Episodes
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This episode features a conversation with Brooklyn-based climate communicator, creator, and independent reporter, Jacob Simon. It was recorded in August 2024.
As the mind behind Jacobsimonsays, a platform telling real stories of progress to replace dread and fear with hope and action, Jacob inspires his audience of well over half a million people across social media and his newsletter, Climativity, to overcome eco-anxiety and get involved with tackling the climate crisis through optimism, community, and action.
Jacobsimonsays has racked up more than 83 million views, over 11 million likes, and maintains a following of more than 700,000 individuals who tune in every day to hear stories about those tackling the climate crisis and learn about simple and impactful actions they can take to protect the environment.
Amongst other things, Jacob and I discussed the trials and tribulations of being a social media influencer, where to draw your line in the sand when it comes to collaborations, and the kinds of content that performs best on climate and environmental topics.
Additional links:
Follow Jacobsimonsays on TikTok
Follow Jacobsimonsays on Instagram
Visit the Jacobsimonsays website
Check out Jacob’s Climativity newsletter
Read Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050
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This episode features a conversation with Bogdan Glogovac, Partnerships Manager at Ducky, a Norwegian technology company working to turn climate efforts from a solo struggle into something fun, collaborative and engaging. It was recorded in July 2024.
With a background in Ecology, Marine Biology, and Conservation, Bogdan has spent more than a decade nurturing strategic relationships, creating and managing climate campaigns, and facilitating climate engagement workshops for a wide range of stakeholders across the public and private sectors.
Ducky offers software solutions to help track, report and reduce organizational climate footprints. One such solution, Ducky Challenge, is a digital competition that helps companies, communities, and collectives raise climate awareness and educate peers in a fun and engaging bottom-up approach.
As a father of three boys and a member of Trondheim-based improvisational theater group "Gibberish", Bogdan is passionate about playfulness. Something that, as you’ll hear, plays a major part in his life and work.
Amongst other things, Bogdan and I discussed the art of turning data into stories, the magic and mechanics of gamification, and what the wisdom of improv has to offer when it comes to tackling challenges like climate change.
Additional links:
Visit the Ducky website
Explore Ducky Challenge
Discover the Forest app
Learn more about Green Apes
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Episodes manquant?
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This episode features a conversation with film producer, Adam Stanhope. It was recorded in July 2024.
Alongside the likes of Mike Medavoy, Rodrigo Blaas, Keith Chapman, and executive producer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam produced the animated feature film, Ozi – Voice of the Forest, which hits theatres across the globe on August 16th.
With a background in marketing and media, Adam has helped finance and produce an array of programmes across a range of genres, including Sky Atlantic’s Grierson-nominated sports documentary, The Fall, BBC Worldwide’s Earth, and Channel 4’s Ministry at the Dome.
Adam’s media career started in the 1980s, selling airtime for British TV network, ITV, before working his way up the ranks to Director at hugely successful UK Advertising agency Still Price Court Twivy d’Souza.
After leading one of IPG’s Global Media Agencies, Initiative Media, working with clients like Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Coca Cola and Virgin Atlantic, Adam co-founded GCI Film to produce and finance movies.
Adam’s passions are film and the environment, and the Voices franchise, of which Ozi – Voice of the Forest is the first instalment, seeks to raise climate change awareness for a new generation.
Amongst other things, Adam and I discussed the power of animation to act as a vehicle for climate literacy, the challenges that large productions can run into as they prepare to launch, and what superstars, like DiCaprio, can bring to such projects.
Additional links:
Visit the official website for Ozi – Voice of the Forest
Watch the trailer for Ozi - Voice of the Forest
Find out more about Orangutan Coffee
Explore International Animal Rescue’s Orangutan Project
Check out the Oscar-winning short film, The Silent Child
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This episode features a conversation with climate scholar and youth climate activist, Wawa Gatheru. It was recorded in July 2024.
Wawa is the founder and Executive Director of Black Girl Environmentalist, an organization dedicated to empowering Black girls, women, and non-binary people across the climate sector.
Wawa works to bring climate justice to the mainstream, and in addition to her work at Black Girl Environmentalist, is a popular climate content creator, focused on debunking climate nihilism, highlighting the unique contributions of Black environmental leaders, and equipping her audience with what they need to get involved in climate action.
In 2019, Wawa was named the first Black person in history to receive the prestigious Rhodes, Truman and Udall scholarships for her environmental scholarship and activism.
She has since become an inaugural member of the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council of the US EPA, the first federal youth-led advisory board in the US History. She is also a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with The OpEd Project, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Wawa sits on boards and advisory councils for EarthJustice, Climate Power, the Environmental Media Association, the National Parks Conservation Association, Good Energy, and Sound Future.
And, for her work alongside other organizers and activists, Wawa has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, an AfroTech Future 50, a 776 Fellow, Young Futurist by The Root, a Grist 50 FIXER, a Glamour College Woman of the Year, and named a Climate Creator to Watch by Pique Action and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In January 2023, she even joined Billie Eilish and seven other climate activists on the cover of Vogue.
Amongst other things, Wawa and I discussed the largely unsung leadership of African American women in environmental stewardship, the make-up and mechanics of inclusive and participatory movement building, and the need to amplify alternatives to the exclusionary narratives that dominate the climate space and beyond.
Additional links:
Visit the Black Girl Environmentalist website
Visit Wawa’s personal website
Read the Vice piece that sent Wawa viral
Check out the digital Vogue cover with Billie Eilish
Read Wawa’s Earth Day 2024 article in Vogue
Find insights on inclusivity over at the Green 2.0 website
Battling Petrochemical Expansion in Cancer Alley with Rise St. James
Explore The Vessel Project of Louisiana
Discover The Descendants Project
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This episode features a conversation with Simone Salvo, Creative Director at Third Act, an organization harnessing unparalleled generational power to safeguard the climate and democracy. It was recorded in June 2024.
Simone’s work blends design, media, and technology to bridge generational and digital divides and drive impactful social change. In her role at Third Act, she leads the charge in building an accessible technological infrastructure for a powerful elder-led climate justice movement, amplifying the progressive activism of Americans over sixty, under the guidance of environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Previously, Simone was Head of Creative Communications at the Magnum Foundation, serving a global network of social justice-focused image makers, as well as committing herself to a research and communications fellowship at Human Rights First, a non-partisan organization working to right human wrongs.
She’s also an adjunct faculty member at the NYU-Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program, where she teaches courses on memory and immersive media, where her focus is on leveraging technology to enhance storytelling, rather than the other way around.
Amongst other things, Simone and I discussed the practicalities involved in engaging older adults on the climate, the enormous, largely-untapped structural power that this demographic brings to the table, and the unique ability of legacy to motivate people to take action.
Additional links:
Visit the Third Act website
Discover the Summer of Heat campaign
Read Bill McKibben’s article, “Photo editors get lazy in the heat”
Watch as a 100 year-old woman gets arrested on her birthday
See that photo of Dorothy Day and the Farmworker Movement
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Communicating Climate Change is launching a Call-In Show!
That means, it’s time for you to join the conversation.
Do you have questions related to climate communication?
Maybe you’re running into challenges developing your own climate-related output?
Or perhaps you’ve seen or heard some related content or news that you thought needed closer examination?
Well, that’s exactly what we’re looking for!
Simply head to communicatingclimatechange.com to submit a voice message about your challenge or example and it might be featured on an upcoming episode, where listener input will provide a springboard for brainstorming, problem solving, and broader discussion.
Guidance on submitting to the Call-In Show:
Step 1: Go to the Call-In Show page.
Step 2: Hit the “Start Recording” button.
Step 3: Describe your challenge, example, or observation.
Step 4: Hit the “Stop” button when you’re done.
Step 5: Enter your name and email if you want (it’s optional) and hit “Send”.
Step 6: Tune in to the Call-In Show to see if your message gets featured!
I can’t wait hear from you!
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This episode features a conversation with Thomas Coombes, Founder and Director of narrative change organization, Hope-based communications. It was recorded in January 2024.
Hope-based communications is a simple, open-source tool for anyone to use, as well as a community anyone can join. It centres around a pledge to apply five shifts to any and all communications output. Those shifts are fear to hope, problem to solution, against to for, threat to opportunity, and victims to everyday heroes.
It’s a pragmatic approach to winning support for policies and advocacy positions by showing how they’ll actually work, acting on the principle that we should be focused on building the world we want, setting the agenda with our values, our goals, our mission, rather than reacting to our opponent's frames and actions.
Borne of learnings and epiphanies during Thomas’ prior roles at Amnesty International and the European Commission, Hope-based communications offers a simple formula for telling stories of our own that contribute to the long-term changes in ideas, attitudes and behaviours, that we want to bring about.
Amongst other things, Thomas and I discussed the concept of hope as both active and visionary, how flipping our intuitions inside out and focusing on particular aspects of a story over others can strengthen our output, and how our brains work to trip us up at so many points along the way.
Additional links:
Visit the hope-based communications website
Check out Thomas’s TED Talk
Thomas’ article "Hope is Action”
Thomas’s piece "“A New Green Wave of Hope”
Follow Thomas on Substack or LinkedIn
“A Message From the Future” from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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This episode features a conversation with Tory Stephens, who manages all things climate fiction at independent, non-profit media organization, Grist. It was recorded in March 2024.
Tory is a force for good. He creates opportunities and interventions that transform organizations and shift culture, building communities around social justice issues and using storytelling to champion green, clean, and just futures.
In his role at Grist, Tory oversees the annual Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest, engaging writers from across the globe in envisioning the next generations of climate progress. Whether built on abundance or adaptation, reform or a new understanding of survival, these stories serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.
Amongst other things, Tory and I discussed the ins and outs of the cli-fi genre, how this medium is key to reaching otherwise inaccessible audiences, and how speculative imaginings can inspire change in the here and now.
Additional links:
Visit Grist’s website
Learn more about the Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest
Discover the Imagine 2200 catalogue
Listen to the audio versions
Explore Humans of New York
Denzel Washington “It’s not color, it’s culture”
Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future
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This episode features a conversation with John Marshall, CEO of the Potential Energy Coalition. It was recorded in March 2024.
John’s three decades of experience in advising the leaders of Fortune 500 companies spans branding, marketing, innovation, and digital transformation. As well as his work leading Potential Energy Coalition, John is a Professor at Dartmouth College, a senior client advisor at the marketing consulting firm, Lippincott, and he’s even delivered a Ted Talk on climate change too.
John’s been a partner at consulting firms big and small, and a frequent industry commentator, speaker, and marketing writer whose words have graced the likes of the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The New York Times, Wired, and Fast Company.
Amongst other things, John and I discussed radical audience centricity, the down sides of using crisis messaging, and how we can more successfully sell the troubled “brand” that is climate change.
Additional links:
Sign up to the “That’s Interesting!” newsletter on Potential Energy Coalition’s website
The Talk Like a Human guide
The Later is Too Late report and interactive tool
John’s TED Talk on effectively talking about climate change
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This episode features a conversation with Katherine Dunn, Content Editor at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, a program led by the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute. It was recorded in March 2024.
Through her work at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network (or OCJN) Katherine has worked with more than 500 journalists from over 100 countries, seeking to improve climate literacy and climate storytelling. In 2023, she was a co-author of the European Broadcasting Union’s, “Climate Journalism That Works”, a report on how newsrooms can better cover climate change and build a climate strategy. I actually discussed this amazing resource in a previous episode, with Alexandra Borchardt, so, though Katherine and I didn’t talk about it here, if you’re interested, you can find a link to that episode below.
Before joining the Reuters Institute, Katherine spent the best part of a decade working as a reporter and editor in business journalism, with a focus on the energy and commodities markets and industries. This included a stint as editor at Fortune magazine, where she covered climate change and the energy transition.
Amongst other things, Katherine and I discussed what makes an effective climate news story, the obligations of newsrooms when it comes to addressing climate issues, and the unique role of meteorologists in delivering relevant and actionable local climate insights.
Additional links:
About the Oxford Climate Journalism Network
Climate news insights from The Reuters Institute
Insights on news avoidance from The Digital News Report
“Find your mango” and other learnings from the OCJN
The BBC’s “Life at 50C” series
The New Yorker’s stories about electricians
My interview with Alexandra Borchardt about the “Climate Journalism That Works” report.
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This episode features a conversation with CEO and co-founder of Redwood Climate Communications, Josh Garrett. It was recorded in November 2023.
Having spent more than half of his almost two decades of strategic communications and marketing experience committed to clean energy and climate tech, Josh co-founded the climate-focused advisory and public relations firm Redwood Climate Communications in September 2021 and has since led the growth of the company while maintaining its commitment to facilitating climate progress.
Over the course of his career, Josh has led campaigns for climate organizations large and small, including Google Nest, Stem, and Sunrun, as well as environmental non-profits like The Nature Conservancy.
Amongst other things, Josh and I discussed the state of political polarization on climate issues in the United States, what this poster child of partisanship can teach us about communicating climate change across the aisle, and which bright spots we might look to for inspiration.
Additional links:
Visit the Redwood Climate Communications website
Check out Rewiring America and Pique Action
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s 6 Americas of Global Warming
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This episode features a conversation with Project Drawdown’s Director of Storytelling and Engagement, Matt Scott. It was recorded in February 2024.
Matt works to help everyday people find their role in climate solutions and climate justice at the community level. He’s the host of the climate solutions short documentary series Drawdown's Neighborhood, featured on the Weather Channel's Pattrn streaming network, and is the founding director of Drawdown Stories, both of which we get into during this conversation.
Prior to his work at Project Drawdown, Matt was the global community lead for NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge, the world's largest global problem-solving hackathon, engaging over 100,000 people across more than 150 countries. He’s also worked with the Australian Government, Pivotal Ventures by Melinda Gates, USAID, the United Nations, Nike, Walmart, and the Obama White House.
Amongst other things, Matt and I discussed the power of spotlighting climate solutions and the people working to implement them, how telling such stories can propagate hope and action, and the importance of passing the mic to diverse voices that often go unheard, as well as what happens when we don’t.
Additional links:
Submit your story to the Global Solutions Diary!
Explore Drawdown Stories
Get to know Drawdown’s Neighborhood
We can’t end the climate crisis without “passing the mic”
Project Drawdown homepage
You can follow Matt on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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This episode features a conversation with communication designer, researcher, and semiotician, Dr. Laura Santamaria. It was recorded in January 2024.
Laura’s work focuses on developing insights and methodologies for influencing paradigm change towards social and environmental justice. And her passion lies in empowering organisations and professionals with the necessary tools to achieve such change.
With over two decades of experience in brand strategy, design innovation and cultural research, she has honed her skills across a wide array of sectors, including finance, consumer goods, fashion, charities, and startups.
Laura is currently Research Lead at the Royal College of Art’s School of Communication, while continuing her work as an independent consultant in the private sector.
Amongst other things, Laura and I discussed how humans, whether as individuals or in communities, construct meaning, how meanings can become appropriated or changed over time, and why deep contextual knowledge is vital to understanding how climate messages might be received by given audiences.
Additional links:
Laura’s paper entitled, “Seeing the Invisible: revisiting the value of critical tools in design research for social change”.
Another good one entitled, “It’s All About Con[Text]: A Design Semiotics Approach for Managing Meaning-Value in Innovation Processes” from Marketing Semiotics: A Research Guide for Marketers at the Edge of Culture.
The Words that Work guide, which Laura contributed to and is a great read.
Plus a fascinating paper Laura shared from Wolsko, and colleagues, entitled, “Red, White, and Blue Enough to Be Green: Effects of Moral Framing on Climate Change Attitudes and Conservation Behaviors.”
And some additional insight from Jane Bryson, from 2008. “Dominant, Emergent, and Residual Culture: The Dynamics of Organizational Change.”
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This episode features a conversation with psychologist, Markus Appel. It was recorded in November 2023.
Markus is professor of media communication at the University of Würzburg, Germany. His work sits at the intersection of psychology and communication science, with major research areas including life in the digital age, media and reality, and, most pertinent to our conversation, narratives and persuasion.
Amongst other things, Markus and I discussed the ability of stories to impact people’s attitudes and behaviours, what makes some stories more persuasive than others, and some caution that communicators should keep in mind when using the powerful tool that is storytelling.
Additional links:
Markus’ website
Access Markus’ research into narratives and persuasion here
An example of education entertainment in Ethiopian radio soap operas
The McKee Triangle of story structures
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This episode features a conversation with game designer, Matt Leacock. It was recorded in January 2024.
Matt is best known as a designer of cooperative games, including Pandemic, Pandemic Legacy, Forbidden Island, and Daybreak. Pandemic, first published in 2008, has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and is available in over 30 languages. Matt’s latest game, Daybreak challenges players to stop climate change.
Amongst other things, Matt and I discussed the role of play in learning, the ways that games can help people understand and model complexity, and how increased interactivity can deepen audience engagement on climate issues.
Photo by Owen Duffy.
Additional links:
Daybreak website
Daybreak gameplay video
Matt Leacock website
Washington Post climate warming guessing game
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This episode features a conversation with Florencia Lujani, Strategy Director at ACT Climate Labs. It was recorded in November 2023.
With over 15 years’ experience working at a slew of top creative agencies, Florencia is an expert in brand strategy, creative planning and ideation, as well as in consumer and cultural insights.
She has developed strategies and creative campaigns for globally recognised brands and non-profits like YouTube, Friends of the Earth, KitKat, Greenpeace, Chelsea football club, O2, the Olympic Games, and many more.
In her role at ACT Climate Labs, Florencia now supports climate organisations reach a new audience called “The Persuadables,” who are considered key to increasing public support for climate action.
Amongst other things, Florencia and I discussed the latest research conducted to better understand the persuadables, the ways that information we’re exposed to shapes our perceptions of the world, and lessons that those working in the climate space could learn from marketing and advertising.
Additional links:
Visit the ACT Climate Labs website
Access the latest Persuadables research here
Read more about the Persuadables here
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This episode features a conversation Funmibi Ogunlesi, interim Head of Messaging at NEON, an organization working to accelerate social movements through training, relationship building, incubation, and infrastructure support. It was recorded at the beginning of November 2023.
In her role, Funmibi supports the likes of campaigners and activist groups in communicating their issues with effective frames and powerful messages. She was part of the Framing Climate Justice project and was one of the writers of the Climate Justice guide. She’s since gone on to write guides for COP, including on Loss and Damage.
Amongst other things, Funmibi and I discussed the impact that different framing strategies can have on people’s perception of an issue, why pointing the finger at those responsible for the harms around us is essential, and how doing so can combat fatalism and help give people agency to act.
Additional links:
Visit the NEON website
The Framing Climate Justice project
The Climate Justice guide
Find more info about ULEZ here
Explore the Green New Deal Rising campaign
Watch the recording of “Attack, Engage or Ignore? The role of ‘the enemy’ in climate narratives” here
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This episode features a conversation Nick Oldridge, co-founder of Climate Science Breakthrough, a project working to translate the hard data of climate change into emotional, shareable, and actionable formats. It was recorded in November 2023.
Nick is an advocate for climate awareness and is an ambassador for Zero Hour, a campaign in support of establishing the UK’s Climate & Ecology Bill. He dedicates himself to narrowing the divide between the general public and the complexities of climate science. Nick applies his background in marketing to his work in environmental advocacy, bringing this experience to bear in his efforts to convey intricate climate issues to a diverse audience.
Motivated by a pressing need to broaden the public's grasp of climate science, in 2023, Nick co-founded Climate Science Breakthrough alongside climate communications lab, Utopia Bureau, and is focused on initiating a societal transformation that accelerates climate action. Recent videos in the Climate Science Translated series include contributions from comedians Jonathan Pie, Nish Kumar, and Jo Brand.
Amongst other things, Nick and I discussed the rationale behind Climate Science Breakthrough’s work bringing together climate scientists and comedians to create viral climate content, what makes comedians a useful vehicle for this kind of information in the first place, and the value that marketing minds can bring to the climate context.
Additional links:
Watch the latest videos from Climate Science Breakthrough on YouTube
Visit the Climate Science Breakthrough website
Follow the project on Instagram or Twitter.
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This episode features a conversation with seasoned scholar, author, and expert on all-things activism, Professor Dana R. Fisher. It was recorded in October 2023.
Dana is the Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity at American University. She’s a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Governance Studies program at The Brookings Institution, is President of the Eastern Sociological Society, and is the chair-elect of the Political Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.
She served as a Contributing Author for Working Group 3 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Review, writing about citizen engagement and civic activism, and her media appearances include, to name but a few: ABC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, NPR, BBC, and CBC. And her words have appeared in likes of the Washington Post, Slate, TIME Magazine, Politico, Vox, and the New York Times.
Professor Fisher has authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and her seventh book, Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action, which formed the basis of our conversation, will be will be out in early 2024. Pre-order it here.
Amongst other things, Dana and I discussed the role of disruptive tactics within the broader climate movement, the relationship between such tactics and the media, and what the future will likely hold when it comes to activism associated with the climate crisis.
Additional links:
Pre-order Dana’s latest book Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action
Visit Dana’s website
See Dana on TMZ talking about the radical flank effect
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This episode features a conversation with Kevin Green, of international conservation and development organization, Rare. It was recorded in October 2023.
Kevin leads Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment, collaborating with field staff, partners and researchers in bringing the best insights from the science of human behavior to bear on the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Kevin, who holds a Master’s degree in international development and economics from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology from Washington and Lee University, is a faculty member of the Kinship Conservation Fellows program. He has previously held roles in research at the Nature Conservancy and the Worldwatch Institute.
Amongst other things, Kevin and I discussed Rare’s eight principles for effective and inviting climate communication, the unrivaled ability that humans have for solving certain types of problems, and the challenge communicators therefore face in communicating climate change in such a way that makes it the type of problem we’re already adept at solving.
Additional links:
Rare’s Eight Principles for Effective & Inviting Climate Communication
Rare’s Center for Behavior & The Environment
Switch by Dan and Chip Heath, a book recommendation from Kevin telling the story of the St. Lucia parrot.
The smart-meter study that Kevin referred to in our chat about norms.
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