Summary: In this week's show: * Norwegian eco-psychologist Per Espen Stoknes tells us why public concern about climate may be falling, even as the science becomes more certain. How to avoid thinking about climate change. * Alternative energy expert Robert A. Stayton says "yes we can power the world with solar" and tells us how. * Dr. Alan Rozich tells us "Other Inconvenient Truths Beyond Global Warming." Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (56 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB) Or listen on Soundcloud right now! You can also download individual interviews. PER ESPEN STOKNES: TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING How is it possible that as the science becomes more clear about climate change, polls show people are less concerned about it, compared to other problems, like the economy? Why has the campaign to get the public onboard with climate action failed? On Radio Ecoshock, we've paid attention to the pyschology, the way we think about energy and global warming. There's a new approach out, from the Norwegian eco-psychologist, Per Espen Stoknes. His book is called "What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming". There's a different kind of climate denial we'll have to try to overcome before we can get very far into your work. I have plenty of listeners who believe civilization will have to crash before we can really cut emissions enough. A few think humans will go extinct before 2050, and that will solve the problem. I'll get some angry emails and blog posts just for letting Per say there are some ways out of this. Per Stoknes answers that the idea of doom is exactly one of the defenses against thinking about (and acting on) climate change, that he writes about in his book. His view is fascinating and revealing. WHAT ABOUT GRIEF? Thinking of beloved species now threatened with extinction, including lions, elephants, and most recently announced, many large wild herbivores - grief does seem like the appropriate emotional response. Per Stoknes agrees. Climate grief workshops are springing up. Psychologists are getting patients upset or overly worried about climate change, and they counsel accepting that grief, and working through it. The scientists I talk with are blunt and bleak about the path we are on, and the need for gigantic changes to avert very dangerous climate change. From all corners of the Earth, pole to pole, those are the facts. Are the experts wrong to spread that message, or should they just keep their concerns within scientific circles? The prospects seem so dire, and we've been sold so many false promises as green-washing by industry and politicians, that the global villagers are almost hostile to any solutions. Is there a psychological way to get out of that strange problem? Give this interview a listen. Stoknes may bring you almost to (gasp!) hope. More articles by or about Per Stoknes new work. His web page. Per's academic page. More info on Per's new book: https://stoknesdotcom.wordpress.com/book/ Writer’s Voice, Psychology Today – "The Coming Climate Disruptions: Are you Hopeful?" and BoingBoing.net – "The 5 Psychological Barriers to Climate Action" Find a 1 hour video of Per Espen Stoknes talking about his new book at Transition United States on May 15, 2015 here. Download or listen to (or pass on) this interview with Per Espen Stoknes in CD quality or Lo-Fi ROBERT STAYTON - SOLAR YES WE CAN If we stopped using fossil fuels today, the climate would still heat up, and civilization would crash. That's the nasty problem, and we need a roadmap out. Robert Stayton says solar is the path forward. He's been teaching about energy and solar power for decades at California colleges and the University of California in Santa Cruz. Those years of expertise are drawn together in his new book "Power Shift, from Fossil Energy to Dynamic Solar Power". Given the warnings of scientists, there are really only four possible routes to slashing emissions, or even reducing carbon in the atmosphere. In this
