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The Climate Majority is not about the climate deniers or the climate activists. It's about apathy, about those who don't talk about global warming – the billions of people who have heard plenty about climate change and acknowledge there's a problem, but who are just not engaged enough to stimulate the change required to stop it.
This is the first book to investigate climate apathy, to describe how it prevents action to stop climate change and to show how it can be beaten with an approach developed for political campaigns. Drawing on opinion polls, psychological research and examples of successful campaigns from across the globe the author asks 'Who are the 'swing' voters?', 'What do they think and why?' and 'How can we talk about climate change in a way that will provoke action?'
Preventing extreme climate change is one of the hardest tasks humans have ever faced. Rising nationalism and the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement are blows to progress. But only by influencing those who have, so far, remained outside the debate will we have a chance of building a climate majority to back the measures required to avoid disaster.
As an expert in public opinion, campaigns and climate change policy, Leo Barasi is uniquely able to show why climate apathy matters and how it can be beaten. A climate and energy policy analyst and experienced campaigner with a background in opinion polls, he has worked with political candidates, charities, campaigns and private companies to help them understand and shape public opinion. He writes regularly for the New Statesman, openDemocracy and ClimateHome.
"Apathy is, arguably, the greatest obstacle facing action on climate change. Amid all the noise generated by the climate debate, Barasi's book shines a much-needed light on this oft-forgotten topic and, crucially, suggests a compelling way forward to overcome it."
– Leo Hickman, editor of Carbon Brief
"Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what it will take to fight back against populist nationalism to prevent dangerous climate change."
– Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees, The God Species and Nuclear 2.0
"Writing from Bangladesh I have little time to waste trying to convince those who are apathetic about climate change. My advice to them is to first read this book and if that is not enough I invite you to come to Bangladesh and see for yourself."
– Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Bangladesh
"We have allowed the conversation over climate change to be hijacked by a narrow fringe who deny the evidence. The Climate Majority paints the way forward, explaining how a governing majority for action can be achieved by awakening that large sector of the populace for whom apathy is the sole obstacle to constructive engagement."
– Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University, and co-author of The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening the Planet, Destroying our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy
