Energy Bookshelf: Even though we must think about Climate, "Don't Even Think About It"

George Marshall's Don't Even Think About It: Why our brains are wired to ignore climate change (first chapter in pdf) should be on the must read list for anyone concerned about communicating climate change (and -- as importantly -- who is open to reconsidering much of their thinking about what works and doesn't work).  In 43 short and highly accessible chapters, Marshall lays out how we mentally are not prepared to tackle climate change and, as revealingly, how most climate 'communicators' have failed to understand how their own biases impact how they communicate and undermine their ability to convince others.

For example, Marshall contrasts a highly successful anti-science advertisement with standard environmental approaches.

"Carbon dioxide: They call it pollution. We call it life." ... it leaves a lasting impression of the wonders of the life ahead for her.  ... It is devious, exasperating, and outright mendacious.  But it is also damned good communication. ... maddeningly good ... texbook example of how to speak directly to the emotional brain. ..."The video is an artful compilation of frames for life, civilization, health, hope, and salvation. And, by contrast, the image of Times Square and the children fading into darkness speaks equally well to metaphors for decay and death -- as it would in every culture in the world.

... the World Wildlife Fund uses the same metaphors at the core of its largest public engagement exercise around climate change, Earth Hour.  Every year it encourages us to turn off our lights ... WWF thinks it is a huge success ... but there is no avoiding the fact that, if one is going to play in the world of symbols, one had better get it right.  However you read it, a universal frame for decline, decay, and death is being promoted on a vast scale around the world as a symbol for climate change.

This was not a hidden issue, after all an anti-science blogger has a post showing North Korea from satellite with the caption "It's always Earth Hour in North Korea". I, however, have always felt vaguely (to strongly) uncomfortable with Earth Hour. Marshall has given me a studied explanation as to why that 'vague' discomfort was right.

As someone who has spent a reasonable amount of time and energy worrying about how best to communicate on energy and climate issues, I opened the book with a decent amount of understanding and perspective on the issues. (One test of a book, when you know the field, is who the author cites -- Marshall's work is filled with references to, quotes from, and commentary on a broad range of the 'right' (and, sigh, Right) voices and experts.) In what is perhaps my top compliment to any author, the book is filled with marginalia (written comments in the margins), with many items marked "excellent" or "gem".

For example, a 'gem' from the concluding paragraph:

Climate change is a process, not an event, so it requires that we RECOGNIZE MOMENTS OF PROXIMITY that can demand attention.  These may be moments of political decision-making, collective action, or generated conflict.  ... the Keystone XL pipeline is a legitimate attempt to create a historic moment.  Those critics who argue that the pipline will only ever be a small part of overall U.S. emissions are missing the point.  Their complaint is like saying that the locations of seats at the lunch counter of the Greensboro Woolworth's or on the Montgomery buses were trifling examples of racial segregation.  Sometimes the act of CREATING THE SYMBOLIC MOMENT is far more important than its overall relevance.

Those arrested at the White House protesting Keystone XL are, in their own way, Rosa Parks -- challenging a specific element of a much larger societal challenge.