Effective Climate Communication with John Gibbons

Welcome back to the new season of Climate Communications! On the eve of COP26 the worlds attention is focused on the climate crisis and how our leaders will respond. Communicating the scale of the threat and what actions need to be taken is such a vital task, and it is one that we must all increasingly take on in every forum possible. But how to do it well? In this episode IDE members Derek Cawley and Callum Swift speak to John Gibbons, one of Irelands leading environmental journalists and commentators, on the art of effective climate communication. John has honed his craft through decades of writing, speaking and advocating all things climate and biodiversity, and is now a regular on a variety of national media platforms. His blog https://www.thinkorswim.ie has a wealth of incredible articles and resources In this episode we discuss: The scope of the challenge we face, the evolution of climate coverage in the media, the failure of our evolutionary heuristics in coping with existential threats, the need for species wide collaboration, the need to define ourselves based on a shared humanity, the need to align values with actions, the need to find common ground with someone to change their belief, how to effectively engage in debate and finally, John gives us quick responses to many of the most commonly used counter arguments. We hope you enjoy it, please subscribe and leave a review on your favourite pod catcher if you do! www.IDE.ie