Welcome everyone,
We hope you’re finding ways to navigate the heat, illness, and continual spectacle of horrifying news with kindness and care.
We’re releasing these newsletters with less frequency over the summer. This week we have the recording of our session with Elemental on the Myths of Philanthropy, well worth a watch if you couldn’t make it alongside the 700 (!) events at London Climate Action Week.
You’ll notice that we’ve had a new lick of paint, which you’ll also see over on our website, with thanks to In Progress Studio.
Shared in solidarity
Session
The Myths Of Philanthropy
Louisa Mann, Tesmerelna Atsbeha, Chiara K. Cattaneo
What if philanthropy’s greatest resource isn’t financial but relational capital? What if what we inherited doesn’t have to be the legacy we leave? Elemental explore our relationship with money, power, and each other – featuring contributors to its The Myths of Philanthropy series, published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Association of Charitable Foundations, and VITA. For a quick summary, see this post from Lydia Cerguera of UK Community Foundations, which captures the session beautifully.
🎬 Link
Shares
🧰 Tool | ✏️ Article | 🧱 Infrastructure | 🎙️ Podcast
See our full searchable library of every share from these newsletters
Links
🧰 Variations in Climate Opinions Across the United Kingdom – Yale
✏️ Who are Reform UK’s ‘red’ and ‘blue’ Voters? – Populism Unpacked
✏️ Overcoming Fatalism – Renewal
✏️ Organising from Elsewhere – Gully Davis
🧱 Narrative Strategy Resources – Ari Mostov
🎙️ On Powers, Great and Small – The Emerald
Summaries
Variations in Climate Opinions Across the United Kingdom
Yale Programme on Climate Communications
A new interactive mapping tool that “depicts public climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, experiences, and attribution beliefs across the UK.” It finds that “a very large majority of adults in the UK think climate change is happening (85%) and human-caused (74%), but many also perceive climate change as a relatively distant threat…only 55% think it will harm them personally.” Also the use of renewable energy for electricity, fuel, and heating is very popular across the UK (80%), and polarisation is much lower than in the US, with 2/3 thinking climate change should be a priority for government. The maps also reinforce the earlier finding that “direct exposure to extreme weather does not automatically translate into stronger belief that climate change affects these events. Rather, when appropriate, communicators need to help people ‘connect the dots’ between climate change and extreme events, drawing on the findings of attribution science.”
#insight
🧰 See here
Who Are Reform UK’s ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ Voters?
Populism Unpacked; Unchecked UK
Insight from a new initiative that aims to “act as a repository of insights and practical advice” for those who are acting on the challenge of the rise of deceptive right-wing populism in the UK. “This is the first release of our three-part series on Reform UK’s voter coalition — who are they, what do they think about regulation, and most importantly, how can progressives do a better job of reaching them?” They find that “although Reform UK – and UKIP before it – have often been depicted as a party of older, small-state, Brexit-supporting voters, this view is simplistic and increasingly outdated. In reality, the party draws together a much more complex coalition… this analysis aims to inform the strategic choices of progressive campaigners seeking to engage, persuade, or contest these voters, particularly those of us making the case for strong social and environmental protections.”
#insight
✏️ Read here
Overcoming Fatalism
Fran Boait; Renewal
“When governments fail to address wealth inequality, cost of living crises, and collapsing public services, it provides fertile conditions for fatalism to grow.” Referencing research from FrameWorks, Boait reflects on how “decades of cultural individualism have left people unreceptive to ideas rooted in universalist principles; indeed, collectivist mindsets have been so weakened in the UK that any form of collectivism can now easily be seen as a threat,” and how “when collectivism is perceived as a threat, strongmen like Farage appeal by promising to protect people based on their individual identities.” They caution that “whilst messaging is critical, countering fatalism fundamentally requires moving people out of a ‘fear’ mindset, since research shows that fear and anger can reduce people’s sense of agency.” Which means listening to people, activating curiosity, and demonstrating, with honesty and humility “that we are all holding uncertainty together, but that through that uncertainty we can still find shared purpose for collective change.”
#narrativestrategy #insight #tactics
✏️ Read here
Organising From Elsewhere
Gully Davis; Amsterdam Alternative
“A radical idea that might just transform the way we organise (or just ‘work together’) to bring about the economic, political and social changes so urgently needed.” Our current ways of organising – hierarchical, democratic, consensus-based – have arisen from and are underpinned by the notion of separation: Organisation is perceived as solving the problem of coordination between individuals that are separated by their goals and preferences… If we continue to use organisational methods shaped by this assumption of separation, we will continue to fail – as seen recently in our failure to prevent the ongoing holocaust in Gaza or the rise of the Far Right.” To do this means committing “to always doing things in a way that increases a felt-sense of interconnectedness,” which means actually understanding “what interconnectedness is and how it feels,” how it is being enabled, and what can practically disable it. Organising From Elsewhere are initiating a learning cycle to explore this.
#deepnarrative #narrativestrategy #tactics
✏️ Read here
Narrative Strategy Resources
Narrative Strategy with Ari Mostov
A relatively short list of narrative strategy materials, listing organisations, frameworks, opinion, guidance and infrastructure, mainly in the US and Europe. “I intend to revise this list, put it into a more accessible format that guides people through narrative strategy in a more methodical way, but for now, this will do. I have over 100+ resources I’ve collected and they will not all be relevant for this moment, but I hope what I share here will help you.” Includes a section on how narrative strategy has been described and formulated by business publications.
#narrativestrategy
🧱 See here
On Powers, Great and Small
The Emerald
It’s tempting to dismiss Josh Schrei’s work as ‘woo-woo’, but doing so would miss the sharp insight and wisdom that his meticulously researched and curated episodes carry – and his own robust aversion to ‘woo-woo’. In a moment where ‘power’ is being sought, deconstructed, and exerted at all levels, this reflection offers a welcome and encouraging pause. “It's vitally important to understand the larger framework of cosmic powers, ecological powers, and the cycles and patterns in which these powers express… This isn't as simple as saying power sucks, or there's no such thing as power, or that power is all human dynamics, so we'll just flatten everything, and that's our way of dealing with Power… we find that the world is shaped and transformed continually by small, invisible, relational powers.” Trusting these small powers may help us resist the fragile “obvious powers” that preoccupy our ruling classes. Features contributions from Nyoongar writer, storyteller and researcher Jack Mitchell, Hawaiian cultural practitioner Kanani Aton, and Living Sanskrit's Shivani Hawkins. A great accompaniment to a walk in the woods.
#deepnarrative #tactics
🎙️ Listen here
Noticeboard
💸 Funding | 💼 Role | 🗓️ Event
Greener Homes call for ideas
Nesta
Rolling, ongoing | Initial response within four weeks
“Through our Greener Homes initiative, Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good, is offering up to five x £10,000 development grants for compelling broadcast and/or digital projects that incorporate themes about how the ways we heat and power our homes are changing. We are looking for entertaining, fresh stories and approaches that bring a range of audiences to this subject.”
Engagement and Participation Producer
Wellcome Trust
Deadline: 9 Jul | Fixed Contract to Sep ‘26 (maternity cover)
“The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation. We improve health for everyone by funding science, leading policy and advocacy campaigns, and building partnerships. We plan to spend £16bn over the next ten years, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing, and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. These challenges need the bold science we support, but they won’t be solved by science alone. We are looking for an Engagement and Participation Producer to join our team on a temporary basis as maternity cover with experience in developing and delivering thoughtful and accessible engagement programmes for audiences and communities.”
Power to the People: Shaping a People’s Charter
Our House
18 Jul | 12:30-13:30 GMT | Online
“Politics isn’t working. We can’t protect a broken system, we need to build something better. Our House is building a people-powered movement for political systems change. This session will introduce Our House and share how you can shape the movement by building a people’s charter with your community. We’ll also launch the digital people’s charter, where we’re crowdsourcing ideas for a democracy that works. Hear from Our House advisor Jon Alexander and the Our House team – Oli Whittington, Katy Rubin, Mara Livermore, Aneira Roose-McClew, Salma Perveen, and Kendall Bendheim – and meet others like you who think democracy needs an update!”
Quotes
Here’s a full list of all previous quotes.
“You don't have to know the way, the way knows the way.” – Lindsey Scott
“You can’t see the light of a candle until it’s dark.” – Kazu Haga
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.” – Rumi
“If you find your imagination cannot stop itself from churning out the scripts of the Death Machines, pull its plug. Dismantle it. Reprogram it. Dream Daylight. Manufacture Daylight. We are the Magicians. Make Magic.” – Krista Franklin
“I don’t believe they have the right, after 3,000 years, to reclaim the land with Western bombs and guns on biblical injunction.” – James Baldwin
Thanks for joining us, see you here again in three weeks.
A reminder that if you have something that you’d love to see in these newsletters, or work you’d like to share in the community sessions, or if you have any feedback, please reach out at inter-narratives@greenfunders.org
Very best,
Paddy & Ella