George Marshall: The Ingenious Ways We Avoid Believing in Climate Change

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
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George Marshall, founder of the UK-based Climate Outreach Information Network, has a new three-part video series exploring โ€˜The Ingenious Ways We Avoid Believing in Climate Change.โ€™ย  Marshall explores the psychology of climate change denial and climate communications, both in this video series and on his blog ClimateDenial.org. Check out the videos below.
ย 
Part one
Risk โ€“ and why we donโ€™t feel threatened by climate change
Belief โ€“ why we canโ€™t just accept the information and need to believe in it
Attention โ€“ how avoidingย  talking about climate change is like avoiding talking about human rights atrocities



ย 
Part two โ€“
Stories โ€“ 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.



ย 
Part three
Distancing โ€“ the strategies we adopt to keep the information at armโ€™s length
Compartmentalising โ€“ how we can accept climate change and continue polluting behaviour
Positive Framing โ€“ how we seek to turn climate change into a personal advantage
Ethical Offsets โ€“ how we adopt the easiest behaviours as proof of our virtue
Cynicism- the commercial appropriation of climate change images
What happens next? – surprisingly – what happensย next

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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