TED Health Feeling stuck on climate change? Here’s what to do | Kris De Meyer
Dec 9, 2025
Kris De Meyer, a neuroscientist and TED Countdown speaker, explores how actions can drive beliefs in the fight against climate change. He challenges the conventional wisdom that awareness must precede action, presenting compelling arguments on how initial actions can rewire our brains. Kris discusses the pitfalls of fear-based communication and the 'Ginger effect', which illustrates miscommunication in climate terms. He offers practical steps to overcome feeling stuck and emphasizes how individual actions can lead to broader societal change.
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Actions Shape Beliefs Fast
- Actions drive beliefs: doing something first causes your brain to justify and strengthen that choice.
- This self-justification process makes actions shape convictions more than facts do.
Conventional Wisdom Often Fails
- The conventional wisdom says raise awareness first, then action follows, but evidence disputes that order.
- Facts, fear, or hope alone rarely produce broad societal action on climate change.
Fear Backfires At Scale
- Using fear can motivate some but demobilize or radicalize others, even producing denial.
- Emotional appeals therefore create polarization rather than predictable mass action.