Climate hushing, fart jokes, and love. 😝 John Marshall on how to market climate action.

Nov 2, 2025

Join John Marshall, a marketing expert and founding director of Potential Energy, as he sheds light on the art of climate communication. He challenges the complexities of current messaging, advocating for clearer, more personal narratives that motivate action. John emphasizes the power of love in climate engagement and the need for humor to break through climate hushing. He highlights the importance of sharing relatable stories and invites listeners to rally friends for impactful conversations on climate solutions.

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INSIGHT

Three Critical Knowledge Gaps

John Marshall identifies three knowledge gaps: scientific consensus, consequences, and the value of solutions.
Closing these gaps dramatically raises public support for climate action.

INSIGHT

Why Climate Messaging Fails

Marshall grades climate communication a C-minus and blames complexity, politicization, and boredom.
He argues messages must be simple, nonpartisan, and entertaining to win narratives.

ADVICE

Favor Choice Over Bans

Avoid framing policies as bans, mandates, or limits because limitation messaging depresses support.
Emphasize choice and abundance, e.g., "every American should have the choice to have a clean car."

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For those of us trying to advance climate solutions (go team!), there’s always the question of how to be more impactful, how to bring more people along with us into this work. And often the answer is not fancier technology or more brilliant policy, it’s more compelling communication for recruiting and persuasion.

Today’s podcast guest, John Marshall, is an expert in marketing. He spent the first half of his career working with corporations who want to sell us stuff. And now, as founding executive director of the nonprofit Potential Energy, he’s using those same tools to sell climate solutions.

So, what messages are most effective? What words should we use or avoid? Who are the best messengers? What’s his advice for me about how to be a better one? And what’s love got to do with it?

I learned so much, including that we simply have to talk about climate MORE. So, Earthlings, let’s get into it!

John’s CALL TO ACTION 🗣️

Rally your crew, build the team: "Do things, invite people. You invite three people and they invite three people, and that’s how change actually happens. And that’s how we get an acceleration. So do talk about it with somebody. Invite somebody to do something together."

Simple, necessary, and something each of us can do more of. To put it in the words of Bill McKibben, sometimes the best thing an individual can do is to stop being such an individual.

Podcast notes:

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This podcast is ad-free thanks to the support of Future Being, a grant making and special project studio, which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity.

This episode was produced and edited by Gabby Bulgarelli, and me, Ayana, with help from associate producer Jenisha Shrestha.

If you’re new here, peruse the back catalog. A few dozen hours of sweet podcast conversations with incredible guests await you. ✨

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