ED33C-01
Global Warming: Settled Science? Unsettled Media Debate??
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently assessed the approximate 0.75°C warming since 1850 as an "unequivocal" trend. This is very rare and strong language for scientists who often lead with their caveats, not with their concerns. Later, the same report says it is "very likely" (i.e.- greater that 90% chance) that most of the warming of the past several decades can be attributed to human activities, primarily greenhouse gas emissions. So far, the science sounds "settled". Furthermore, the IPCC, as well as many other national assessments, assigns very high confidence to projections of further warming, intensified tropical cyclones, more extremes of drought and flood, and melting mountain glaciers and arctic sea ice in the twenty-first century. Still sounds settled. However, the likely range of warming projected by IPCC to 2100 varies by a whopping factor of 6: 1.1-6.4°C above 1990 levels-- hardly "settled science". Projections of precipitation are equivocal even as to the direction of change. Therefore, IPCC Working Group 2 recommends a "risk management" approach to dealing with the combination of well establish and remaining speculative components of global warming that nonetheless pose potentially serious risks to human and natural systems.
ED33C-02 INVITED
Protecting the Integrity of Science: Educating Media, Scientists, and the Public
Global change encompasses a wide range of geophysical sciences. Many of the issues around global or environmental change also have increasingly important economic, social, and political ramifications. Thus, more and more earth scientists are coming into direct contact with media, the public, and policymakers seeking information, advice, and participation in the policy process. At the same time, non-scientific organizations are finding they have a growing stake in research findings and policy outcomes, including non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups, and political parties. These cross-currents raise the risk of misuse and abuse of science, and indeed, there has been an apparent increase in threats to the integrity of science over the past several years. This talk will review risks to the integrity of science, challenges facing scientists who need to, or choose to, interact with media, the public, and policymakers, and recent examples of abuse of science. It will also offer thoughts about how to encourage, protect, and support the careful use of science in the policy arena. http://www.integrityofscience.org
ED33C-03
Active and Focused Scientist Participation Improves Public Discourse
Scientists are often dismayed at how the public discourse of controversial topics, such as global climate change, is often missing critical science developments. Active and focused scientist participation can help turn this trend around. Researchers who receive public funding for exploration into fundamental science have a wealth of information to share when their research touches upon topics that are relevant to the public. Taking the time to translate the top findings of your research into publicly accessible language is often a rewarding experience and can make all the difference. Scientists are viewed with trust by the public, the media, and policymakers. Case studies from the northeast United States and California will illustrate the best practices to enhance the active engagement of the scientific community and demonstrate how this can create change. The public discourse on climate change is moving rapidly forward and the consequences of scientists not participating will mount. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/sound-science-initiative.html
ED33C-04
Improving climate change knowledge in the Northern Rocky Mountains, USA.
There are many challenges to involving authentic scientists in classroom and media communications and one is the willingness of scientists to participate. The reticence of scientists to be involved has various roots but one solution is to partner with individuals and institutions experienced in outreach. At Glacier National Park, USGS scientists have worked closely with the Crown of the Continent Research and Learning Center, part of a U.S. National Park Service initiative to improve science-based decisionmaking. The controversial topic of global warming has been embraced as a science theme and research results have been crafted into compact messages for various audiences. The interpretive staff developed a core curriculum on climate change and receive annual training directly from scientists on the most recent research. The interpretive staff interact directly while leading hikes, giving campfire talks, and at visitor centers with many of the 2.2 million visitors each year who are generally more receptive while on vacation than during busy daily lives. Wayside exhibits along the Going-to- the-Sun Road explain climate change and melting glaciers, free brochures describe other aspects of climate change, electronic kiosks have short movies, and a newsletter handout at the entrance station has a science feature in it. To aid this effort, scientists have worked harder at developing compelling graphics, creating animations, serving more media-savvy materials on websites, and providing CDs with scientific data and backup materials. A website developed for serving historic and current photographs of glaciers has been so popular with the media that it has received as many as 8,000 hits in a day. Active participation by scientists in network newscasts and documentaries may involve up to 2 days of hiking TV crews into the backcountry and much effort in reviewing scripts and confirming information. This is essential to keeping credible information going to the public despite the considerable time investments by scientists. Articles in the print media are facilitated by maintaining a photograph/graphic database of research activities but working directly with reporters is still the critical link. Finally, new approaches have been explored by collaborating with artists to take science messages to different audiences.
ED33C-05
Delivering Climate Change Science: The Prairie Provinces Chapter of Canada's National Assessment of Climate Change
Scientific assessments, such as the IPCC reports, are the conventional approach to providing decision makers and the media with authentic scientific information. In November 2007, the Government of Canada released its second National Assessment of Climate Change (NACC): From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007. It was two years in the making and a major update from the first national assessment published in 1997. The NACC is a set of products including a synthesis report and series of posters. The main part of the full report is five regional chapters. We describe the preparation and communication of the Prairie Provinces chapter. Two lead authors and twelve contributing authors reviewed and interpreted almost 1000 documents related to climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in our region. The NACC will be widely distributed with the expectation that it will influence public policy and opinion. The NACC Secretariat developed a strategic communications plan to implement effective, targeted activities during the lead-up, release and post launch phases of the national assessment. It ensures the delivery of consistent messages to stakeholders and other target audiences. We discuss the challenges and potential for applying this extensive assessment of climate change to the education of stakeholders and decision makers. http://www.parc.ca/
ED33C-06
Scientists Say it Best: Reaching the Press with Short Online Videos
The National Snow and Ice Data Center is peppered with questions from the media: What do your experts work on? Do you have a scientist who can talk in an easy-to-understand way about sea ice? What's going on with the world's ice? How do your scientists come across in a radio broadcast or on camera? Journalists want a quick, to-the-point answer. Although NSIDC's online offerings are vast, members of the press don't have the time to wade through hundreds of pages of content to find what they need. On the other hand, NSIDC's single-woman press department struggles to provide individualized ideas for each journalist who calls. What could we offer journalists that would quickly answer many of their questions, while saving the journalist, the public information officer, and the scientists time? In response to this question, NSIDC expanded our online offerings to include a brief QuickTime movie covering what our scientists do, what they're finding out about the changing ice on our planet, and what they're like on camera. The movie is specific enough to provide interested journalists with the information they need about our expertise; we also realized that the movie's content is general enough for the teachers and general public who visit our online Education Center in hopes of learning more about our planet's ice. This presentation will cover the basics in developing a simple QuickTime movie from idea through the finished product: tracking down a video camera, developing a storyboard, conducting interviews, editing the clips into the final product, and getting it into the hands of the intended audience. http://nsidc.org
ED33C-07
Towards an improved understanding of climate and atmospheric concepts in education and the media
Twenty years ago, El Nino warm events in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, accelerated desertification, the thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer and the impacts of acid deposition were among the most common geophysical phenomena reported in the public media. Institutions involved in both formal and informal education, were instrumental in developing monitoring programs and resources that allowed K-16 students to work through the scientific method approach, while gathering data that would allow researchers to quantify the spatial patterns and perhaps test hypotheses of the causal mechanisms at work. Today, much of the focus has shifted towards the interrelated issues of climate changes, global warming and environmental changes. Along the way, post-secondary students have lost some of their ability to critically think about and process weather and climate information received in print and electronic formats. A holistic approach to teaching and understanding the land-ocean-atmosphere interface is needed in order to lead students, the media and all learners through the complexities of living with and mitigating against such issues as our growing vulnerability to natural hazards, environmental degradation and climate variability and change. This presentation will delve into insights gained as both a teacher/scholar and state climatologist, in working with K-12 teachers, university students, the media and other members of society. It will also highlight the activities of the recently formed Climate Mentoring Initiative of the Association of American Geographers (AAG).
ED33C-08
Defining New Roles for Scientific Professional Organizations in Society?
The obfuscation of authentic science information in North America has reached epidemic proportions. The global warming debate is a classic example – there are a virtual unanimity and overwhelming evidence from scientific community that the Earth is warming rapidly and humans are an important cause, but there is confusion in the media and the public, partly as a result of disinformation campaigns by greenhouse gas polluters. Should the role of scientists in informing the public change in response to this? What should be the role of scientific societies, such as the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, or the American Association for the Advancement of Science? Should we continue doing what we are doing, or be more proactive in using new technology to educate the public on important scientific issues? Should we devote resources to television advertisements? Should we support ads in the print media? This talk will discuss the pros and cons of individual and group actions in making the case in public for science, and suggest some new directions.