How do we get climate and nature stories on Coronation Street?

Rachael Orr is the CEO of Climate Outreach, the organisation behind the hugely impactful Britain Talks Climate and Nature research project.

Her career has shifted from social advocacy in the public housing sector to climate engagement - and she has seen first-hand the challenges we face as communicators around the green transition.

Rachael tells our host Tom Clark the story of where this project comes from and how her team have delivered it so successfully. She unpacks the need for research that helps climate and nature communicators to reach across the political and social spectrum and speak persuasively and actively about the subject matter in everyday ways.

Hear Rachael give valuable practical advice about:

• Creating space for open dialogue with stakeholders
• Shifting communications from awareness raising to implementation and progress
• Creating people-focused stories of action that anyone can relate to
• Empowering internal teams so they can work as a collective when the pressure is on.

If you want to move past data and facts, learn how to involve your stakeholders from day one and discover why we are actually the winning team, this conversation with Rachael Orr is an essential for your listening queue.

Recommended movie: Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Sustainability | BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY

Connect with Rachael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-orr-9421a959/

Additional notes:

Climate Outreach: Britain Talks Climate and Nature 2025 - https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/

Climate Visuals library https://www.climatevisuals.org/

The Climate Diplomat: A Personal History of the COP Conferences by Peter Bett https://profileeditions.com/product/the-climate-diplomat/

Climate Spring - https://www.climate-spring.org/who-we-are#our-mission

Heard https://heard.org.uk/

Climate Reframe https://climatereframe.co.uk/

Edward Stourton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stourton_(journalist)

Why stories are so memorably by John Millien https://www.johnmillen.com/blog/4-reasons-stories-are-so-memorable

Carbon Brief https://www.carbonbrief.org/

Ed Milliband https://www.gov.uk/government/people/ed-miliband

Released: 1 August 2026

Run time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Caroline Prak is a former Communications leader at Friends of the Earth and Oxfam, and creator of https://understories.io.

The Understories tool she created (after joining the MIT’s Sustainable AI Program) evaluates messaging against peer-reviewed research studies, scores it across eight evidence-based criteria and suggests revisions while also flagging ethical risks. The goal of the tool is to help us realise the power of using the 70:30 hope to doom ratio in our climate comms.

Caroline talks to Tom Clark about why she thinks:
Climate communication could do much better at cutting through the noise

Why it’s hard to connect the dots between communications science and our day-to-day work pressures

How AI could maybe help us do better?

Caroline talks to Tom Clark about why she thinks:

1. Climate communication could do much better at cutting through the noise
2. Why it’s hard to connect the dots between communications science and our day-to-day work pressures
3. How AI could maybe help us do better?

Join Caroline and Tom as they take a deep dive on her “contrarian bet” that merging AI with climate and nature comms is a necessary strategy for saving the planet.

Recommended book: "Hope in the Dark" by Rebecca Solnit - https://canongate.co.uk/books/46-hope-in-the-dark-untold-histories-wild-possibilities/

Follow Caroline at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolineprak/

Additional Notes:

Understories.io

The Case of the Century / L'Affaire du Siècle - laffairedusiecle.net

Oxfam Davos Inequality Report - https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-oxfam/fight-inequality/oxfams-global-inequality-report/

MIT Sustainable AI Program - https://climateproject.mit.edu/events/sustainable-ai

The 89% Project - https://89percent.org/

The Long Reads Interview with Rebecca Solnit (4 March 2026) - https://longreads.com/2026/03/04/questionnaire-rebecca-solnit/

Justiça Ambiental! - https://justica-ambiental.org/

Anabela Lemos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabela_Lemos

Don’t Look Up - https://www.netflix.com/title/81252357

Maibach et al. (2015), "Do Americans Understand That Global Warming Is Harmful to Human Health?", Annals of Global Health -

Released: 2 June 2026

Run time: 60 minutes

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

Boaz Paldi, former Chief Creative Officer for the United Nations Development Program, talks to Tom Clark about his inspiring work in climate communications. In particular he shares what he learned from the highly successful “Don’t choose extinction” campaign which highlighted the absurdity and damage done by fossil fuel subsidies.

Listen to hear what Boaz has learned really works for:

• Campaigning and influencing audiences and policy at a global level
• Ways to use humour and relatability in climate messaging
• The power of taking creative risks
• Communication that speaks to the “climate majority”.

In this honest recounting of the campaign’s development and delivery, Boaz doesn’t gloss over the challenges: bureaucracy, organisational blockers, the overwhelming nature of the subject matter. It’s a brilliant listen for anyone working in climate and nature comms who is wondering “does what I do make any difference?”

Recommended: We don’t have time - https://app.wedonthavetime.org/

Follow Boaz Paldi at: LinkedIn

Additional Notes:

Full Frame Advisory - https://fullframeadvisory.com/

UNDP - https://www.undp.org/

Don't Choose Extinction campaign video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaTgTiUhEJg

Weather Kids - https://www.weatherkids.org/

An Optimist's Guide to the Planet - https://www.bloomberg.com/originals/series/an-optimists-guide-to-the-planet

Activista - https://www.activistalosangeles.com/

Frame Store - https://www.framestore.com/

Jurassic Park - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park

The Simpsons - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons

Rosie the Riveter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter

Released: 27 May 2026

Run Time: 49 minutes

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube