Speaking with one voice for climate science -climate researchers' opinion on the consensus policy of the IPCC (original) (raw)
Related papers
Recalculating climate change consensus: The question of position and rhetoric
Journal of Cleaner Production
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic climate change and its communication have become a controversial research subject in recent years. This paper utilized a reference list from a climate skeptic report and a previously published quantitative method of consensus research to revisit the theoretical and methodological questions. Beyond rating the abstracts according to their position on anthropogenic global warming (AGW), this study classified the strategic in-text functions of the references. Results not only showed the biased character of the literature set, but also revealed a remarkable AGW endorsement level among journal articles that took a position concerning AGW. However, this paper does not argue for modified consensus numbers, but instead emphasizes the role of 'no position' abstracts and the role of rhetoric. Our quantitative results provided evidence that abstract rating is a suboptimal way to measure consensus. Rhetoric is far more important than it appears at first glance. It is important at the level of scientists, who prefer neutral language, and at the level of readers such as report editors, who encounter and re-interpret the texts. Hence, disagreement appears to stem from the disparate understanding and rhetorically supported interpretation of the research results. Neutral abstracts and papers seem to provide more room for interpretation.
Communication, Controversies and Uncertainty Facing the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Piñuel Raigada, José Luis; Águila Coghlan, Juan Carlos; Teso Alonso, Gemma; Vicente Mariño, Miguel; & Gaitán Moya, Juan Antonio (Editors) (2012). Communication, Controversies and Uncertainty Facing the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change. La Laguna: Cuadernos Artesanos Latina, nº 30. ISBN: 978-84-15698-01-1. Available at: http://www.revistalatinacs.org/067/cuadernos/artesanos30.html
Beyond counting climate consensus
Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore up the scientific consensus on minimalist claims such as “humans cause global warming” are distractions from more urgent matters of knowledge, values, policy framing and public engagement. Such efforts to force policy progress through communicating scientific consensus misunderstand the relationship between scientific knowledge, publics and policymakers. More important is to focus on genuinely controversial issues within climate policy debates where expertise might play a facilitating role. Mobilizing expertise in policy debates calls for judgment, context and attention to diversity, rather than deferring to formal quantifications of narrowly scientific claims.
The Not So Clear Consensus on Climate Change
2008
One of the most heavily and most publicly contested scientific consensus in the last decade has been in the debate concerning climate change, namely if it is the result of natural causes or of anthropogenic activity. ). Using evidence from survey questionnaires distributed among climate scientists, the following suggests that consensus among climate scientists might not be as clear as sometimes depicted. ============================================= 11/27/2008 7:59 PM
Environmental Communication
That climate change has been accelerated by human activity is supported by a near-universal consensus of climate scientists. In this paper, we review many of the studies that have been done on the impact of communicating the scientific consensus to the general public. We discuss ongoing debates about these studies, but more importantly, we highlight complementary areas that we believe should define future research. We emphasize how a focus on processing motivations, context, and message variations may help resolve some of the debates about when scientific consensus messaging works. We then discuss ways to expand this research agenda by examining support for a broader range of outcomes across a wider range of populations, particularly those most vulnerable to the immediate impacts of climate change. Our goal is to provide a blueprint for expanding the work on climate change communication for scientific consensus messaging and beyond.
Earth's Future, 2014
Abstract Nearly all climate scientists are convinced that human-caused climate change is occurring, yet half of Americans do not know or do not believe that a scientific consensus has been reached. That such a large proportion of Americans do not understand that there is a near-unanimous scientific consensus about the basic facts of climate change matters, a lot. This essay briefly explains why, and what climate science societies and individual climate scientists can do to set the record straight.
A 27-country test of communicating the scientific consensus on climate change
Communicating the scientific consensus that climate change is real increases climate change beliefs, worry, and support for public action in the US. Recent science goes beyond the mere reality of climate change—there is now broad agreement that climate change is a crisis. In this preregistered 27-country experiment (N = 10,527), we tested two scientific consensus messages, a classic message on the reality of climate change and an updated message additionally emphasizing the crisis status agreement. The classic message corrects misperceptions and slightly increases climate change beliefs and worry but not support for public action. The updated message is equally effective but provides no added value. Both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies. Overall, scientific consensus messaging is an effective, non-polarizing tool for climate change co...