Communicating Climate Change

This episode features a conversation with Natalia Vega-Tracy, founder of centralised communications hub, New Zero World, and multi-sector coalition, EPIC, the Earth Public Information Collaborative. It was recorded in July 2024.

Natalia is a leader in global advocacy and social impact, with more than 25 years of experience leading campaigns and content designed to influence culture and drive positive change in the world.

She’s been the driving force behind collaborations with international partners across all sectors, from progressive brands and corporations to humanitarian non-profits and both governmental and intergovernmental organizations, where her work has earned nominations and awards from many of the most renowned international festivals in the advertising world.

Natalia has been widely recognized for her work creating innovative strategies, campaigns, films and experiential events in support of the United Nations, and was named one of the “Top 10 most influential media and communications executives" for her work supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2022, she founded New Zero World to shift public opinion and promote behavioural change by building new climate narratives and positively reimagining our visions of the future. New Zero World’s flagship report entitled, “A New Era In Climate Communications” gathers world-leading research and insights from the best minds in science communications, creativity, and cultural influence. The resource is a must-read for anyone working in and around climate communication, with chapters dedicated to practically every facet of the craft.

In 2024, together with the Global Commons Alliance, New Zero World launched EPIC, the Earth Public Information Collaborative, with the vision to bring together businesses, media platforms, ad agencies, creators, philanthropy and, of course, science, to reposition climate change across every community on earth.

Acting as a campaign in itself, the process is designed to not only engage agencies, industry and media, but also the public. It’s described as a campaign for all of us, involving all of us – taking a whole earth approach.

Amongst other things, Natalia and I discussed the power of using creativity for good, the need to fill an imagination gap about the future we’re heading towards, and how the sausage is made when it comes to large, multi-stakeholder coalitions.

Additional links:

Check out whitepaper, A New Era in Climate Communications

Visit the New Zero World website

Explore the Earth Public Information Collaborative website

Howard Bloom’s book, Global Brain

Watch the trailer for the film, 2040

This episode features a conversation with Kris De Meyer, Director of the UCL Climate Action Unit. It was recorded in July 2024.

Kris is a neuroscientist, a science communicator and a science-policy co-production expert, bringing insights from neuroscience and psychology to the domain of climate change. He specialises in how people become entrenched in their beliefs, how this leads to polarisation in society, and how to overcome these conditions. 

The Climate Action Unit works to change how scientists, policymakers, businesses, media, civil society organisations and citizens engage with each other about climate change. And Kris is responsible for the neuroscientific basis of the interventions that the unit designs and delivers. 

Kris is also a Senior Research Fellow in UCL’s Department of Earth Sciences, has co-produced an award-winning documentary, called Right Between Your Ears, exploring how people views become ingrained, and co-created The Justice Syndicate, a participatory play about how we disagree. 

Amongst other things, Kris and I discussed fear and agency, where the conventional wisdom gets things wrong, and why stories about actions taken in response to climate change offer the total package when it comes to stimulating meaningful responses from our audiences.

Additional links:

Visit the Climate Action Unit website

Watch Kris’ brilliant TEDx Talk

Transforming the stories we tell about climate change: from issue to action

Check out Elliot Aronson’s article Fear, Denial, and Sensible Action in the Face of Disasters

Explore the UN Climate Chief’s speech “2 years to save the world”

Read Mike Hulme’s article on “Deadline-ism”

This time, instead of chatting to a special guest, listeners just like you are joining the conversation. It’s a Call-In Show!

Over the last couple of months, all kinds of voice messages have been submitted by listeners to act as a springboard for brainstorming, problem solving, and broader discussion around a range of climate communication challenges, observations, and questions. 

Through the course of this episode, we’ll dig into a number of them, exploring themes like framing, psychological distance, climate deadlines, and some fundamentals of climate communications, across formats ranging from social media posts to speeches, and more.

But we won’t just be pointing out flaws and failures. This is a show about solutions. So, I’ll be looking to a kaleidoscope of disciplines and perspectives, as well as the wisdom of previous Communicating Climate Change podcast guests, to find a path forward in each case.

If you want to leave a voice message of your own, whether to respond to a topic discussed in this episode or to raise a new one for consideration for the next call-in show, just head over to the Call-In Show page. It couldn’t be easier to get involved!

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!

Additional links

Communicating Climate Change With Funmibi Ogunlesi

Communicating Climate Change With Josh Garrett

Communicating Climate Change With Kevin Green

Bohn and Rogge paper “The Framing of Green Innovations”

Tesla Cybertruck beats Porsche 911 while towing a 911

Adam Corner on how to reach people beyond the green bubble

Full transcript of Simon Stiell’s speech at Chatham House

My attempt at rewriting Simon Stiell’s speech

Here’s some recent research about doomerism and shareablity

Here’s the link to the Mike Hulme piece on deadline-ism

Link to the original Climate Crisis Advisory Group post on LinkedIn

This episode features a conversation with Izzy Howden, Senior Campaign Manager at Make My Money Matter, an organization working to transform the financial system. It was recorded in August 2024.

Over the past 3 years, Izzy has worked across all of Make My Money Matter’s public campaign activity, including the viral films, The Hidden Relationship, featuring Kit Harington and Rose Leslie, and Oblivian, featuring Olivia Coleman, which have racked up hundreds of millions of views, generated massive media coverage, and picked up a slew of awards.

She’s also directly engaged the financial sector to drive climate action, following Make My Money Matter’s mission to move money from the destructive, harmful investments of the past, into those that help build a future we can be proud of.

Before joining Make My Money Matter, Izzy developed strategic, creative campaigns for clients such as the Global Project for Education, the World Economic Forum, Peace One Day, and Footprint Coalition. 

Amongst other things, Izzy and I discussed the task of making pensions and climate finance engaging for audiences, how working with celebrities can take things to the next level, and how embracing creativity, humour, and satire can give campaigns an edge.

Additional links:

Visit the Make My Money Matter website

Watch Oblivian with Olivia Coleman

Watch The Hidden Relationship with Kit Harington and Rose Leslie

Watch the “Saving Jane” deforestation animation

This episode features a conversation with Sam Narr, Founder and CEO of Kibbo Kift Agency, a specialist PR and performance marketing agency exclusively promoting climate solutions and social justice initiatives. 

Heavily influenced by his third-generation immigrant background, working-class roots, and an education in radical social movements and pop culture, Sam’s motivation to work in environmentalism stems from an ambition to rebalance society's social and racial inequities.

Over the last five years, Kibbo Kift Agency has worked with 60+ clients including climate activists, corporate pressure groups, innovative tech start-ups, responsible fashion brands, global climate organisations, and more.

Kibbo Kift's projects have included a national campaign with Greenpeace UK, a national campaign to pressure MPs to support the only proposed legislation that ensures a joined-up approach to tackling the dual climate and nature crises, as well as ongoing media management of advertising and PR pressure group Clean Creatives, and global press office management for the world's largest digital clock, The Climate Clock, which counts down the time left until humanity passes the 1.5C threshold.

Amongst other things, Sam and I discussed the rightwards political shift happening across the UK, Europe, and the United States, where this issue gets tangled up with climate, and what can be learned from the campaigns that brought us Brexit and Trump.

Additional links:

Visit the Kibbo Kift Agency website

Check out the Climate and Nature Bill campaign

Explore Britain Talks Climate from Climate Outreach

Ding dong, it’s The Climate Clock

Dig in to the Communicating Climate Change E-Learning Course on the Creatives for Climate Community Hub

See The Brexit Bus

Read about the Stop the Boats campaign

Reclaiming Englishness with Caroline Lucas

Communicating Climate Change Call-In Show #1

This episode features a conversation with investigative journalist, Tsira Gvasalia. It was recorded in person, in Tbilisi, Georgia, in August, 2024, at the n-ost conference for climate journalism. It is one of four episodes dedicated to issues complicating climate communication in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. 

Tsira is an investigative and science journalist based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She is the founder of Cactus Media, a bilingual news platform raising awareness about the interconnection of human health and environmental pollution. 

Since 2010, she’s worked for a number of Georgian print and online media organizations, while also contributing to international outlets. With a focus on investigating corruption connected to natural resource extraction and environmental pollution in Georgia, as well as Russian business interests in precious metal mining across the region, Tsira works to shed light on the lack of climate, environment, and health data in Post-Soviet countries, stressing the importance of improving data collection and evidence-based decision-making processes. 

Amongst other things, Tsira and I discussed the challenges facing climate journalists living under rising authoritarianism, the interconnectedness of climate change and the rest of our lives, and the identity crises facing post-Soviet countries like Georgia, as they try to establish who they are and what they stand for. 

Additional links:

Check out Tsira’s platform, Cactus Media

Read the article about gold mining producing golden pollution

Read about the Shovi landslide disaster

Katherine Dunn’s piece about the Georgian Foreign Agent Law

Institute for the Study of War’s article about the 2024 Georgian election

Tsira’s profile on the n-ost website

Tsira’s profile on the Journalismfund Europe website

This episode features a conversation with Alexei Ovchinnikov, Editor-in-Chief of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group. It was recorded in person, in Tbilisi, Georgia, in August, 2024, at the n-ost conference for climate journalism. It is one of four episodes dedicated to issues complicating climate communication in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. 

Alexei is a Belarusian environmental activist, journalist, researcher, and member of Green Network, an environmental organization in exile. 

He was an author and co-editor of independent Belarusian environmental media outlet, Green Belarus, as well as an author and co-editor of Ukrainian regional environmental protection platform, Eco.Rayon.

In September 2021, he left Belarus for political reasons, first living in Ukraine and now in Georgia. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alexei started to analyze and report on the environmental consequences of the conflict. 

Today, he continues his environmental activities in exile, organizing local environmental meetings and workshops, and advocating for international recognition of ecocide. 

Amongst other things, Alexei and I discussed climate propaganda, the need to perform due diligence when reporting on the environmental impacts of war, and the surprising solutions stories coming out of Ukraine.

Additional links:

Check out the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group website

Read about the Kahovka dam incident

Learn about the impacts of the war on forests

Alexei’s profile on the n-ost website

Visit the Razom We Stand website

Check out Ecoaction.ua

This episode features a conversation with Ukrainian journalist, Serhii Barbu. It was recorded in September, 2024.

With over 10 years of experience as a professional journalist, Serhii specialises in covering energy-related issues. His main place of work is Kyiv-based, Channel 5, where he holds the position of a special correspondent and news anchor, and has previously acted as special correspondent from the UN headquarters in New York.

Serhii also collaborates with two online publications: LB.ua and the Ukrainian Energy Magazine. 

I met Serhii at a conference on climate journalism organized by n-ost, a network for journalists reporting on Eastern Europe, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, earlier this year. I was there to hear the experiences of those reporting on climate despite a range of challenges, including censorship, authoritarianism, and full-scale war, and Serhii’s stories really stuck with me. I was very glad that he agreed to chat for the podcast.

Amongst other things, Serhii and I discussed the intersection of climate change and the conflict in Ukraine, how climate-related disinformation is weaponised by the Russian war machine, and how climate doomism fails in the face of more immediate existential threats.

Additional links:

Channel 5’s YouTube channel

Ukraine’s Channel 5 news website

Check out LB.ua

Serhii’s profile on the n-ost website

This episode features a conversation with Iryna Ponedelnik, Climate Project Manager at n-ost, a network for journalists reporting on Eastern Europe. It was recorded in person, in Tbilisi, Georgia, in August, 2024.

Iryna is a science communicator who manages projects in the field of climate change, youth engagement, and the sustainable development goals. 

As well as her work at n-ost, Iryna is a representative of Green Network, a partnership of environmental organizations, activists, initiatives, and experts united for the development of the green movement in Belarus. 

She’s a board member of the Climate Action Network for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, has acted as an observer at COP and SB negotiations, and was awarded a green ticket for the UN Youth Climate Conference in 2019. 

Iryna and I met back in June of this year, during the UN Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany, where I was delivering some climate communications training alongside folks from UNU-EHS and UNFCCC. Iryna was quick to question the relevance of some approaches for contexts where, for example, freedom of speech was limited. 

Following further discussion, Iryna invited me to attend n-ost’s conference on climate journalism in Tbilisi, Georgia, to hear the experiences of those reporting on climate despite a range of challenges, including censorship, authoritarianism, and full-scale war.

Amongst other things, Iryna and I discussed the lack of visibility the region has on the international stage, the surreality of being labeled an extremist, and the need to live in exile in order to talk about climate change.

Additional links:

Check out the Climate Action Network Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia

Find out more about the n-ost network for cross-border journalism

Read about and support Green Network

This episode features a conversation with Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, Executive Director of Climate Cardinals, one of the world’s largest youth-led climate advocacy organisations, who work to make the climate movement more accessible to those who don’t speak English. It was recorded in August, 2024.

In his role, Hikaru oversees a volunteering program that is projected to grow to over 60,000 volunteers by the end of 2024, translating climate-related information into over 100 different languages.

Hikaru established Climate Cardinals’ signature translation program in partnership with Translators Without Borders and Google Cloud,  expanding the organisation’s translation capacity to a million words per year. 

Under Hikaru’s watch, Climate Cardinals has handled translation requests for over two million words of climate information, has fundraised for a six-figure budget, and became one of the first-ever youth-led organizations to be funded by Google’s philanthropic branch. 

Hikaru represents Climate Cardinals as part of UNESCO’s Youth Climate Action Network Steering Committee, a network of networks that represents over 10 million youth climate activists, and has spoken about his work for the Smithsonian, the UN Development Programme, the Italian Ministry of the Environment, the March On Foundation, Williams College, and the U.S. Interagency Group on Climate Literacy. His work has also been featured in Axios, the Guardian, Forbes, and Teen Vogue.

All this, while still a university student.

Amongst other things, Hikaru and I discussed the fact that more than 90% of scientific information about climate change is only available in English, the challenges that this presents in terms of engagement and justice for the global majority, and the power this translation gap has when it comes to fueling climate misinformation.

Additional links:

Visit the Climate Cardinals website

Climate Cardinals Founder Sophia Kianni’s TED Talk

Join the Climate Cardinals mailing list

Candis Callison’s book, “How Climate Comes to Matter”