This has just come through from George Marshall from COIN in the UK. It’s a very clever, concise and entertaining set of videos in which he explores the psychology of climate change denial and climate communications. There are three installments covering all the ground systematically and in a very easy to appreciate way.Take a look and see if you’ve experienced any “Spinach Pie” moments of your own.

Part one

• Risk – and why we don’t feel threatened by climate change
• Belief – why we can’t just accept the information and need to believe in it
• Attention – how avoiding talking about climate change is like avoiding talking about human rights atrocities
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOsl5-AUTv4

Part two

• Stories – 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.
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb5Zu_YGxjw&feature=related

Part three

• Distancing – the strategies we adopt to keep the information at arm’s length
• Compartmentalising – how we can accept climate change and continue polluting behaviour
• Positive Framing – how we seek to turn climate change into a personal advantage
• Ethical Offsets – how we adopt the easiest behaviours as proof of our virtue
• Cynicism- the commercial appropriation of climate change images
• What happens next? – surprisingly – what happens next
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1zW3dG_ko