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

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

From WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

November 2, 2025 · 47 min · Season 3 · Episode 9

About this episode

John Marshall discusses effective communication strategies for climate action.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Guest: John Marshall

Topics covered

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Potential Energy

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