Your Brain On Climate

The history of humans arguing about climate change is often just people throwing large numbers at each other. So it's time for an episode about how we think about numbers, why our brains are prone to falling for dodgy sums dressed up as facts, and how we can all learn to maths up a bit.  
Joining me on this episode is Rob Eastaway - maths author, cricket nerd, and all round nice bloke. You might have heard him on shows like BBC's More or Less, or read his books like Maths on the Back of an Envelope. He's passionate about helping everyone young and old more conquer their fear of maths and to take back a bit of control over those that would use numbers to beguile or bewitch us. 
Loads of people say they have a fear of numbers. Many of us struggle with probabilities, percentages or simply confidence in adding up in our heads. Rob says that's not just bad for our basic life skills, but it leaves us vulnerable to those who would use big numbers to make us believe things that aren't true. 
Let me know your thoughts on the show - [email protected]. 
Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials. 
Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. 
Owl noises = references: 
18.22: My episode about Common Sense, with Danna Young, featuring the Monty Hall problem and much more. 
29:00: A report I once commissioned challenging the (questionable) sums the then government used to slow down climate action. 
34:50: badger costs, including policing. 
37:50: Matt Parker mathematically ranks insect stings. 
43:27: BBC's More or Less. 
The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. You can follow the show on instagram @yourbrainonclimate, and I occasionally put up a Substack. 
YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Ruth Everett does all other YBOC voices. 
Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://mondial-studio.com/.

I recently had the honour of being interviewed about what I've learned from 4+ years of doing this show - about human brains vs the climate crisis and how to bring them closer together. 
This is me on the Climate Magic podcast, under the benign grill of Sarah Jaquette Ray, herself very much not a slouch in the 'being clever about climate psychology' stakes. 
I hope you like. 
If you like this show, please do consider chipping in a couple of quid over at http://www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. And a written review would be ace. Please thank you please. 
The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. The show is over on Instagram at @yourbrainonclimate. 
YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.

Brain-eating amoebae are only the start of it. Just you wait until Clayton Aldern talks you through the ways big and small that climate change is changing what it means to be you. From your mood to your expectations and even your mental model of the whole world - your consciousness itself, for Chrissakes - Clayton explains with brilliant clarity how your brain is climate. 
Clayton Page Aldern is the author of the compelling The Weight of Nature. Its strapline is "How a Changing Climate Changes Our Minds, Brains and Bodies" - so bang on the turf of this show, I simply had to get him on. But as he says in the chat, it's not really a book about climate change at all. Instead his book - and this episode - are about what it really means to be a lifeform embedded in the world around it, whether you're a bat, a cat, or a human. 
I loved the book and I hope you enjoy this chat. Let me know your thoughts on the show - [email protected]. 
Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials. 
Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. 
Owl noises = references: 
12.07:  US Department of Defence's 2015 report, amazingly still on its website, on how climate change is exacerbating conflict.  
18.44. George Marshall's Don't Even Think About It. Yes, again.  
20:40. Karl Friston's free energy principle idea which is, I warn you, hard.  
31:16: Tim Morton's Hyperobject idea. Yes, that again too.  
39:02. James Gibson's affordances.  
42:09: Thomas Nagel: What Is It Like To Be A Bat? 
44:55: Andy Clark interviewed about embodied cognition and the extended mind.  
The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. You can follow the show on instagram @yourbrainonclimate, and I occasionally put up a Substack. 
YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Ruth Everett does all other YBOC voices. 
Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://mondial-studio.com/.

Happy New Year! And before your resolutions crumble into ash, here's a short episode about why change is hard - but yet it's the only thing we ever really do. 
Back in 2021 I chatted to Andrew Simms about change: how humans constantly trip the fandango between wanting to upend everything, and to keep things exactly the same. Tragedies are written about it. And yet in a world where it can feel like not enough is changing fast enough, sometimes we don't stop to notice the huge changes happening right before our eyes. 
Please do consider chipping in a couple of quid over at http://www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. And a written review would be ace. Please thank you please. 
The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. The show is over on Instagram at @yourbrainonclimate. 
YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.

Predicting the weather is really hard, not least because of all those butterflies in the Amazon flapping their wings about. So an even-vaguely-right forecast is a scientific marvel and a masterclass in risk communication. And how people do and don't take it in is a similarly fascinating dive into human brains and how they deal (or don't) with uncertainty.  
But these days you can't talk about our changing weather without talking about our changing climate - even if (too) many people still don't see the link. And what happens when innocent weather forecasters wade by mistake into the culture war? 
In this episode of Your Brain on Climate, I'm joined by the brilliant socio-meteorologist (it's a thing), Helen Roberts, from the UK Met Office - the Weather People. Helen explains all about how the modern miracle of meteorology is done - and everything she's learned about how to bring climate reality into the weather forecast, even if some don't want to hear it.  
Let me know your thoughts on the show - [email protected]. 
Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials. 
Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. 
Owl noises = references: 
17:35: Lewis Fry Richardson, the 'father of weather forecaster'. 
20:41: that video of the wandering dog explaining climate vs weather. 
36:06: Helen thought it was 65% of people see the link between weather and climate - the link I found said 76%. Right ballpark. 
41:13: Availability Bias: I'm sure we've talked about it before but I don't (ha ha) have to hand. So here's Decision Lab on it. 
43.18: Climate Outreach's Climate Visuals resource.  
45.08: I'm talking about my episode all about heat and violence - one of my faves. 
The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. You can follow the show on instagram @yourbrainonclimate, and I occasionally put up a Substack. 
YBOC theme music and iterations thereof, by me.  Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://mondial-studio.com/.