Moderation impossible? Climate change, alarmism and rhetorical entrenchment
February 27, 2013
Intense, polarised debate has been a hallmark of much public debate over the science and politics of climate change. Recently, there have been warnings that “heated rhetoric over ‘deniers’ not only likely alienates broader publics, but it also likely turns off many moderate and centrist influential” (Nisbet 2008). Calls are now being made for a …
Extreme weather events, climate change and the media
January 30, 2013
I am not a scientist. I am a media analyst of sorts. I therefore cannot check the veracity of scientific statements that establish a link between climate change and an increase in frequency of extreme weather events or scientific statements that dispute such a link. I also find it difficult to assess what climate is, …
Weather 1, Climategate 0
January 25, 2013
A short post sparked by this new paper linking public ‘belief’ in climate change with the weather conditions at the time they were polled (£). From the abstract: Belief that humans are changing the climate is predicted by temperature anomalies on the interview and previous day, controlling for season, survey and individual characteristics. Or, as David …
Science in Public 2013 – Call for Panel Proposals
December 14, 2012
UPDATE: You can see the full Call For Papers including details of all the proposed panels at http://scienceinpublic.org/conference/ 8th Annual Science in Public Conference, 22-23 July 2013 on ‘Critical Perspectives on Making Science Public’ Call for Panel Proposals The University of Nottingham is proud to host the 8th Annual Science in Public Conference, 22-23 July 2013. …
From Katrina to Sandy: Searching online for links to climate change
November 16, 2012
This blog has been written by Alan Valdez (Open University) and Brigitte Nerlich When Hurricane Sandy, aka Superstorm, aka Frankenstrom, hit the Eastern Seaboard on 29 October and in particular New York, it caused extensive damage and left at least 199 people dead. It has been widely reported to be “the largest Atlantic hurricane on …
Short circuiting the language of Sandy – how to balance literalism and lucidity?
November 14, 2012
My previous post here at MSP reflected on comments in the BBC’s Climategate Revisited programme, suggesting that uncertainties in climate science have come to the fore in the years following the publication of scientists’ emails. By being more open about such uncertainties, there may be a hope that some of the public trust lost after …
Science, politics and the new scepticism
October 14, 2012
While I blogged on MSP a couple of times while finishing up my thesis on local and regional climate policy, I have now started on the programme full time as a Research Fellow. My project has a working title of Science, politics and scepticism in the age of new media, and aims to “map the …
Taking charge of the apocalypse: On serendipity, walruses and last men
August 17, 2012
A week ago somebody sent me this YouTube video of a walrus that makes noises on command. I sent it on to a few people, including my sister. She sent me back a picture of a sea lion taken while on holiday in Alaska, which I have used as the featured image for this blog. …
Unseasonable weather; unseasonable climate? Facts, fictions and fantasies
July 15, 2012
I have just come back from a place in Dorset that my husband’s family has visited every summer for the last forty years or so and that I have visited for the last twenty. I sometimes needed to take and wear an anorak. This has changed and I have been wearing it more often over …
Rio plus 20 minus hope
June 26, 2012
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development has recently been held in Rio de Janeiro (20-22 June, 2012). This summit has come to be known as Rio+20, as it was organised to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which, it should be pointed out, was organised 20 years after the …
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