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An editorial focuses on rethinking the role of scientific knowledge in climate communication, exploring how knowledge is used and its effectiveness in influencing behavioral changes. It critiques traditional models that emphasize knowledge as a direct precursor to action, arguing instead for a more nuanced understanding that incorporates diverse forms of knowledge and emphasizes dialogue-oriented communication.

Introduction As environmental and climate issues permeate all areas of human activity, it is increasingly likely that discussions about these problems and solutions will arise daily in teaching across disciplines. The knowledge of sustainability and climate change among teachers of different education levels is not very systematic, which can hinder the growth of climate awareness in society. The problem Misunderstood or oversimplified concepts about the nature of the problem can lead to erroneous conclusions and practices. In order to design more effective teacher training and better learning materials for both teachers and students, it is important to understand the nature of the misconceptions, what content of scientific explanations is missed or failed to be integrated into one's knowledge system, and which knowledge might be distorted to fit the lay understanding. The study's first aim was to describe the knowledge of the teachers who participated in specially organised interdisciplinary training on the nature of, and adaptation to, climate change. Specifically, teachers' pseudo-, synthetic, and misconceptions about climate change were the focus of the analysis. The study's second aim was to assess the impact of climate awareness training to take the first steps in examining the effectiveness of this increasingly common way of spending resources, which can problematically generate an illusion of knowledge acquisition. Thus, the study assessed how climate-related training impacted the change in knowledge among the trainees. The method The three research questions guiding the study were: 1) How science-based is teachers' understanding of the nature of, and the adaptation to, climate change? 2) How much and what kind of misconceptions characterise teachers' understanding regarding the nature of climate change? 3) Do climate-related misconceptions (their type and frequency) change as a result of the short interdisciplinary course delivered by top experts in the field? The questions posed to the teachers were as follows: • Why does the addition of greenhouse gases warm the global climate? • Please describe the most important actions that you think would help adaptation to climate change. For assessing the understanding of the nature of climate change, five expert knowledge components were distinguished in the science-based answers to this question: • Greenhouse gases absorb heat radiation • Energy is added to the climate system • The extra energy warms the climate • Warming continues until a new energy balance is reached • Greenhouse gases throw the original system out of energetic balance. The results Only some of these components are represented in the teachers' answers. While almost half of the teachers mentioned that the energy added to the system warms the climate, none noted that the warming lasts until a new energy balance is reached. The ontological category or cognitive schema for the emergence of a new energy balance due to the addition of greenhouse gases was missing in the teachers' answers, with only six of them mentioning disturbed energy balance. A lack of understanding of the energy balance process is likely to mean that the dangers of climate change to human society will probably remain unclear to the respondent. This may be why climate topics are undervalued in schools and curricula. An in-depth understanding may make it possible to better assess the current situation and the future. Our second research question revealed reasoning that does not really describe the nature of climate change. The misconceptions included, firstly, the concepts from the wrong ontological category - for example, there were suggestions that climate warming is related to the hole in the ozone layer. Secondly, there were synthetic or pseudo-concepts that demonstrated a simplified understanding of the scientific content - for example, that greenhouse gases create a "film" in the upper layers of the atmosphere. These distorted concepts could result from the oversimplified explanations or metaphorical terms used in science communication, which for the scientist may have scientific content but become common-sensical in the listener's thinking as they focus on some aspect of the metaphor that the scientist did not, in fact, want to emphasise. In the case of the term "adaptation", the clearest gap was understanding the difference between climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. However, as we do not know whether the respondents might have understood "adaptation" correctly but chose to answer concentrating on how to prevent the need to adapt, we have not labelled this a misconceptualisation. Nevertheless, some of the answers to the open questions indicate that for the respondents, "adaptation" was a new term yet to be filled with content. In conclusion, we found that some core aspects of the relevant knowledge are missing from the teachers' understanding of climate change, and, at the same time, some synthetic and pseudo-conceptual approaches confuse the information on the climate system and climate change. In further teacher training, we need to consider these conclusions in order to enable teachers to discuss, in particular, the missing or misunderstood concepts. Thirdly, we examined the change in knowledge related to the climate change process after a one-day training session on climate change. There was no change in the understanding of the nature of climate change. Several reasons might be contributing to this result. Firstly, before this study, it was not very clear which aspects of climate change knowledge might need the most support, and the training focused equally on all the relevant knowledge. Secondly, especially when learning complex topics, offering learning methods that help the construction of new knowledge is needed. This would enable noticing and becoming aware of one's own misconceptions. However, the premise of such learning is enabling meaningful discussion and construction of knowledge (for example, problem-before-theory-after design). Thirdly, the more complex the topic to be studied and the more numerous the prior misconceptions, the more times should the learner (re)construct new knowledge in their mind before properly grasping the correct approach. The question on adaptation to climate change indicated that the concept of adaptation was generally unfamiliar to many. Thus, the responses addressed climate mitigation instead of adaptation. The focus remained mostly the same both before and after the training. Nevertheless, the training had a statistically significant effect on referring to the concept of adaptation and the adoption of related topics in the answers after the training (e.g., topics of heat, preparedness for climate-related disasters, etc.). Another significant change is that after the training day, the following elements were referred to more frequently: on the individual level - changes to be made in individual life; need for individual awareness and self-education; individual adaptation measures; on the level of systemic changes, there was an increase in mentioning the state and institutional reorganisation in the context of climate change. These changes were statistically significant. It is unclear why the changes in social science knowledge were more significant compared to natural science knowledge. However, based on the theories of concept development, it could be assumed that facts and knowledge related to social life are more directly related to people's everyday practices and as such, are easier to learn. As a rule, this knowledge is also less in conflict with prior knowledge and intuitive conclusions. At the same time, there can be no intuitively correct - if any - understanding of many processes and laws arrived at by natural sciences. Thus, the more effective transferability of social science knowledge compared to natural science knowledge is probably related to experientiality: during the training, heat waves and other changes influencing peoples' lives directly and demonstrating the effects of climate warming were repeatedly discussed. The emergence and further development of this connection may be the reason why, in this case, there has been a statistically significant shift in the answers related to adaptation. Teachers' increased knowledge of climate change leads to greater concern about climate change and, thus, to a greater willingness to act to protect the climate (Seroussi et al., 2019). More accurate and scientifically correct knowledge enables discussions in classrooms on the inevitably complex topic of climate change. As better knowledge is established, more resources and more time can be dedicated to discussions on what can actually be changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of climate fiction in addressing the climate crisis. It critiques the prevalence of dystopian narratives and suggests that focusing on small changes and everyday life may be more effective in engaging readers. The article uses Jennifer Egan's novel A Visit from the Goon Squad as an example of how climate change can be subtly incorporated into literary fiction. It argues that the absence of climate change in the novel reflects a state of apathy or denial, but later chapters allow readers to confront the issue. The article also explores the connection between energy consumption and the American lifestyle portrayed in the novel, highlighting the correlation between the climate crisis and the habits of highly connected individuals. It emphasizes the need to address issues of complicity and responsibility and highlights the potential for climate fiction to address social and environmental issues. [Extracted from the article]

Since its founding in 2007, the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication has pursued an approach to climate science communication that we call a "think-and-do tank" model. The "thinking" element involves strategic communication research intended to illuminate strategies to improve public engagement with climate change that, if applied at scale, will cultivate public and political will for climate solutions. The "doing" element involves translating these strategies into communication programs that engage the public and empower various communities of practice. We seek to identify trusted local voices in communities across America and support them as climate communicators with evidence-based communication tools. We illustrate the model with examples and suggest how other action-oriented science communication researchers can apply the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the majority of adults across the United States report that they believe that global warming is happening, far fewer report discussing global warming (Howe et al., 2015, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2583; Marlon et al., 2022, https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations‐data/ycom‐us/). One way to inspire further climate action and engagement is to increase individuals' capacity to confidently and effectively discuss climate change. Climate communication science highlights that such communication is most effective when it is anecdotal, narrative, tailored to the audience, and place‐based. To generate climate conversations and inspire action in a variety of communities, partners at the University of Minnesota Extension piloted a program to train community members from across the state of Minnesota in effective climate communication through a series of instructional workshops, coaching, and participant‐led communication activities. Following the training portion of the program, participants identified and hosted their own climate‐related communication activities in their communities. These "climate conversations" took place across Minnesota and included community events, dialogue with elected leaders, and conversations stimulated through literature, among other activities. In their communities, program participants sparked conversations, initiated long‐term climate action efforts, and improved their sense of efficacy in response to climate change. Participants also reported that they improved their climate conversation skills, increased their local climate knowledge, established a support network with fellow participants, had reduced anxiety around communicating, and increased their confidence in being able to communicate about climate change in their communities. This pilot program provides a framework for future cohort‐ and community‐based climate communication programs in the state and beyond. Plain Language Summary: More frequent, effective climate conversations initiated by a diversity of trusted voices can help to increase climate concern and desire for action at the community level. However, in the United States, there is a disconnect between the level of concern individuals have about climate change and the extent to which individuals talk about the issue. To help bridge this gap, the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership developed a training program aimed at inspiring and equipping local community members across Greater Minnesota with the skills and confidence to have effective conversations about climate change in their communities. This paper summarizes the programmatic activities we used to support our goals, and some reflections on the program's results. This pilot program provides a framework for future efforts that can be facilitated by Extension programs, community‐based organizations, universities, and others to inspire and accelerate similar community‐centered climate conversations. Key Points: We piloted a training program to teach Minnesotans to effectively communicate about climate change and its impacts on their communitiesParticipants improved behavioral and conversation skills to communicate about climate change more effectivelyThis program provides a framework for future programs aimed at increasing the diversity of people engaging in local climate conversations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article calls for narratives that would accommodate the collision of two complex forms: climate change and social media. Science communication is currently on the lookout for personal stories that make climate change concrete and relatable for both decision-makers and the general public; similarly, climate activism on social media increasingly draws from personal experiences. Yet climate related stories going viral on social media often end up fostering political polarization and stark moral positioning instead of collective climate action. Building on Caroline Levine's work on new formalism, I argue that this problem results from the collision between (1) climate change and (2) social media as complex forms that challenge the centrality of embodied experience and individual agency, and (3) the prototypical experiential story as a non-complex form. I analyze some viral climate change stories and focus particularly on experientiality, easily shareable masterplots, and moral positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berliner Debatte Initial is the property of Berliner Debatte Initial e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the past three decades, there has been a significant increase in political and media attention towards climate change. The media has been instrumental in shaping, reproducing, and influencing the political and cultural comprehension of this phenomenon. While previous research has concentrated primarily on the textual content of news articles, this study focuses on the use of images in climate communication. It is based on the belief that images can combine facts and emotions, engaging audiences and adding narrative complexity to verbal claims. With focus on climate imagery, a content analysis was conducted on 1010 images used by a Portuguese newspaper (Público) between January 2000 and May 2022 to visually cover climate change. The purpose of the analysis was to identify the visual frames used by the newspaper to frame the issue. The primary findings indicate that 35.5% of the images analyzed employ a frame that dramatizes the effects of climate change, evoking anxiety and vulnerability. However, there is evidence of a growing body of scientific literature that challenges and refutes the sensationalist and demoralizing narrative, resulting in the development of novel methods of communicating the phenomenon. Compared to the preceding period (2000–2005), the proportion of visual frames depicting potential solutions and adaptation strategies has increased substantially over the past three years (2020–2022) by 16.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change denialism, the rejection of overwhelming scientific evidence about the negative impacts of human activities on the environment, is a significant hurdle in mitigating climate change. This study investigates the influence of communication factors on climate change denialism among 124 students in Cilegon, Banten. Factors examined include news immediacy, scientific communication competence, message tone, tyranny of balance, and message narrative. Multiple regression analysis revealed only the tyranny of balance in news reporting significantly impacted climate change denialism (p < 0.001). Other variables, including belief in conspiracy theory, news immediacy, science communication competence, message tone, and message narrative, had no significant effect. These findings underscore the crucial role of media bias in climate change denialism, particularly in the context of emerging, tropical, and island nations. Future research should scrutinize journalistic principles and mass communication about climate change denialism. However, the methodology has limitations, including a homogeneous student sample and potential recall bias, necessitating more diverse sampling and experimental methods in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politics and science have become increasingly intertwined. Salient scientific issues, such as climate change, evolution, and stem-cell research, become politicized, pitting partisans against one another. This creates a challenge of how to effectively communicate on such issues. Recent work emphasizes the need for tailored messages to specific groups. Here, we focus on whether generalized messages also can matter. We do so in the context of a highly polarized issue: extreme COVID-19 vaccine resistance. The results show that science-based, moral frame, and social norm messages move behavioral intentions, and do so by the same amount across the population (that is, homogeneous effects). Counter to common portrayals, the politicization of science does not preclude using broad messages that resonate with the entire population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discuss the concept of information in relation to temporality within the context of climate change communication. Furthermore, the paper aims to highlight the empirical richness of information as a concept by analysing its use in context. Design/methodology/approach: The discussion is based on 14 semi-structured interviews with initiators and collaborators of 6 open letters on climate change published in 2018–2019. By taking three specific notions the interviewees introduced—fast food information, information quality and information gap–as the analytical point of departure, the study aims for a contextual understanding of information grounded in temporal sensitivity. Findings: The paper finds that information in the context of open letters is informed by different, and at times contradicting, temporalities and timescapes which align with various material, institutional and discursive practices. Based on this finding, the paper argues that notions of information are intrinsically linked to the act of communicating, and they should be viewed as co-constituting each other. Originality/value: The paper contributes with an empirically informed discussion regarding the concept of information as it is used in a specific context. It illustrates how "information" is far from being understood in a singular fashion, but is made up of multifaceted and at times contradictory understandings. Ultimately, they correspond to why and how one communicates climate change information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate science community faces a major challenge with respect to communicating the risks associated with climate change within a heavily politicised landscape that is characterised by varying degrees of denial, scepticism, distrust in scientific enterprise, and an increased prevalence of misinformation ("fake news"). This issue is particularly significant given the reliance on conventional "deficit" communication approaches, which are based on the assumption that scientific information provision will necessarily lead to desired behavioural changes. Indeed, the constrained orthodoxy of scientific practices in seeking to maintain strict objectivity and political separation imposes very tangible limits on the potential effectiveness of climate scientists for communicating risk in many contemporary settings. To address these challenges, this paper uses insights from a collaboration between UK climate scientists and artist researchers to argue for a more creative and emotionally attentive approach to climate science engagement and advocacy. In so doing, the paper highlights innovative ways in which climate change communication can be reimagined through different art forms to enable complex concepts to become knowable. We suggest that in learning to express their work through forms of art, including print-making, theatre and performance, song-writing, and creative writing, researchers experienced not only a sense of liberation from the rigid communicative framework operating in their familiar scientific environment but also a growing self-confidence in their ability and willingness to engage in new ways of expressing their work. As such, we argue that scientific institutions and funding bodies should recognise the potential value of climate scientists engaging in advocacy through art–science collaborations and that these personal investments and contributions to science engagement by individuals should be rewarded and valued alongside conventional scientific outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how European citizens perceive the topic of climate change. It is based on qualitative research that involved gathering information from five (5) European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Slovakia) about their citizens' perception of science communication. The data were collected via public consultations using qualitative methods. The research aimed to provide qualitative knowledge gained through consultations with citizens on how they acquire science-related knowledge and how this knowledge influences their beliefs, opinions, and perceptions. This paper presents the findings of public consultations concerning science communication on climate change, in addition to presenting citizens' perception of scientific institutions and scientists working in the field of climate change. It also provides recommendations for improving science communication in terms of education systems and communication strategies. The analyzed data allowed us to look at several levels of science communication. The findings show citizens' various perspectives on communication preferences when it comes to climate change and present several science communication dimensions that could boost the effectiveness of science communication on the topic of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of science communication is plagued by challenges. Communicators face the difficulty of responding to unjustified public skepticism over issues like climate change and COVID-19 while also acknowledging the fallibility and limitations of scientific knowledge. Our goal in this paper is to suggest a new model for science communication that can help foster more productive, respectful relationships among all those involved in science communication. Inspired by the pragmatist philosophy of John Dewey, we develop an experience model, according to which science communication consists in people's experiences with science and the meanings they develop from those experiences. Three principles are central to the model: experience is cumulative, context matters, and audiences have agency. We argue that this model has significant implications both for communication research and practice, which we illustrate by applying it to the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy. We show how science communicators can help to identify and alleviate structural factors that contribute to skepticism as well as fostering opportunities for meaning making around shared experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens increasingly use online platforms, and in particular YouTube, to get informed. This paper addresses the role of YouTube’s recommendation system in science communication to assess whether YouTube's recommendation system is creating filter bubbles on the climate change issue. It, therefore, contributes to the growing literature that finds that such filter bubbles actually do not exist. The paper shows that users are likely to get content with similar opinions, at least for a few recommended videos in a row. In addition, it was observed that the same promoters of climate denial appear over and over again in different recommendations. Given all that, YouTube can lead to the creation of filter bubbles where users do not have access to all relevant scientific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, science has hardened the discourse on the emergency of global warming, pointing out that the next decades will be decisive to maintaining the stability of the climate system and, thus, avoiding a cascade effect of events that increase the average temperature above safe limits. The scientific community warns that there are different tipping points that could produce a chain reaction in the global climate. One of them is related to the jet stream. However, despite the importance of this air current in atmospheric dynamics in the Northern Hemisphere and the changes it is experiencing in the context of global warming, the public is still not familiar with this kind of physical concept nor with other much simpler concepts. As concerns about the climate crisis rise, climate literacy remains stagnant. To advance the learning of the science of climate change, in general, and of concepts such as the jet stream, in particular, specific scientific communication formats are required that can successfully tackle the difficult task of explaining such complex problems to the general public. These formats should be included in the media, as the characteristics of the formats (daily section, scientific dissemination, historic perspective, teleconnections and specialization) make them well suited to taking on the challenge of explaining the complexity of climate science. In this article, we present a communication proposal existent in a newspaper published in Spain. We argue that this communication format represents a good model to disseminate climate science, educate readers and even to make physical concepts such as the jet stream accessible. We believe that this format conforms to and complies with the enunciation of Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, which calls on the signatory countries to promote education and training on climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is important to communicate scientific knowledge, it seems that this assumption is even more evident when it comes to environment-related themes, which have gained more relevance in the public sphere in the last decades. This article evaluates the spectacularization techniques of technology and science displayed as if they were the only solution to the environmental crisis. Firstly, from a literature perspective, this article shows the evolution of science communication and the relationship between society and science over the last centuries. After that, it presents a critical view on the excessive optimism around technology and scientific advancement, arguing that the possible solutions to the environmental crisis cannot come exclusively through technology substitution. The article thus shows that there is today a clear distinction between science communication and the communication of science as a mass product, which is promoted today by different stakeholders to manipulate public opinion for different reasons. Finally, the article identifies some common elements of this phenomenon that we call technowashing, insofar as it aims at a laundering of responsibilities and harmful impacts of business and political decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific training often begins with learning content knowledge and techniques. As a student progresses, they are required to communicate the results of their experiments with their instructors in a manner that other scientists would understand. This style of communication is stressed throughout their entire training. But what happens when the need arises to communicate with interested nonscientific audiences? Scientific discourse has typically been considered what philosopher of language Mikhail Bakhtin termed an "authoritative discourse,"—a discourse that "binds us, quite independent of any power it might have to persuade us internally," whose hegemony is traditionally a priori, unquestioned. However, within the public realm, that authority is in crisis. There is an unsettling rise of anti-scientific counter-discourses such as the anti-vaccine movement, the growing Flat Earth movement, climate change denialism, and a host of other "movements" grounded in either pseudo-science or an outright dismissal of scientific authority. In response to this crisis, scientists and educators have called for more attention to improving scientific literacy among the general public. By examining the generic conventions of scientific discourse using the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, we hope to point out some of the barriers causing the current crisis in scientific authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a 'whistleblower', 'contrarian academic' and 'hero of climate science denial'. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester's theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to change the attitudes of creationists, antivaccination advocates, and climate skeptics by simply providing evidence have had limited success. Motivated reasoning helps make sense of this communication challenge: If people are motivated to hold a scientifically unorthodox belief, they selectively interpret evidence to reinforce their preferred position. In the current article, I summarize research on six psychological roots from which science-skeptical attitudes grow: (a) ideologies, (b) vested interests, (c) conspiracist worldviews, (d) fears and phobias, (e) personal-identity expression, and (f) social-identity needs. The case is made that effective science communication relies on understanding and attending to these underlying motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The article analyses the media portrayal of peatland agricultural practices. • We focus on the narratives surrounding the 2016 International Peat Congress. • It finds four denialist narratives in defending existing unsustainable practices. • These frames bear resemblance to climate change denialism. This article analyses the denialist narratives of the negative environmental impact of oil palm plantations on tropical peat by the media of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Specifically, we focus on media coverage of the 2016 International Peat Congress, where scientifically misleading claims that it is sustainable to develop oil palm plantations on tropical peatlands were made. We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires. Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism, which closely resemble the four climate denialist narratives identified by Elsasser and Dunlap (2013). These denialist narratives draw heavily upon information advocated by divergent knowledge communities (Goldstein 2016) and appeal to a nationalist sentiment of 'us' - palm oil-producing developing countries - and 'them' - western developed countries producing research critical of the industry. The Malaysian press has most extensively deployed this nationalistic sentiment, whereas the Singaporean media has not actively endorsed or rejected any of the denialist narratives. Our findings suggests that media representation of the issue is a reflection of an amalgamation of economic, diplomatic and nationalistic concerns, determined by political, socio-cultural nuances specific to each country. Importantly, our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse interfaces between scholarly and science communication practices by using the production of open letters on climate change as a point of departure. Furthermore, the paper highlights an understudied form of science communication – open letters. Design/methodology/approach: The material consists of nine open letters on climate change, written and signed by academics and published in 2018–2019, as well as 13 semi-structured interviews with the initiators and co-authors of the letters. The interviews were analysed by qualitative thematic analysis and grouped into thematic clusters. Findings: The study finds that three practices used in scholarly communication – more specifically: peer review, professional community building and, to a certain extent, communication as "merit-making" – are central in the making of the open letters, illustrating an integration of scholarly communication practices in academic science communication activities. Social implications: The study suggests that the conflation of communication practices needs to be seen in relation to larger structural changes in the academic working environment, as well as in relation to the specific environment in which communication about climate change occurs. Originality/value: This study contends that the proposed conflation between scholarly and science communication concerns not only texts and genres but also practices integral to contemporary science, thereby conflating the forms of communication at a practical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture & Society: Journal of Social Research / Kultūra ir Visuomenė: Socialinių Tyrimų Žurnalas is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In view of events such as the public denial of climate change research by well-known politicians, the effects of postfactual disinformation and emotionalisation are discussed for science. Here, so-called 'fake news' are of focus. These are considered problematic, particularly in a high-choice media environment as users tend to show selective behaviour. Much research has demonstrated this selective exposure approach, which has roots in the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). However, research on the processes of coping with dissonance is still considered sparse. In particular, communication scholars have overlooked emotional states and negotiations. This article analyses the affects that are aroused when users are confronted with opinion-challenging disinformation and how they (emotionally) cope by using different strategies for online information. For this, we used the context of climate change that is widely accepted in Germany. The innovative research design included pre- and post-survey research, stimulus exposure (denying 'fake news'), observations, and retrospective interviews (n = 50). Through this, we find that perceptions and coping strategies vary individually and that overt behaviour, such as searching for counter-arguments, should be seen against the background of individual ideas and motivations, such as believing in an easy rejection of arguments. Confirming neuroscientific findings, participants felt relieved and satisfied once they were able to dissolve their dissonant state and negative arousal. Dissatisfaction and frustration were expressed if this had not been accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific environmental topics were searched without quotation marks; therefore, the results included all searches irrespective of word order (e.g., "climate change" includes "climate change" and "change climate"). To provide a quick visual overview of search volumes for research articles and news websites related to environmental topics, we created 2-word clouds using the online website Wordclouds. Climate change scientists in developed countries focused their research keywords dealing with climate change on "regulation", "priority journals", and "animals", whereas scientists in developing countries focused their searches on the biological services and chemistry aspects of climate change. Using Google search data to inform global climate change adaptation policy. [Extracted from the article]

Highlights from the article: In our field, we call Deficit model the idea that people are sceptical about certain implications - or even applications - of science because they are ignorant about the science. If we define it as "society talking about science" (where society obviously includes scientists as well) or "any social conversation about science", you immediately see how broad it is: a variety of TV programmes, news stories, science cafes, fiction with science content, discussions on social media ... The context of science communication also matters: for example, how salient is a certain science issue; how mobilised the public already is; how visible and credible are science institutions and actors involved; the degree of controversy/disagreement among science experts. Some of my colleagues actually think that the more you call it a "war on science", the more opinions will polarise and conflicts about science increase.

The present paper reports an experiment with a two-year-delayed (M = 695 days) follow-up that tests an approach to raising willingness to take political and personal climate actions. Many Americans still do not view climate change as a threat requiring urgent action. Moreover, among American conservatives, higher science literacy is paradoxically associated with higher anthropogenic climate-change skepticism. Our experimental materials were designed to harness the power of two central cognitive constraints — coherence and causal invariance, which map onto two narrative proclivities that anthropologists have identified as universal — to promote climate action across the political spectrum. Towards that goal, the essential role of these constraints in the causal-belief-formation process predicts that climate-change information would be more persuasive when it is embedded in a personal climate-action narrative, the evocation of which can benefit from exposure to parsimonious scientific explanations of indisputable everyday observations, juxtaposed with reasoners' own, typically less coherent explanations, occurring in a context that engages their moral stance. Our brief one-time intervention, conducted in ten U.S. states with the highest level of climate skepticism, showed that across the political spectrum, our materials raised appreciation of science, openness to alternative views, and willingness to take climate actions in the immediate assessment. It also raised how likely were reports two years later of having taken those actions or would have taken them had the opportunity existed, suggesting a long-lasting effect. Our approach adopts the framework that conceptions of reality are representations, and adaptive solutions in that infinite space of representations require cognitive constraints to narrow the search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An excellent starting point is the whitepaper authored by the Climate Change Outreach Committee, "Best Practices for Communicating Climate Science for Fisheries Professionals" (Neal et al. 2020). GLO:M7Z/01mar21:fsh10583-fig-0001.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): . gl Ultimately, the goal of science should be to serve society as it strives to solve problems such as a changing climate, food insecurity and numerous public health issues. The ability to craft science stories that engage public audiences is not always developed as part of formal fisheries education, so AFS is designing practical training that will arm fisheries scientists with this special skill. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the effects of politics on climate change mitigation policy in the U.S. It is noted that despite the existence of a large amount of research data detailing the effects of anthropogenic climate change, concerns over the economy as well as the influence of climate change skeptics have prevented substantive action on these issues by the U.S. federal government. Climate scientists hope to counteract the effects of politics by communicating clear and cogent information and presenting viable solutions to aid in policy decision making. An overview is provided of climate policies in U.S. regional and state governments, as well as organizations such as the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USCCRP).

In this article the authors discuss public opinion on climate change. They argue that increased confidence among scientists about the reality of human-induced climate change (CC) has failed to translate into a public consensus within the U.S., adding that public opinion polls indicate a decline in public acceptance of CC. Topics include the challenges that climate skepticism poses for the scientific community, sources of opinion formation on CC, and what can be done change public opinion.

• 28 topics related to climate change identified from 52 US newspapers over 20 years. • Newspapers' partisan orientation shaped the prevalence of coverage for some topics. • Conservative newspapers dedicated much more coverage to the Climategate scandal. • Regional newspapers focused more on localized mitigation efforts. • Newspaper's located in cities with high climate vulnerability highlight the salience of corporations, international agreements, emissions, and sea level rise in their coverage of climate change. News organizations constitute key sites of science communication between experts and lay audiences, giving many individuals their basic worldview of complex topics like climate change. Previous researchers have studied climate change news coverage to assess accuracy in reporting and potential sources of bias. These studies typically rely on manually coding articles from a handful of prestigious outlets, not allowing comparisons with smaller newspapers or providing enough diversity to assess the influence of partisan orientation or localized climate vulnerability on content production. Making these comparisons, this study indicates that partisan orientation, scale of circulation, and vulnerability to climate change correlate with several topics present in U.S. newspaper coverage of climate change. After assembling a corpus of over 78,000 articles covering two decades from 52 U.S. newspapers that are diverse in terms of geography, partisan orientation, scale of circulation, and objectively measured climate risk, a coherent set of latent topics were identified via an automated content analysis of climate change news coverage. Topic model results indicate that while outlet bias does not appear to impact the prevalence of coverage for most topics surrounding climate change, differences were evident for some topics based on partisan orientation, scale, or vulnerability status, particularly those relating to climate change denial, impacts, mitigation, or resource use. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive study of U.S. newspaper coverage of climate change and identifies specific topics where outlet bias constitutes an important contextual factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the shift in climate change opposition from denial to skepticism and the need for science to improve communication and education while informing decision making under uncertainty. It states neoskepticism uses uncertainty in climate projections and questions the value of mitigation efforts to justify environmental policy inaction. It suggests improved understanding of climate issues can help decision making in regards to risks of climate change and allow productive debate.

An interview with director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Subra Suresh is presented. He discusses why NSF launched the Innovation Corps initiative, which promotes entrepreneurship, what he hopes an initiative to foster international collaboration among scientists, called Science Across Virtual Institutes (SAVI), will accomplish, and his reaction to climate change skepticism among U.S. elected officials and political candidates.