Your Brain On Climate

Psychology vs climate change: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Each episode host Dave Powell interviews experts in how our brains work - from PhDs in psychology to writers, activists and beyond. They'll talk about how their brains and our brains do (and don't) work, and how all of that might help make sense of the climate crisis - and possibly what to do about it.

All Episodes

Your Brain On Climate

Somewhere, with Karl Dudman

June 13, 2025

We vote in our self interest, right? So how come people living on islands disappearing because of climate change - and they know it - keep voting for Donald Trump?

The answer to that goes to the heart of our climate politics. But it also tells us something very important about how different people think about climate change and what should be done about it, even when they can see it literally killing the place they love.

This episode is a fascinating chat with anthropologist Dr Karl Dudman. He talks all about his time spent with the unique communities of Down East, North Carolina - a fiercely proud, strongly Republican, and very maritime patch of the US Coast. Karl explains with empathy how Down Easterners talk about the sea level rises, hurricanes and changing fishing patterns that feels like the last straw in a community whose centuries-old identity is falling apart.

Let me know your thoughts on the show - hello@yourbrainonclimate.com.
Please rate, review and subscribe, and share the show on socials.
Please consider chucking this humble indie podcaster a few quid at www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate.

Owl noises = references:

04:33 - Karl's brilliant blog on the Conversation.
07:53 - Yale's climate opinion maps.
09:33 - Google Maps link to Down East, as if you can't find it yourself.
23:48 - Miranda Fricker's epistemic injustice.
33:34 - Danna Young's appearance on YBOC.
34:18 - more on affective & negative polarisation
40:19 - the original paper on solastalgia by Glenn Albrecht et al.
40:55 - Arlie Russell Hochschild's majestic Strangers In Their Own Land
41:23 - OK I can't find a great link for the aesthetics of embodiment. A bloke explained it to me.
42:40 - Revisionist History episode on country vs rock music.
44:04 - some stuff about methodological symmetry in here.
51:25 - my chat on YBOC with Jonathan Rowson.
52:17 - the not uncontroversial original essay by David Goodhart on somewheres vs anywhere.

The show is hosted and produced by me, Dave Powell. You can follow the show on

Leadership Lessons From The Great Books
Leaders are readers of the Great Books of Western literature.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify