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Charlie Westney

@charliewestney.bsky.social
481 followers 811 following 740 posts

Climate, environment, behaviour change and communication. Cumbria, UK. Comms lead for Small World Consulting @smallworldconsult.bsky.social Kendal Green Party member 💚

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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Big night for the NEB team, first screening supported by a national leader, John Swinney. With over 126,000 petition signatures and 164 MPs signing the Parliamentary Call for a national TV briefing, the momentum is getting close to a tipping point to make this happen.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Brilliant #ClimateComms from Oatly! The biggest impact most companies can have is by influencing others. And the biggest boost to the social tipping point we need on climate action? Simply realising that the majority of people around us want climate action too! apnews.com/article/clim...
apnews.com
The world's largest oat milk producer has joined an unusual climate journalism campaign
The world’s largest producer of oat milk, Oatly, is pushing its customers and their governments to act on climate change, in a new milk carton campaign that's taking off in Europe and is expected in t...
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Environmental Justice Foundation @ejfoundation.org · 01/10/2026
⚠️ The plastic we live with every day is quietly poisoning us ⚠️ We’ve released our shocking research: 92.8% of the chemicals we assessed in everyday plastic items are linked to cancer, infertility and heart disease. Almost none are controlled.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
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Kendal & District Green Party @kendalgreenparty.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mark Borthwick is the Green Party's Cumbria Mayor candidate! An Ulverston native, Mark's an environmental policy researcher working on food and farming campaigns. He'll campaign to develop Cumbria’s green economy: resilient local jobs, clean water, affordable houses & reliable public transport.
Mark Borthwick smiling whilst out on a street in Cumbria.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Energy security, lower bills, home grown food, adapting to extreme weather - all chapters of the same story, if you tell it as one story. Quick breakdown from the Climate Outreach team ⬇️
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This year's biggest #ClimateComms #NatureComms has just dropped for FREE on YouTube. Highly recommend you watch. It hits so many things bang on for effective comms. 🧵 www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3mR...
youtube.com
How to Live on Earth | Feature Documentary | Presented by Benedict Cumberbatch
YouTube video by Open Planet
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s not always choosing nature OR something else. Nature loves the AND option, if we give it a chance. “The benefits reached beyond the solar farms. Bees from the restored habitat were also found pollinating soybeans in surrounding fields.”
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good sustainable comms needs 3 other things to back that up: 1. what you do, are your products & services becoming more sustainable? 2. Where your money is. What do invest in? Who do you spend money with? 3. Your influence. Are you bringing your network with you?
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If you’re in the South West this is a dream role for any climate communicator! Sadly the commute from Cumbria is just a tad long for me.
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Angela Francis @angelaisfranc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Rachel Kyte, UK Special Representative for Climate, just on the Today Programme talking about the food and national security risks from climate change and nature loss, said "this goverment..is very much thinking about how to engage the public in a conversation abour our safety and security". Yes!
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Oooh new #ClimateComms buzzword that I love: “Electrofortification”
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
So what? Why should I care? 5 great steps to make your research understood, mean something and maybe, just maybe, lead to action. drawntoreason.substack.com/p/you-finish...
drawntoreason.substack.com
You finished your project - so what?
How many research and project papers and presentations have you endured and come away wondering why they bothered?
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The climate coalition often doesn't realise how wide and varied the membership is. Exhibit A: American ranchers. Ranchers in Colorado are arguing that fossil fuel companies made profit whilst knowingly causing climate change and passing the costs to local government.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Can you name 10 problems your future will have because of climate change? Can you name 10 ways your life may change for the better because of the transitions we'll make? I'll wait. If we can imagine it, we can build it. How can you fire up your climate imagination?.. time.com/article/2026...
time.com
We Have a Climate Imagination Problem
We’re missing an emotional architecture for change: how it feels to want a different future and believe we can reach it, writes Solitaire Townsend.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Labour are worried. They've had the Foreign Secretary, the Chancellor, the Mayor of London & the Prime Minister out in Holborn & St Pancras but we've got you. Hundreds of thousands of you who care & are making a difference! Donate today to help us win: donatetothe.greenparty.org.uk/london-by-el...
donatetothe.greenparty.org.uk
Let's get our sixth Green MP elected - Green Party
We have a chance to elect our 6th MP - London's first Green MP, Zack Polanski! But we raise over £200k by 8 October. Will you help us?
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
AI ‘kill switch’ - isn’t that just the plug? Don’t care how intelligent you are, you still need power. (And yes. This is me encouraging my teenage son to begrudgingly eat breakfast before school)
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Peter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If you think closing an RNLI station is done by people with "legitimate concerns" you really need to give your head a wobble. It's an unforgivable act of thuggery.
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Small World Consulting @smallworldconsult.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"The climate doesn't care how many renewables we have only how much fossil fuel is burned" @mikebernerslee.bsky.social This overall drop in emissions is welcome but needs to be significantly more year-on-year. More renewables AND no new oil or gas #rosebank www.businessgreen.com/news/4535893...
businessgreen.com
Study: Global fossil-fuel emissions to fall 0.5 per cent this year
Strait of Hormuz crisis has led to lower oil and gas demand that should more than offset any increased emissions from higher coal power generation, Carbon Brief calculates
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Spot the obvious disconnect in this article? It lists 5 ways #ClimateCommunication can be more effective, and I agree with all of them. 1️⃣ Trusted local messengers. Your local solar installer or neighbour with a heat pump beats some social media influencer. www.forbes.com/sites/jamilw...
forbes.com
Five Ways Climate Communications Can Meet The Moment
The climate communications needs new messages and messengers to meet the moment when climate risks are becoming more pronounced and damaging.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Stories > Facts for effective behaviour change. “We reason in stories and concrete experiences: facts aren’t nearly as persuasive as individual stories” Also shows pushing individual action can cause backlash. Community action more effective. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
El Niño goes viral — and scientists learn what makes people care about the climate
Evoking emotions is more likely to prompt people to engage with climate efforts than is data alone.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is great climate comms. A bunch of middle-aged women, (looking as peaceful as perimenopause allows them to be) singing harmonies about an oilfield. Great way to show the 'silent majority' of climate supporters are starting to find their voice.
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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Oops!! I think we can safely say, then, that these are going to be given the green light So, everyone in Holborn & St Pancras, you know where to put your cross @zackpolanski.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
North Sea gasfield decision likely delayed until after Holborn and St Pancras byelection
Greens accuse Labour of hiding position to avoid criticism before contest, in which Zack Polanski is standing
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
If you love oceans, you're gonna love this! 🌊 If you love forests, you're gonna love this! 🌳 New insights into the dependencies between coastal forests and healthy ocean habitats. How do we shift our conservation aims and projects to this scale? www.rainforestrecovery.org.uk/news/oceans-...
rainforestrecovery.org.uk
Oceans and Forests: A New Discovery — Rainforest Recovery | Woodland Trust
Working with associate lecturer Dr. Benjamin Phillips, the Woodland Trust has discovered a groundbreaking glimpse into the important interactions between oceans and forests. Until now, these ecosystem...
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What’s changed? Public attitudes within Iceland. Whaling has gone from being seen as part of a proud national heritage, to being at odds with a nature-loving community that welcomes tourism. When identity changes, actions change. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Iceland to submit bill that could ban whaling in its waters
The country is one of just three that still permits commercial whaling, while its government has faced mounting pressure to ban the practice
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Interesting research for communication pros. Different media approaches as well as different channels will help your engagement and CTAs with novice and expert target audiences. Note: An expert in one topic can be a novice outside that topic! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org
Experts prefer text but videos help novices: an analysis of the utility of multi-media content | Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This government is still sitting on parts of a buried report laying bare catastrophic risks facing us from ecosystems collapse. My message to @andyburnham.bsky.social: tell the truth. Release the report in full. And prepare the country for what's coming. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Polanski calls for report on ecosystem collapse to be published in full
Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
First job today - make a donation to the RNLI. Just back from 3 weeks sailing around Scotland and saw 2 call-outs. These people are heroes.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Best carbon offsets comms ever. No notes.
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Kendal & District Green Party @kendalgreenparty.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
If you think these 10 climate policies sound like a good idea, why not join the only party openly calling to ban re drilling, set max workplace temps and insulate our homes and workplaces? join.greenparty.org.uk www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
From grey water to cool spaces: 10 climate crisis policies Britain needs right now
Rejecting North Sea drilling licences and protecting nature are just some measures Andy Burnham must implement to ready country
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Paul Behrens @profpaulbehrens.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I spoke to @thetimes.com on horrible yields and how there is no "new normal" "As bad as this year’s harvest is proving to be, Behrens warned against seeing it as a “new normal”. “Until we get our carbon emissions down things will continue to get much, much worse.”" www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
thetimes.com
Heatwave forces farmers to abandon crops as harvests fail
Extreme weather and rising costs see growers diversifying into alternative businesses, raising severe concerns over the future of British food security
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The Strait of Hormuz is still shut. The UK is at risk of yet another recession due to its reliance on oil and gas. And the Tories, Reform, and their media outriders have spent the past week arguing for greater fossil fuel reliance largely unchallenged. www.businessgreen.com/news/4533806...
businessgreen.com
UK at risk of recession if Strait of Hormuz blockade continues, EY warns
Consultancy's latest forecast argues UK economy has proven surprisingly resilient in face of energy shock, but risk of recession is growing as disruption to oil and gas markets continues
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
To everyone saying this summer is the ‘new normal’ - no, no it’s not. We will keep getting hotter and more extreme. Next years El Niño could give a glimpse of that.
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Media Tell The Truth @mediatellthetruth.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Hi @yougov.co.uk, you left off the correct answer which is "This will be one of the coolest summers of the rest of our lives and they will keep getting hotter and hotter until we stop burning fossil fuels".
YouGov survey: Thinking of the weather so far this summer, which of the following comes closest to your expectation:

Majority say "most summers will be like this from now on"
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
In today's edition of The maths ain't mathing:
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Most challenges are easier if you tackle them with like-minded friends. Is this the first signal that Ed Milliband's move from DESNZ to Foreign Office will help push climate action further and faster, by finding friends who want to do the same?
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Food growers & farmers are increasingly experiencing climate breakdown harvests That means higher prices - and more food insecurity. Politicians have been quiet on this growing crisis - but silence isn't good enough when our food supply is at risk. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
More than half of England officially in drought - Environment Agency
The drought declarations follow an exceptionally hot and dry period, which has hit rivers, crops and nature.
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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Good grief, this hits home.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The planet is burning - how does that make you feel? Stories have the power to change attitudes and share perspectives. This piece explores their power in helping us deal with unnameable emotions. #ClimateComms theconversation.com/how-storytel...
theconversation.com
How storytelling can help articulate emotions that evolve as the climate changes
Creative works can represent emotions emerging so fast that our brains can’t quite catch up with them.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Let's hope that some Telegraph readers are reading this, after years of climate denial being pushed on them, and starting to see the relevance of Orwell: 'The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.'
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This is my favourite wrap-up-warm wool jumper. Now with some visible mending: Years more wear A splash of my fave colour And a talking point about repair and reuse and personalisation in a throw-away culture.
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 25/07/2026
You see this frontpage and do genuinely wonder what on earth the conversation must have been between the senior editors when they were laying it out...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22/07/2026
You guys aren't going to believe this, but ... it turns out the oil & gas industry knew that they were poisoning people (in this case, with methane) for years, and they hid it & did nothing to mitigate the harm. No, really, it's true! Incredible investigative work here from @rebleber.bsky.social:
nytimes.com
Oil Firms Knew for Decades of Methane’s Danger to Planet, Documents Suggest
The companies knew they were releasing more of the greenhouse gas than they publicly reported, according to industry files cited by the Center for Climate Integrity, an activist organization.
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Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
If water were publicly owned, there would be nowhere for any water bosses to hide or manipulate water quality tests. This problem literally only exists under privatisation.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
How productive would you be if you were worried about water rationing and the low pressure of your shower? Are the data centres that are taking our water using it for computing power to help cure cancer, or to make videos of dancing cats for AI slop? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says
Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
So sad I'm missing this, but Kendal peeps, do go! It's gonna be fun and political and pintical.
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Just in time for summer holiday reading! If you write for social media / web / policy papers / press releases / B2B… if comms is part of your role - your writing will benefit from reading great writers. Get stuck in!
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Even though you know it, it's still a sucker punch to see it written so starkly. My son will never know the climate that I knew.
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National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The petition for a televised emergency briefing on the climate & nature crisis how now passed 32,000. At 100,000, we secure a Parliamentary debate. Please sign and share. It only takes a moment. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76... #TimeToStepUp #NationalEmergencyBriefing
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: Hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks
The UK faces growing risks from climate and nature breakdown - from extreme weather to economic disruption and national security threats. Yet the public has never been given a clear national briefing ...
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Charlie Westney @charliewestney.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
If someone wants to play games with you, don’t play. And that way, you win. Check mate Nige babes.
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