hands dirty to show you you can do things you never thought you could - from bleeding radiators to leading climate marches. And everyday stories of people *doing stuff* are far more effective than simply telling people there's a climate crisis going on - so why don't we tell more of them?

This episode, welcome to the noggin and work of Kris de Meyer - neuroscientist, documentarian, and science communicator par excellence. Kris is the director of the UCL Climate Action Unit and one of the most requested guests for Your Brain on Climate. There ain't much about your brain that he doesn't know, so strap yourself in for some lessons in how minds really change. Kris even has an answer to how come Dave ended up nearly getting nicked dressed as a beagle - and how societies drift slowly apart, one tiny step at a time.

These new-format episodes take a long time to record, script, and edit. If you like it - that'll make me happy.

• Let me know your thoughts on the show - hello@yourbrainonclimate.com.
• Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials.
• Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate.

Owl noises = references:

• 06:22 - Here's Kris's TED talk about the pyramid ...
• 06:40 - ... and here's his other one, 'Why we need to change how we talk about climate change'.
• 08:50 - A nice little primer on the information deficit model.
• 13:31 - I loved my chat with Anil Seth back in 2022.
• 20:47 - Strong recommend for Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling.
• 24:47 - The Single Action Bias, over at the always excellent Decision Lab.

Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis. 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 Bluesky and X/Twitter, although I don't use the latter any more.

YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.

Common sense? Ain't nothing common about it.

Populists - like Donald Trump - love to appeal to 'common sense', while pushing ideas as contentious as they come. But what does Trump get right about how he talks to people about big ideas - and what can everyone else learn from it? And what does all this mean for how to talk about something as complex and polarised as climate change?

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Dannagal Young, Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware. Danna is the author of 'Wrong: how Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation'. We talk about her amazing work on the psychological underpinnings of political tribes, including how much any of us actually like to think about complicated things at all.

These new-format episodes take a long time to record, script, and edit. If you like it - that'll make me happy.

• Let me know your thoughts on the show - hello@yourbrainonclimate.com.
• Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials.
• Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate.

Owl noises = references:

• 07:15 - Here's a paper by Danna about lay epistemology.
• 10:45 - Sophia Rosenfeld's book, Common Sense: A Political History
• 12:17 - Wikipedia entry on Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
• 24:27 - Alex Bellos sets puzzles every week in the Guardian.
• 25:58 - Want to measure your own need for closure? Check out the Kruglanski scale.
• 44:25 - Awful lot of stuff written about using fear in climate messaging. Here's a decent piece from Scientists for Global Responsibility.
• 47:28 - If you've liked this episode and you haven't read Kahneman's seminal Thinking Fast and Slow, you better get on it.
• 52:09 - Numberphile2 on YouTube explains the Monty Hall problem (with visuals, which really helps).

Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis. 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 Bluesky and X/Twitter, although I don't use the latter any more.

YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me. Lots of other lovely bed music in this episode by Rockot. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.

Is climate science 'neutral'? Should it be? Are humans even capable of being neutral about anything?

In this new-format episode, I dig into accusations that climate scientists risk undermining their work by going on climate marches. Can that really be true? Doesn't the scientific method speak for itself? And is it realistic to expect people to spend all day immersed in awful data, and NOT want to change the world afterwards?

I'm joined this episode by the fab Dr Lydia Messling, climate engagement expert and a very thoughtful and clever person. Lydia talks about her experiences in being told not to go on climate marches, and what she's learned about how climate scientists can be great public communicators. And Lydia helps me understand the big big difference between being 'neutral' and being 'objective': while the former's probably impossible in science or life, the latter is the very heart of what makes science fab in the first place.

This is a new type of episode that I hope will be the norm from now on. But it takes a lot longer to do. So if you want to see more like this, let me know - hello@yourbrainonclimate.com and please do leave a review. And do please consider chucking a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate.

Owl noises:

• 08:12 - Lydia et al's Nature piece challenging the 'neutrality myth'...
• 08:22 - which was a response to this Nature piece from Ulf Büntgen.
• 12:25 - More on the BBC's change of tack on 'balance' in climate reporting, from the Guardian.
• 13:20 - The thoroughly unedifying Climategate affair, 10 years on.
• 15:46 - the audio here is from a great interview with Prof Brian Cox from Champion Speakers on Youtube.
• 17:37 - Helen Douglas's 2009 book.
• 28:45 - Lydia's 8 tips for climate science communication.

Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis. 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.

YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me. Other music in this episode by Daniel Cutter. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.