George Marshall (born 1964) is a British environmental campaigner, communications specialist and writer. He is the founder of Climate Outreach and is a specialist in climate communication. He is the author of Carbon Detox (2007) and Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (2014).[1] He lives in mid-Wales.
Life and work
editEnvironmental campaigning
editFrom 1988 to 2000, Marshall worked on campaigns for tropical forest conservation and defence of indigenous land rights with the Australian-based Rainforest Information Centre and The Ecologist magazine,[2] specialising in the exposure of corruption and illegal logging in Papua New Guinea.[3][4] Marshall subsequently worked as international campaigns director for the Rainforest Foundation[5] and the director of the forests campaign for Greenpeace USA.[6]
In 2004, he co-founded (with Richard Sexton) Climate Outreach, a UK charity that specialises in increasing public engagement in climate-change related issues.[5] He is currently the Director of Projects[7] at Climate Outreach and leads on a range of projects applying the latest research in climate communications.
Eco-renovation
editIn 2000, George Marshall took a year's sabbatical to renovate a terrace house for his family as a model low energy retrofit[8] that reduced energy and water use by two thirds.[9] His website on the project won a Millennium Award[10] and led The Ecologist to list Marshall as one of their Ten Green Visionaries in 2009.[11]
Research
editMarshall has spoken and written extensively on the need to engage new audiences on climate change, especially conservatives[12][13] and people of religious faith.[14]
Published works
editMarshall is the author of Carbon Detox (Hamlyn Gaia, 2007) on personal action to reduce emissions. This subsequently became the basis of a stand-up one man show.[15]
His second book, Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (Bloomsbury 2014), explores the underlying social and psychological obstacles to accepting climate change.[1] The book has been widely praised[16] and was described by the journalist George Monbiot in The Guardian as "the most important book published on climate change in the past few years".[17]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b George Marshall, "Some personal and highly biased ideas for digging our way out of this hole", last chapter of Don't Even Think About It (2014), summarising the book (page visited on 26 September 2020).
- ^ "Resurgence & Ecologist (Vol 20 No 3 - May / June 1990)". theecologist.org.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Asia Pacific Action Group, Marshall G. A Summary of the Commission of Enquiry into Aspects of the Papua New Guinea Timber Industry, 1991.
- ^ The Political Economy of Logging, the Barnett Inquiry into Corruption in the Papua New Guinea Timber Industry Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Ecologist, volume 20, number 5, September–October 1990.
- ^ a b "Climate Outreach – Our staff and trustees". climateoutreach.org.uk.
- ^ "About George Marshall". climateconviction.org.
- ^ "Climate Outreach – Our staff and trustees". climateoutreach.org.ukaccessdate=20 August 2015.
- ^ Sevier, Lauren. "The retrofit revolution - domestic makeovers that can help save the world".
- ^ BBC, The eco-house that George built.
- ^ "Commedia Millennium Awards". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- ^ The Ecologist, Visionaries: George Marshal.
- ^ Marshall, George (18 May 2015). "Here's a radical idea: Climate activists need to engage conservatives".
- ^ Marshall, George (15 April 2015). "Engage centre-right voters to put climate change on the political platform". TheGuardian.com.
- ^ Marshall, George (4 April 2015). "What the climate movement must learn from religion". TheGuardian.com.
- ^ Wales Online, Welsh eco-median takes stand-up tour around UK to tackle green issues.
- ^ Climate Conviction, Reviews, http://www.climateconviction.org/reviews.html
- ^ Monbiot, George (7 January 2015). "Why leaving fossil fuels in the ground is good for everyone". TheGuardian.com.
External links
editRecent published work
edit- Narratives for Sustainable Development in Wales (2012)
- After the floods: communicating climate change around extreme weather (2014)
- Starting a New Conversation on Climate Change with the European Centre-Right (2015)
- A campaigner’s guide to talking with centre-right politicians and MEPs (2015)
Selected presentations and articles
edit- How to talk to a Climate Change denier - YouTube video synthesising research for the general public
- Why we still don't believe in climate change Archived 22 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine - Opinion piece for New Scientist, July 2010
- Why we find it so hard to act on climate change - Yes Magazine,
- Why do We Ignore Climate Change in conversation with Robert Manne
