Grief, with Ro Randall

09/14/21 • 44 min

1 Listener

When we lose someone or something we love, our brains want to grieve. Why? What's going on when grieve - when we do it well, or don't do it properly?
Is it grief we feel when we see huge forest fires or melting ice caps caused by climate change? And if it is - where do we put that grief, in a society that doesn't recognise it?
This week Dave speaks to the wonderfully kind and clever Ro Randall about the psychology of grief and loss - and what it tells us about living through the climate crisis. Ro is a psychoanalytically trained psychotherapist who has written and worked extensively about how to help people process the emotional impact of climate change. You can find out all about Ro's work at www.rorandall.org.
A link, as highlighted by the owl noise:
- 18:13 - Greek island on fire video
Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or [email protected].
The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it.
Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.

Recharge with David Ko
Recharge with David Ko is a 5-part limited podcast series premiering in May to...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Recharge with David Ko
Recharge with David Ko is a 5-part limited podcast series premiering in May to...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Previous Episode

Food, with Kimberley Wilson

Food: yum! It keeps us alive and keeps our brains healthy (or unhealthy, all-too-often). And the food that we eat - what it is and where it comes from - is one of the most important things we're going to have to get right when it comes to climate change.
Kind of a problem then that there are very few things about which we're quite so uppity and strange. Food is drenched in cultural meaning, status, and individuals' neuroses, associations and family history.
So what is our psychological relationship with food? And what do those trying to get people to eat more climate-friendly diets need to take on board?
Joining Dave on this first episode of Your Brain On Climate is Kimberley Wilson - a chartered psychologist, nutritionist and author on all things to do with food, health, lifestyle and society. She was also once a finalist on the Great British Bake-Off, but Dave has the grace not to ask her about that. You can read much more about Kimberley and her work at http://www.kimberleywilson.co
Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises:
- 07:30 - Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression, rule-breaking, and psychopathology among young adult prisoners, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20014286/
- 10:12 - Antecedents, Behaviour, Consequences: A nice intro document here: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/11951/behaviour-observation-sheets.pdf
Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or [email protected].
The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it.
Show logo by Arthur Stovell at https://www.designbymondial.com.

Recharge with David Ko
Recharge with David Ko is a 5-part limited podcast series premiering in May to...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Next Episode

Change, with Andrew Simms

Everything changes and everything stays the same. Imagine being a squishy human brain trying to navigate that. Add on a barrage of advertising and social norms about what 'novelty' looks like, and no wonder it's so hard to make sense of what we might really want to change in our lives.
And then there's climate change. There's a clue in the name: it means Different. Are we kitted out for that kind of change? Has our thirst for newness got us into this mess in the first place? And what hope is there of changing how we live in time to do something about it?
Discussing all this and more with Dave is megabrain author, analyst and campaigner Andrew Simms. He's the director of the Rapid Transition Alliance, founder of the New Weather Institute, and formerly Policy Director at the New Economics Foundation. He's also written a bucket-load of books about the climate crisis and what needs to change - and how to change it. Follow him on Twitter @andrewsimms_uk.
A link, as highlighted by the owl noise:
- 06:30 - The hedonic treadmill, a faintly depressing thing to read about.
Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency. Contact the show: @brainclimate on Twitter, or [email protected].
The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter. All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it.
Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.