You cannot be serious

British environmentalists could learn from their US counterparts who recommend humour as part of a package to sell a change of heart. With something as serious as, say, climate change, nothing less than big laughs will do. As Damien Cave reports in It's not sexy to be green (yet):

"...environmentalists need to be less preachy. Mark Katz, a humorist and former speech writer for President Bill Clinton, said Americans might be more willing to take up conservation if they could first laugh at their own consumption. His suggestion is a bumper sticker for S.U.V.'s that reads, 'My third car is a Prius,' a reference to Toyota's popular electric hybrid vehicle".

Being cool, not a cardigan-wearer, may help:

"According to advertising executives, environmentalists and cultural critics, conservation can become a movement large enough to influence world energy markets only if it becomes hip, fashionable, something that teenagers, chief executives and celebrities from New York to Dallas to Los Angeles can't help but do".

British celebrities associated with climate change campaigns are few and far between. The only one I can think of doesn't make me laugh. How about engaging someone like Mr Cool himself, Ricky Gervais? His recent spot for The Prostate Cancer Charity is a good, if squelchy, place to start.