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Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change Hardcover – August 19, 2014

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 469 ratings

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An Esquire Essential Book on Climate Change

From the founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, a groundbreaking take on the most urgent question of our time: Why, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, do we still ignore climate change?

“Please read this book, and think about it.” --Bill Nye

Most of us recognize that climate change is real, and yet we do nothing to stop it. What is this psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize-winning psychologists and the activists of the Texas Tea Party; the world’s leading climate scientists and the people who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals. What he discovered is that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.

With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall argues that the answers do not lie in the things that make us different and drive us apart, but rather in what we all share: how our human brains are wired―our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blindspots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe. Once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, it is one we can halt if we can make it our common purpose and common ground. Silence and inaction are the most persuasive of narratives, so we need to change the story.

In the end,
Don’t Even Think About It is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human and how we can grow as we deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Marshall] offers advice on confronting climate change head on, stepping away from Green Guilt, and putting potentially world-saving policies into action.” ―The Boston Globe

“Intelligent and genial . . . In the end, Marshall is neither fatalistic nor idealistic about our chances of survival. Yes, he says, we're wired to ignore climate change. But we're also wired to do something about it.” ―
Washington Post

“Clearly we're not responding to the reality of climate change with the speed the crisis requires. This book explains some of the reasons that could be--and how we might work around them in the short time that we have.” ―
Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth

“The science of climate change is easy: burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gasses that are warming our world. George Marshall reminds us about the hard part: connecting the wellhead to the tailpipe in people's minds as soon as possible. Please read this book, and think about it. Let's get to work.” ―
Bill Nye

“Illuminating and important--makes clear why we continue down a dangerous path of increasing climate disruption, even when attractive, hospitable, alternative paths are available.” ―
James Hansen, author of Storms of My Grandchildren and Former Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

“George Marshall is one of the most interesting, challenging and original thinkers on the psychology of our collective climate denial. If his advice were heeded, we might just have the courage to look unblinkingly at this existential crisis, and then to act.” ―
Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

“Enlightening.” ―
Publishers Weekly

“A real soul searching challenge for us all. Marshall illuminates the path to embarking on a heroic quest for a just and equitable world. A sobering, yet hopeful book.” ―
Frank DiSalvo, Director of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University

“In 42 engaging, bite-size chapters, Marshall presents the psychological research demonstrating why climate change simply doesn't feel dangerous enough to justify action and how we can trick our brains into changing our sense of urgency about the problem. His work is a much needed kick in the pants for policymakers, grassroots environmentalists, and the public to induce us to develop effective motivational tools to help us take action to face the reality of climate change before it's too late.” ―
Booklist

“Fantastic.” ―
Grist

“Essential reading for everyone interested in communicating the science of climate change and its urgent policy implications.” ―
Critical Angle

“This is not a book to read and put away--but one that merits returning to and engaging with intellectually. Is there a higher compliment that one can give an author?” ―
Daily Kos

“Absorbing, all-embracing, immensely readable.” ―
Climate News Network

About the Author

George Marshall is the founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, based in Oxford UK, and over the past 25 years has worked at all levels of theenvironmental movement including senior positions for Greenpeace US and the Rainforest Foundation. He is one of the leading European experts in climate change communications, is a lead advisor to the Welsh Government, and counts major environmental organizations, politicians, faith groups, businesses, and trades unions among his clients. He lives in Wales. His website is http://climatedenial.org/.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1620401339
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury USA; F First Edition (August 19, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781620401330
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620401330
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 0.88 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 469 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
469 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book remarkable, enjoyable, and excellent. They also describe it as insightful, informative, and highly saturated with psychology and historical events. Readers praise the author's writing as extremely intelligent, nuanced, and coherent.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

29 customers mention "Readability"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book remarkable, thought-provoking, and enjoyable. They say it's a worthwhile addition to the literature about how to engage people on climate change. Readers also mention the book is never dull and balanced.

"This is an important book...." Read more

"...The book is never dull, and while covering a lot of ground, manages to maintain a narrative arc across disparate stories that all come together in..." Read more

"This is an excellent and accessible book that deals with the psychology of belief and (primarily) disbelief/denial, with specific applications to..." Read more

"...And with that said, this is a interesting book that asks some serious questions and deserves a wider readership than it is already receiving...." Read more

26 customers mention "Thought provoking"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, informative, and well-written. They say it provides a comprehensive examination of a critical failure. Readers also mention the book is fascinating and enjoyable about the psychology of climate change. In addition, they say it's well-researched and convincing.

"...George Marshall has managed to write a very readable and thought provoking book, explaining why people who accept that AGW is occurring and likely..." Read more

"...This is an excellent way to show the basic point. Global warming is a problem without the face of an enemy...." Read more

"...George Marshall addresses in engaging, nuanced prose, backed by impeccable research, the critical psychological and cultural factors heretofore..." Read more

"This book is marvelously well written and provides a comprehensive examinaation of a critical failure by advocates and academics to change public..." Read more

16 customers mention "Readable"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable, intelligent, and nuanced. They say it's coherent and easy to digest arguments.

"...We have to reach a broader audience, and this book is the most coherent I've read on how to do so...." Read more

"...George Marshall has managed to write a very readable and thought provoking book, explaining why people who accept that AGW is occurring and likely..." Read more

"...George Marshall addresses in engaging, nuanced prose, backed by impeccable research, the critical psychological and cultural factors heretofore..." Read more

"This book is marvelously well written and provides a comprehensive examinaation of a critical failure by advocates and academics to change public..." Read more

4 customers mention "Ease of reading"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to understand and fun to read. They say the author does a great job of introducing and explaining myriad reasons people have for behaving the way they do.

"This is an excellent and accessible book that deals with the psychology of belief and (primarily) disbelief/denial, with specific applications to..." Read more

"Marshall does a great job of introducing and explaining myriad reasons people refuse to accept the science of climate change...." Read more

"easy and quick." Read more

"Simple, easy to digest arguments..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2015
This is an important book. Its central theme is the disconnect between conceptual knowledge, in this case of climate change, and people's willingness to act, which must be mediated by emotional patterns, "frames", values, and conviction.

The scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change on a very large and destructive scale is overwhelming. It is happening now, and looming dramatically larger in the coming decades. There is yet no consensus to act, much less how to act. The dominant response is to ignore the elephant in the room and hope it will not disturb us further.

Debating the evidence and arguing about what may happen is remarkably unproductive in terms of building consensus for action and changing cultural and economic patterns.

Climate change is global, complex, somewhat abstract most of the time, and occurs in a time frame of decades, all of which make it difficult for humans to respond appropriately. Costs are short term, for benefits which are longer term and not perceived as certain, though in fact they will be massively greater than the costs of action now.

This scenario does not readily yield tangible, emotionally salient images. Climate change is a "wicked" problem, subject to conflicting representations and lacking a clean solution.

Marshall is a communications specialist, knowledgeable about the science, and a good communicator. At present there is no systematic way to analyze the cultural and emotional obstructions to clear understanding, so he takes an episodic approach, presenting data, conversations, and ideas from many sources, building a kind of mosaic as he goes.

The facts are sobering. By mid-century disruptions from global warming - economic instability, food and water scarcity, perhaps military conflict, as well as extreme weather - will be widely visible and disruptive, and costly and difficult to contain. This will affect most people now under fifty years old.

Within the lifetime of people now being born the future survival and viability of human civilization will be determined. This is not far in the future.

Humans have never faced a transition on this scale within a short time frame of a lifetime. The poignancy is that the choice is obvious: give up carbon based fuels, and consume less altogether. Or face chaos and massive human die offs. Which sounds better?

There is not really a simple culprit for our current situation. Massive numbers of people have bought into the high consumption society as a model.

The fossil fuel industries are the core sector of modern economies. They have generated immense fortunes for their owners and their allies in government and the media, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting confusion and delay in responding to climate change.

After 200 years of industrial society and two or three generations of a consumer orgy, many people are shocked that it has come to an end in basically a single generation. Consuming less "stuff" is not in itself the end of the world. It is compatible with a rich and elegant lifestyle based on "consuming" culture and community instead.

The model of "stages of death" applies here. We are experiencing widespread denial and anger, to be followed by bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Culturally there is a loss, to be sure, but cultural change is not fatal - unless we fail to adapt to the realities. Then we are addicts who deny the cliff's existence as we sail right over it.

For a clear statement of what lies beyond the current cultural confusion, try Not-Two Is Peace, Expanded 3rd Edition. It cuts to the core of this discussion.
10 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2014
Even better than Naomi Klein (This Changes Everything), and, in a way, even more important. While Klein's book is still a must read for a complete and accurate understanding of the history of climate change and the movement to stop it (including its inevitable corruption), Marshall addresses more directly the critical failures of the movement to reach beyond its natural base of tree huggers to the broader coalition of stakeholders who will need to be engaged if indeed we are to avoid catastrophe. He demonstrates his own prescription by using humor thought the book to lighten the tone and keep the reader interested, despite the dread topic. He tells very entertaining stories throughout the book, demonstrating by example the importance of storytelling in human communication. The book is never dull, and while covering a lot of ground, manages to maintain a narrative arc across disparate stories that all come together in the end with a coherent set of suggestions for climate change communicators to be more effective at our craft. Anyone who has taken on the task of trying to spur others to action on climate change (or anything else, really), absolutely must read this book. Failing to read this book is like trying to be a vacuum salesman without reading the sales manual for vacuum salesmen! And we cannot afford further communications failure. We have to reach a broader audience, and this book is the most coherent I've read on how to do so. Read this book and then go forth and communicate! Nothing else can be more important. We need you!
30 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014
I'm convinced that AGW is happening. Now. Based on the very well known and well understood physical properties of greenhouse gases. I could change my mind, if it could be demonstrated that there are adequate negative feedbacks in the climate system to negate the global warming induced by ever increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 levels. But the AGW deniers haven't managed to come anywhere close to doing this.

George Marshall has managed to write a very readable and thought provoking book, explaining why people who accept that AGW is occurring and likely to have serious consequences, refuse to take action. And why AGW deniers, largely, hold their position of denial.

I was flabbergasted by the argument used by a denier in a television debate who used the analogy that climate scientists are in the position similar to musicians who happen to be lacking the viola part for Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K364, and 3/4 of the violin part.

Actually, climate scientists are in the position that they know virtually all the notes and the order in which they occur - to use the musical analogy - but they don't know the tempo, the loudness, the exact acoustics of the space in which the work is being performed and the position of the listener. And as a result can't predict, like a music critic before a performance, exactly what will happen.

The climate has changed in the past. It will change in the future. What is happening today is nothing special or extraordinary. Past climate change has been due to increases in greenhouse gases, such as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum 55 MYA, which is the best indication of what is in store for what may happen, since it was due to a similar sized release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing 7 degrees of global warming, albeit in 25,000 years instead of the current 250 years.

Or past climate changes have been due to other factors, magnified by subsequent changes in greenhouse gases, as in the deglaciations of the current Ice Age, resulting in the peak CO2 level occurring 800 years after the start of warming. Nothing surprising, and well known and discussed by climatologists. But apparently a considerable surprise to AGW deniers who feel that it somehow falsifies AGW.

The book goes partly towards explaining why my leader the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is the only leader to have abolished a carbon price, while at the same time proposing to spend several billion dollars of taxpayers' money in Direct Action to pay business companies to reduce their emissions of CO2 (it hasn't been legislated yet, and may never pass the Senate, because it's generally regarded as a bad idea), while at the same insisting that abolition of the carbon price saves an average of $550 per year in electricity charges per household (my bill actually dropped $9 a year, although I actually use 1/5 the average consumption of households) and Australian coal will be a source of cheap energy for decades to come.

What I think is necessary is a new term for AGW. Climate change was adopted by the IPCC at the insistence of America and Saudi Arabia, as being less threatening.

I proffer HIGESH. Human Induced Global Earth Systems Heating. Human induced, because it is. Global, because it's not just local or regional. America is not the world, you know. Earth Systems, because it isn't just the lower atmosphere. Climate also includes the oceans, the cryosphere (ice and snow) and the ground. Heating, because it's not a gentle warming.
15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
amanda dutra
5.0 out of 5 stars Elucidativo
Reviewed in Brazil on April 8, 2020
Recomendo à todos que procuram uma abordagem complexa em relação às mudanças climáticas (além dos dados disponibilizados por entidades científicas). Ótimo livro!
Tina
5.0 out of 5 stars Das Buch gibt ausführlich einleuchtende Antworten.
Reviewed in Germany on August 7, 2018
Fragen, die in dem Buch besprochen werden, habe ich mir auch schon länger gestellt. Meine bisherigen Antworten auf die Fragen gingen an vielen Stellen schon in eine ähnliche Richtung, hatten aber natürlich längst nicht die Tiefe wie die Ausführungen im Buch. Hier war das Buch eine enorme Bereicherung.
Fran
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro, aunque hay que leerlo dos veces
Reviewed in Spain on February 22, 2017
Sí, leerlo dos veces porque la primera vez uno piensa "no puede ser". Pero hay que tener la mente abierta y pensar que debemos superar con cogniciones y emociones positivas lo que aborda el libro. Es genial en su enfoque y desarrollo.
Rossleighbrisbane
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
Reviewed in Australia on January 1, 2018
Ok, it’s a bit repetitive and sometimes you’ll feel put off by what’s being said, but by the time you read the end chapters, you’ll think, yeah, we need to to do something.
Of course, he uses an Obama initiative as an example. And Trump reversed it. So you’ll either be a person who says what’s the point . Or you’ll understand that this may be our last chance to grab the initiative.
Peter R. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Climate Activists
Reviewed in Canada on September 12, 2014
If you've ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a climate denier, this book will help you understand. More importantly "Don't Even Think About It" helps us understand why we are failing to reach and convince these people and may help us find the way to bring some of them over to our side, or at least reduce their level of opposition. Logical arguments only work when we all start from the same basic premises, and that is where we are losing them. We have to get into their mental frame of reality first and go from there. We may never convince all of them, or even a majority, but we don't need 100% agreement, just a sufficiently high level of overall agreement to create and sustain political support to tackle problem.

This book is essential reading for any climate activist or indeed any environmentalist who wants to be better prepared to promote their cause. However, while this book focuses on climate change, I can see parallels to other topics such as Evolution and maybe even Gun Control.