George Marshall (environmentalist)
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 change communications. 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). He lives in mid-Wales.
Environmental campaigning
From 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,[1] specialising in the exposure of corruption and illegal logging in Papua New Guinea.[2][3] Marshall subsequently worked as international campaigns director for the Rainforest Foundation[4] and the director of the forests campaign for Greenpeace USA.[5]
In 2003 he co-founded (with Richard Sexton) Climate Outreach, a UK charity that specialises in increasing public engagement in climate-change related issues.[4] He is currently the Director of Projects[6] at Climate Outreach and leads on a range of projects applying the latest research in climate communications.
Eco-renovation
In 2000 Marshall took a year's sabbatical to renovate a terrace house for his family as a model low energy retrofit[7] that reduced energy and water use by two thirds.[8] His website on the project won a Millennium Award[9] and led The Ecologist to list Marshall as one of their Ten Green Visionaries in 2009.[10]
Published works
Marshall 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.[11]
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. The book has been widely praised[12] 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".[13]
Research
Marshall has spoken and written extensively on the need to engage new audiences on climate change, especially conservatives[14][15] and people of religious faith.[16]
References
- ↑ "Resurgence & Ecologist (Vol 20 No 3 - May / June 1990)". theecologist.org.
- ↑ 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, The Ecologist, Vol 20 No 5 - September / October 1990.
- 1 2 "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.
- ↑ http://awards.commedia.org.uk/awardwinners/georgemarshall.htm
- ↑ The Ecologist, Visionaries: George Marshal.
- ↑ 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. "Why leaving fossil fuels in the ground is good for everyone".
- ↑ Marshall, George. "Here's a radical idea: Climate activists need to engage conservatives".
- ↑ Marshall, George. "Engage centre-right voters to put climate change on the political platform".
- ↑ Marshall, George. "What the climate movement must learn from religion".
External links
Recent published work
- 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
- 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 - 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