Terrified by ‘Hothouse Earth’? Don’t Despair — Do Something.
Building a world that works for everyone is exactly what we should refocus our efforts on doing when we read scientific studies that scare the hell out of us.
climate change communication
In Defense of Using ‘The New Normal’ to Describe Climate Change
When people invoke the “new normal,” Stamper says they’re not referring to an unchanging, static condition, but rather “a measure of uncertainty and worsening danger.” In other words, the cliche conveys exactly the message that climate scientists want to convey.
Now More than Ever, Scientists Need to Communicate Better. Here’s How.
In today’s world of nonstop information, the risk of research remaining obscure is greater than ever. One of the ironies of the computer era is that each innovation for better communication has simply led to more buzz and more difficulty being heard.
The Pitfalls of Generational Thinking
Generationalism risks obscuring the diversity of experiences, ideas and interests that characterise human society at any given moment. By locating the lines of conflict and solidarity on a cross-temporal plane, some important divisions—between rich and poor countries, different class groups, and rival views of the market, state and the economics of growth—are rendered less visible in the present.
Activism and Talking Climate: The Power of Normal
So, this has and continues to be an interesting experiment. I would not recommend writing your emissions on your face. But writing them somewhere else, a little more discreet, a little more demure….? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.
The Values of Values in Talking Climate #2 – Finding Common Ground
In last week’s blog, I looked at how the most constructive starting point from which to discuss climate change and energy issues is with what people value, and understanding and affirming this. In this week’s blog I want to share with you more on how to identify shared values that resonate between us – between the big, broad us.
Seeing Red on Climate
There’s a small but growing alliance of concerned conservatives who want to reclaim climate change as a nonpartisan issue. This motley crew of lobbyists, Evangelical Christians, and far-right radicals call themselves the “eco-right.”
New Study on Climate Sensitivity not What Poor Media Headlines, Deniers are Saying
One swallow doesn’t make a spring, and nor does one scientific paper change a whole body of evidence. But you could be mistaken for thinking so after the poor media coverage last week of a new piece of climate research.
The Gordon Goodman Memorial Lecture 2017 – Kevin Anderson
This annual memorial lecture is in honour of Gordon Goodman, founding director of the Beijer Institute at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1977–1989 and the Stockholm Environment Institute from 1989–1991. This year’s speaker is Dr. Kevin Anderson from the University of Manchester.
Climate Change’s Twin Towers: Eiffel and Babel
Climate change is not the biggest problem facing the nation; talking about it is. Until we learn to do the one, the other may never be sufficiently solved to stave off the worst of its potential impact. The greatest of these may be a functioning federal government. Actually, talking about anything in today’s partisan charged atmosphere appears to be the problem of paramount prominence. I will focus here only on climate change.
Climate Change Opinion Polls: A Glass Half Empty or a Glass Half Full? Part 1
In the midst of the maelstrom named Trump, environmental advocates are finding solace in numerous opinion polls released over the past year or two. From these surveys, it appears one of the few things Americans agree on—more or less– is the reality of climate change and the need to combat it. As a card-carrying curmudgeon, I tend to look at the numbers and see a glass half empty.
I Was an Exxon-Funded Climate Scientist
ExxonMobil’s deliberate attempts to sow doubt on the reality and urgency of climate change and their donations to front groups to disseminate false information about climate change have been public knowledge for a long time. Reports in 2015 revealed that Exxon had its own scientists doing its own climate modeling as far back as the 1970s: science and modeling that was not only accurate, but that was being used to plan for the company’s future.