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This paper examines the United States' foreign policy towards climate change in the period of 2009-2017. During this period, the United States actively participated and supported the climate change negotiations, including making and signing the Paris Agreement. Previously, the United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol and negotiations. The author uses qualitative research methods by analyzing official documents, journals, and books. The result of this research is that many international actors have pressed and supported the United States in participating in climate change. President Barack Obama has the most significant foreign policy role on climate change issues at the domestic level. However, the United States is not fully supported domestically, particularly in Congress and Senate Republicans and industry groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an increasingly tumultuous political climate, norms of activism in the United States have been uprooted. This paper examines the recent rise in proactive corporate political activism in support of a particular cause. In particular, it focuses on participation in letter campaigns related to legislative proposals regarding climate change, human rights, and immigration. The drive behind organizations' participation in cause-related letter campaigns is analyzed based on three areas of organizational theory. Each area addresses strategic concerns related to a different aspect of the organization: its (1) internal values, (2) reputation, and (3) institutional expectations. Results show mimetic isomorphism to be the strongest predictor of letter-campaign participation. This paper serves to demonstrate shifts in societal expectations and organizations' strategic approaches to address those changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public awareness of the disastrous consequences of continued rise in global carbon emissions reached a peak in 2019 with masses of people participating in Climate Strikes in more than 4,500 locations spanning 150 countries across the United States and the globe. The stage is therefore set for taking the matter to the people at a local level. In this paper, we report a pilot program: the Zero Emissions Network (ZEN), the newest program addition to the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), through which emissions reducing technologies such as solar electricity generation, green roofs, electric bicycles, geo-thermal HVAC, and re-planting of native flora using flight offset dollars are made more readily available and affordable, especially to lower income clients and communities. Student interns from the University of Colorado (CU), are the driving work force of the project, and we are working towards a sister chapter at the University of the Pacific (PACIFIC) in Stockton, CA. The program solicits funding from both local and national sources for: a) providing micro-grants to low-income individuals and small businesses to help them afford solar electricity and other emissions-reducing technologies, b)building an information kiosk and web-based data center where all ZEN and ASES participants can get information on emissions reduction strategies and technologies, as well as track their overall greenhouse gas emissions to see how their investments in progressive technologies and lifestyle changes are reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and those of their community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in Canada and non-ratification of the Protocol in the United States on the Climate Action Network (CAN). CAN is a longstanding transnational coalition of environmental organizations committed to effecting policy in order to mitigate the impact of dangerous climate change. This paper assesses the network theoretical impact of Canada's ratification and the U.S.'s non-ratification on domestic-level NGO relations and activities through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a network analysis of CAN relations within both contexts from 2001 to 2006. Data reveal that CAN Canada became more cohesive and institutionalized as a coalition during this time period, whereas US CAN remained a diffuse coalition and engaged in consensus mobilization as well as collective action mobilization post-Kyoto. This paper offers theoretical insights into the role that international agreements have on domestic-level inter-organizational networks and activities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 through 2016 were the years of implementation of increasingly restrictive regulatory policies on climate change, and particularly on carbon emissions by coal-burning power plants. Some of these regulations were imposed by states (in the form of Renewable Portfolio Standards, RPS) and majority of them were imposed by Obama Administration. These regulations, among other factors, resulted in a significant drop in the U.S. total emissions; 12% drop from 2007 to 2016. The current Administration has taken several actions in reversing, relaxing, or repealing many of these regulations, and particularly regulations on use of coal in electricity generation. In this paper we present Two ARIMA models to forecast the potential effects of these deregulations on future carbon emissions of states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. These states were chosen in part because they rely heavily on electricity generated from coal and their RPS targets are among the lowest in the nation. The results of our simulations over a large number of scenarios, based on a series of emission data in the years 1980 through 2014 clearly shows the significant role that the regulatory policies of the 2008-2014 era plays in significantly lowering these states' emissions by the year 2025. In particular, our results show that the continued implementation of the regulatory policies of Obama Administration could lower the states' emissions from coal generation from 2007-level of 588 million metric ton (MMT) to 189 MMT in 2025, a 68% drop. And conversely, reversal and or repeal of these regulations by the current Administration could result in the emissions of states to reach 713 MMT in 2025, an increase of 21% over the 2007-level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the national climate change communications strategies oftwo environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Greenpeace andWWF, in the USA and UK during late 2009. Analysis is centred primarily onthe organisations' websites, and examines both their press releases and web-specific content such as blogs and other online campaign materials. Thoughclimate change is a global issue, and several NGOs are active in many different countries, the particular national contexts in which they operate can be verydifferent. The US sites locate the politics of climate change at a national leveland solutions to the problem at a global level. The UK sites focus to a greater degree on the global politics of climate change, but define solutions nationally.Differences between the countries are analysed terms of media systems, government policies, and prevailing public opinion towards climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMany researchers are puzzled by the increase in public interest in environmental issues that fail to correlate with policy change or widespread calls to action (Brick and Cawley 2008; Hepburn 2007; McCright and Dunlap 2003). With a new administration about to take office, the environmental community is hopeful that this "political opportunity" will equal top-down action fast, especially in light of the growing climate crisis. Realistically, history reveals pro-business ideology tends to influence policy and slow meaningful action, especially when it interferes with industrial capitalism (Pellow 2001). Focusing solely on a top-down approach ignores the significant changes throughout history that bottom-up movements have made to stimulate ideological change among the masses (Bryner 2008). The purpose of this paper is to suggest ideological change is necessary when drastic changes need to be made, as is the case with climate change, and may be accomplished through framing and social marketing. The environmental movement can utilize a method employed by the wildly successful anti-smoking campaign Truth®. Truth® targets big business revealing manipulation and dishonesty by corporations for profits at the expense of human health. By "outing" big business they are raising consciousness among the masses of the shortcomings of pro-business ideology. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is already detrimentally affecting the lives and health of many people (Houghton et al. 2001) and is resulting in 160,000 annual deaths globally, caused by vector borne diseases, food insecurity, and heatwaves, (Campbell-Lendrum 2003). This paper presents an analytical framework for the newly recognized and socially-contested category of "climate-induced illnesses." In it, I aim to first, expand the range of disaster research and theory by examining health crises as a 'new species of trouble' and by applying the insights of disaster research to population health (Erikson 1992). Second, I attempt to make contributions to medical sociology by exploring how the social construction and framing of illness functions for illnesses identified as climate-induced. I examine three illnesses recently recognized as exacerbated by climate change: West Nile Virus in the Northeast United States, increasing toxicological exposures in coastal Alaska Native communities, and heat-induced illnesses in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Tenenbaum 2005; Balbus and Wilson 2000; Ebi 2007). I argue that there are institutional obstacles to illness crisis management reflected in competing illness paradigms. Responses on the part of affected communities, medical practitioners, and governmental representatives interact to form socially shared public etiological and epidemiological understandings that shape subsequent prevention methods. This research presents an opportunity to apply multiple sociological theories to the pressing subject of climate change, with special focus on its impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dramatic change in U.S. energy consumption trends is required to diverge from the world's existing course toward significant global climate change. This revolution must involve the development and adoption of new energy and efficiency technologies as well as changes in social structures, culture, and behaviors. This paper brings together a diverse body of research to assess the intersection between social theory, current patterns of energy consumption, and practical efforts to enable change. Theoretical frameworks that address the relationship between society and the environment characterize the role of technology and economic development in distinct ways that simultaneously celebrate and condemn the direction of our current path into the future. Current and historical energy consumption data suggest that while energy productivity has increased dramatically in many developed countries, programs focused strictly on the development of energy efficient technologies will not be sufficient to reduce GHG emissions. Instead, programs and policies must identify and overcome a variety of social barriers and incorporate social mechanisms in order to achieve needed changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social movements that aim to combat "invisible" health and environmental problems--from toxic waste in the water supply to global climate change--have a unique relationship with science. The phenomena that are at the core of such movements' grievances are undetectable without scientific experts and their specialized tools of measurement. What does this dependence on scientific experts imply for those who wish to collectively bring about social change? How can social movements mobilize people to protest threats that are invisible? This study of the contemporary Mexican anti-biotechnology movement considers the relationship between scientific knowledge and movement mobilization. Since 2001, a transnational network of activists has protested the importation of GE corn from the United States and demanded the protection of native maize varieties. Among a variety of strategies pursued by this activist network, some peasant farmers and non-governmental organizations have undertaken scientific research to discover the extent of transgenic "contamination" of native maize. In this paper, I intend to show that, rather than creating an unbalanced relationship of dependence on science, Mexican anti-biotechnology activists transformed themselves into specialized knowledge producers. These findings contribute a new dimension to understanding how social movements define their grievances and confront contradictory claims made by their opponents. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will discuss how the continuing progression of global warming/climate change is a state crime against humanity. The potential harm of global warming has been a scientific issue for decades - one that the United States government has been aware of - yet little has been done to redress, let alone acknowledge this problem. The environment has continued to deteriorate, potentially beyond the point of repair. While other nations have banded together to stop, and hopefully even reverse, the effects of global warming, the United States has stood by idly. The failure of the United States government to deal with or act in regard to global warming/climate change has been economically driven, and may end up costing humanity beyond current anticipations. Through the definition of global warming/climate change as a state crime against humanity, this paper will demonstrate that the United States is guilty of derisory action in the fight against global warming. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the diffusion of a campaign against global climate change among local governments. The main goal of this research is to understand the way in which the perception of a global environmental threat such as climate change stimulates local collective action. Using original data collected from surveys and interviews, I examine the factors which influence the adoption of the program aiming to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses by municipalities in the US and Canada. Two main questions are addressed: what accounts for the particular diffusion of the CCP campaign among municipalities, and what explains the relative success or failure of the local governments that are involved in this campaign. More specifically, why the campaign diffuses faster in certain countries and regions then in others, and why are some local governments more successful then others in reaching the campaign's goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the diffusion of local actions against global climate change in Australia, Canada and the U.S. Since the late 1980s, numerous studies have warned about the effects of global climate change. Local actions against global climate change were initiated in 1991 with the Urban CO2 Reduction Project, which aimed at designing local strategies to control the emission of greenhouse gases. The success of this program lead to the Cities for Climate Protection program, initiated two years later by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

Knowing one's audience is one of the axioms of effective communication, yet scholars often ignore this important aspect of framing research and effects. Understanding audience dynamics is especially important as several decades of research has shown that effectively framing and communicating a complex, contested issue such as climate change is neither simple nor straightforward. In this paper, we demonstrate how audience segmentation analysis, appropriately conducted, can be used to identify motivationally coherent segments of the public for whom appropriate message frames can be identified. In 2007, we conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of American adults (N=1,980). We asked 21 questions to assess three broad domains: global warming beliefs, behaviors, and policy preferences. Using latent class analysis we identified six distinct audience segments ranging in size from 11 to 22% of the full sample. We report the findings of this analysis, including our inferences and hypotheses about the optimal issue frames for each segment. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impending threat of climate change (also known as global warming) has been an environmental concern for the past five decades. National governments, including the United States, have been aware of the problem at minimum for this span of time. While other nations have banded together to stopâ??and hopefully even reverseâ??the effects of global warming, the United States has not taken any decisive action. The failure of the United States government to deal with or act in regard to climate change has been largely economically driven, and may end up costing humanity greatly. Through the conception of global warming/climate change as a state crime of omission, this paper will analyze the failure of the United States to take decisive action in the fight against global warming through the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century and is likely to exacerbate social inequalities. Climate change impact studies typically focus on population totals or use current populations to discuss social inequalities of impacts. With the anticipated growth of minority groups in the United States, the potential inequalities that climate change is expected to exacerbate are still relatively undefined. Here, we use critical race theory coupled with detailed sociodemographic population projections to answer two primary research questions regarding social inequalities due to climate change impacts within the context of sea level rise. First, who is at the highest risk to SLR? Second, is climate change a new form of in- equality or is it simply a new avenue for current inequalities to continue to manifest? Our preliminary results suggest women, the elderly, and communities of color will likely account for most sea level rise displacement, in the absence of protective measures. Sea level rise is not simply a new avenue for current inequalities, but the magnitude of these inequalities suggest it could be considered a new form of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes a novel approach to analyzing international public opinion about climate change. Considering the existing and historical political dynamics between China, the U.S., and Germany in climate change policy negotiations, in this work we assess how American's normative perceptions of others' concern are attributed to how they are depicted in media sources and other attitudinal characteristics. While Americans' (or anyone's) beliefs about Germans or Chinese citizens' level of concern are likely not accurate, they are considered a normative perception that is presumed for individuals of a certain identity. In an analysis of a representative sample of American citizens, we find that differences in Americans' perceived concern of most people in China and Germany are likely attributed to political factors - particularly political ideology and partisan media use. Implications of these findings for climate change policy and communication are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores localized climate action as a discursive-material process in which things (e.g., issues, places, bodies, objects) come to "matter" to a community. We argue that localized climate action consists of action nets-- the constellation of communicative actions performed by both humans (e.g., residents, agency representatives) and nonhumans (e.g., fire, policy). Action nets are performative relationships that make distinctive sets of organizational practices, stakeholder values, ecosystem processes, and physical landscapes "matter" to a community. We examine how residents of a wildland urban interface (WUI) town organize to debate whether to implement or oppose a US Forest Service fuel treatment plan, Fuels II, intended to protect the town from climate-driven wildfires. Findings illustrate how residents' action nets collide and tangle as they debate conflicting preferences to scrap Fuels II and accept the risks of living in Lodgepole versus implement Fuels II and protect town from wildfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the reasons why the public supports policies to mitigate climate change can help design more effective campaigns to mobilize the public. Based on survey data collected from a U.S. consumer panel (N = 567), the present investigation found that the U.S. public's support for climate change policies was predicted by their attitudes toward climate change actions and policies, collective efficacy, and their communitarian worldview. Attitudes, in turn, were predicted by the utilitarian motivation (i.e., perceived effectiveness), moral motivations, and collective efficacy. Further analysis showed that future orientation and belief certainty that climate change is happening positively predicted the utilitarian and moral motivations, and that future orientation and communitarian worldviews were positively associated with collective efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contacting public officials to advocate for climate change mitigation is a rare form of environmental activism among Americans, a product of multiple beliefs, characteristics and motivations. Using nationally representative survey data, we fit a path model that traces the influence of four key beliefs about climate change - its reality, threat, human causation, and potential for reduction - through multiple intervening variables to political advocacy behavior. The model shows that these four key beliefs are associated with higher affective issue involvement and stronger injunctive beliefs about the need for societal mitigation action, which in turn predict opinion leadership, and the perceived effectiveness of and barriers to activism. The model is strongly predictive of political advocacy, explaining 85% of the variance in actual and intended behavior. The results suggest that particular beliefs about climate change and the efficacy of political action should be targeted in campaigns to increase citizens' climate change activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. public opinion regarding climate change has become increasingly polarized in recent years, as partisan think tanks and others worked to recast an originally scientific topic into a political wedge issue. Nominally "scientific" arguments against taking anthropogenic climate change seriously have been targeted at educated or information-rich but ideologically receptive audiences. Reflecting the success of such arguments, polls have noted that concern about climate change increased with education among Democrats, but decreased with education among Republicans. These observations lead to the hypothesis that there should exist interaction effects between education or knowledge and political orientation, net of other background factors, in predicting concern about climate change. Two regional telephone surveys, conducted in New Hampshire (n = 555) and Michigan (n = 1,008) in 2008, included identical climate-change questions that provide opportunities to test this hypothesis. Multivariate analysis of both surveys finds significant interactions with the expected signs. These empirical results fit with theoretical interpretations and several other recent studies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a long, arduous struggle, global climate change is now a major public issue, capturing the attention of politicians (both Republicans and Democrats) and even corporations. This is seemingly an important victory for both science and the environmental movement. However, like all other important social issues, realization of a problem is only a small first step. The real work comes in the form of creating strategies to solve environmental problems. It is here that we run into the major problem concerning the growing consensus on climate change: The solutions being put forward are almost entirely focused on technological change. In this there is a narrowing of the discussion related to climate change, as the insights of environmental sociology regarding the social drivers of this problem are discarded. Thus, we seek to investigate the following issues: As public opinion solidifies around the importance of addressing climate change, how is it that the powerful are able to redefine themselves as not so much the creators, but the solvers of our current problems? Of critical importance is how these discussions lead to the narrowing of possible solutions to those that are most beneficial to those groups, given their power to set agendas and to decide which issues are debated and which are not put on the table for discussion. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the next five decades progress to meaningfully address the risk of significant climate change will require an estimated 80%, or more, reduction in the global emissions of greenhouse gases. From the baseline in 2007 of over seven billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, three-quarters of which comes from fossil fuel combustion (with the remainder largely from land conversion and forest burning), the reductions required are from a global emissions portfolio that is currently increasing. As the largest current emitter, at roughly 25% of the global total—but more importantly as the nation with the largest energy resource and research base to affect change—the United States and its inaction on climate protection for the last several years is poised to play a, if not the critical role in our collective climate future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public learns about climate change through the media. While mainstream media have been found to inadequately report on this issue in the United States, little research has examined how alternative media frame climate change and how the mainstream press in other countries are dealing with this important issue. On 22 March, Professor Tim O?Riordan, the British Sustainability Commissioner and advisor to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, gave a public speech arguing that climate change must be framed not as a sacrifice or a penalty but as an opportunity to benefit the future. Shortly after, Dr. Michael Nisbet and Chris Mooney wrote a much discussed article in Science that argued scientists must de-emphasize the facts and focus more on morality if important scientific problems are going to have any hope of abating. If such moralistic frames were to be found in the press, one might expect to see their presence initially in alternative outlets or in the mainstream press of countries that have a more receptive policy toward combating climate change. This research comparatively examines how Scoop, an independent news website based in New Zealand, and The New Zealand Herald, the most popular mainstream newspaper in New Zealand, are framing the issue of climate change in relation to The New York Times and AlterNet, an alternative news website based in the United States. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Questions While many Americans are by the prospect of climate change (Myers et al. 2013), behavioral researchers have difficulty developing approaches to others (Leiserowitz 2007). One approach to this is to determine the signaling potential (Slovic, Lichtenstein, and Fischhoff 1984) of different climate related events. We hypothesized that respondents in these studies would perceive global events--rises in ocean temperature, melting of the polar ice caps--as more important signals of climate change than local events such as storms or changes in local temperature or precipitation. We hoped to increase the signaling value of the local consequences of climate change through communication--in this case, branding. While "problem recognition branding" appears to be a new term, the practice is not new. "Problem recognition brands" comprise signs of stroke, cyberbullying, suicide and many other problems. We define a problem recognition brand as a logo and a list of warning signs associated with a specific problem. Sometimes the logo and a list of the warning signs are associated with a specific organization. We therefore hypothesized that problem recognition branding can be useful in tying local weather events to the global problem of climate change. To study these questions, we conducted three studies. Method and Data Study 1: The Signaling Value of Climate Change Events Based on the literature on climate change (Schneider 2014; IPCC 2015), we chose 15 climate-related events. Participants rated each event on the degree that it appeared to be a sign of climate change, whether they thought the event was occurring, and the degree to which they thought the event was abstract and could only be detected by scientists. Study 2: The effects of the South Carolina Floods On October 4, 2015 New York Times (Fausset and Blinder 2015), "flooding from days of relentless, saturating rains paralyzed much of South Carolina." On October 5, we ran the same survey to determine whether the effects of a catastrophic weather event would affect responses to this survey. Study 3: Using Problem Recognition Branding to Link Weather Events and Climate Change A very strong branding manipulation was developed to see whether specific climate events (particularly severe storms) could be connected to climate change. All of the elements of "problem recognition branding" were included in this manipulation. There was a strong logo, the slogan, and a list of the signs of climate change. Summary of Findings Study 1: Factor analysis of participants' ratings of climate related events demonstrated that these events can be classified into two groups. The first can be thought of as global events. The second can be thought of as local events. Respondents thought that global events were more likely to be happening and were signals of climate change. Yet, these events were seen to be less comprehensible than local events--respondents were more likely to think that only a scientist could recognize them. Study 2: Any positive results obtained in this study could have an alternative explanation--the Pope's visit to the United States in late September 2015. During this time, he spoke about the importance of climate change. However, our fears were allayed because we failed to find significant differences changes between September and early October despite the catastrophic flooding in South Carolina and the Pope's visit. Study 3: The third study supported Hypothesis 2 by providing preliminary evidence that problem recognition branding can facilitate awareness of local climate change events. Exposure to problem recognition branding increased the degree to which "Severe Storms" and "Strange Weather" act as signals of Climate Change. Key Contributions There has been much concern about the "intractable" aspects of the climate-change problem. For many, the distance to the people affected, the signs of the problem are far away, and the time before the consequences seems long. People who are not concerned about climate change are difficult to convince. A goal of the research was to learn how to help people convince themselves by tying their experience of local events to climate change. The first study demonstrated that people perceive two groups of events that might be related to climate change. The first, global events, are the most connected to climate change in people's minds. They also are the most likely to be perceived as happening in the present or near future. Unfortunately, they are more likely to be seen to be the types of events that only scientists can recognize. The second study reported here provided evidence that weather events--even catastrophic events, such as the flooding in South Carolina--are not readily connected to climate change. Finally, the third study provided a preliminary indication that advertisements using problem recognition branding can help to strengthen the signaling potential of severe local weather events in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the rational model and the co-production model of science-policy interplay, we examine the shifting boundaries between science and politics in climate change issue. Through conducting interviews from two respective groups, climate scientists and concerned citizens, this study investigates the U.S. climate scientists' role in the policy making process and possible outcomes in involving with policy process. Findings provide mixed support for the rational model and the co-production model. This study sheds light on the interaction between science and politics and policy. Implications of the findings are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The longstanding policy conflict over global warming directly affects the interests of elite groups in the United States. This study investigates the nature of elite support and opposition to public policies designed to address global warming. Specifically, it compares the occupations and industry, upper class backgrounds and network ties of the boards of directors of five leading environmental organizations that advocate on behalf of policies to address global warming with the directors of five counter-movement organizations that actively oppose such policies. We analyze hypotheses derived from inner-circle theory, Yankee/cowboy and industrial segment arguments. Counter-movement directors were found to be more likely inner circle elites living in the Sunbelt, but not working in new growth industries or energy industries, while the directors of the environmental organizations had no significant Yankee elite backgrounds in terms of regional location. We found pro-global warming policy directors were more likely to be located in the Midwest than were anti-environmental directors. Pro-global warming policy directors were also found to belong to a cultural industry bloc that consists of the law, media, higher education, and non-profit industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As experts and advocates seek to inform Americans about the public health implications of climate change, news coverage will be a primary, if not central, communication channel. Little is known, however, about how journalists and news organizations tend to cover this increasingly important dimension of climate change. This study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control, analyzes twenty years in trends relative to climate change coverage at major national and regional newspapers, tracking patterns in attention, the major thematic focus or framing of coverage, and the major actors or sources featured. Implications are discussed for understanding the events and the types of news pegs that are likely to generate news attention; the sources that are traditionally favored; and how journalists typically characterize the public health implications. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]