Climate change talk does not concern many people
April 2nd, 2011 - 5:49 pm ICT by ANILondon, Apr 2 (ANI): A new research has revealed that explaining climate change risk to non-scientists - citizens and politicians - has not been as effective as it should be.
Despite much research that demonstrates potential dangers from climate change, public concern has not been increasing.
“A major challenge facing climate scientists is explaining to non-specialists the risks and uncertainties surrounding potential climate change”, the authors said.
“The goal of science communication should be to help people understand the state of the science, relevant to the decisions that they face in their private and public lives,” said co-author Professor Baruch Fischhoff.
“All of our climate-related options have uncertainties, regarding health, economics, ecosystems, and international stability, among other things,” he added.
Key to effective communications is what the authors call “strategic organisation” and “strategic listening.”
Strategic organisation involves working in cross-disciplinary teams that include, at a minimum, climate scientists, decision scientists, social and communications specialists and other experts.
Strategic listening encourages climate scientists to go beyond intuitive feeling and consider how well they communicate by using systematic feedback and empirical evaluation.
The research has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change. (ANI)
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Tags: baruch fischhoff, citizens, climate change, climate scientists, co author, decisions, disciplinary teams, ecosystems, effective communications, empirical evaluation, health economics, international stability, journal nature, london, politicians, public concern, risk, science communication, systematic feedback, uncertainties