I’ll start by saying I don’t believe my boobs will make policymakers treat climate action with the urgency it requires.

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But I hope that the threat of them might force climate communicators to try something drastically different, before the window closes entirely.

The climate crisis is a scientifically proven, existential threat. It is possible to mitigate and adapt to the very worst consequences, yet doing so is not a global policy priority. Instead, world leaders are fighting wars and building new gas plants to power mega data centres.

The data shows that public awareness isn’t the issue. Research by the 89 Percent Project, a year-long global journalistic initiative, found that nearly 90 per cent of people across 125 countries want stronger climate action. The problem is, data showing awareness doesn’t drive change, it’s not enough to get the people in charge to act.

Humans struggle to engage with threats like climate change. The research shows three key things: we avoid reminders of our own mortality; we struggle to grasp slow-moving threats that could catastrophically worsen; and we can't engage with risks for which we have no personal reference point. Because of this, direct warnings trigger our psychological defence mechanisms, so we shut........

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