Climate change and the media in
the USA
A comparison of media appearances of both anthropogenic climate
change sceptics and anthropogenic climate change acknowledgers
Vivian Hartlief - 3828107
Liberal Arts and Sciences - Sustainability & Developing Countries
Bachelor Thesis MMW
Supervisor: C.A. Barnes MSc
Words: 5977
7,5 ECTS
Abstract
Research has shown that media is one of the major influences towards the public
concern or national mood in a society, and this in turn can influence the policy output
of the government of this society. The media influences the public concern in two
ways, with the amount of publications and with the actual content of these
publications. This research is focussed on the link between media and climate
change, since less than 50 per cent of United States citizens believes in
anthropogenic climate change. The Washington Post and the New York Times for
the year 2014 are examined and a comparison is thereby made of two groups: those
who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change and those who are sceptic.
The difference between the two groups on the amount of media appearances
was 34%. Articles that acknowledge anthropogenic climate change appeared 186
times in both of the newspapers in 2014, while only 51 published articles were
sceptic. The amount of publications is hereby not in line with the amount of
Americans in doubt towards climate change, since the group of articles where
anthropogenic climate change is acknowledged is a vast majority, and research
showed that a greater coverage leads to a higher public concern and this is not the
case.
On the content side, there were a lot of differences visible between the two
groups in 2014; the cause of climate change is explained with scientific knowledge in
the articles where anthropogenic climate change is acknowledged, whereas there
was little use of scientific knowledge in the sceptic group. In line with this; the actors
mentioned mainly in the ‘acknowledged group’ were scientists; while in the sceptic
group, politicians and big companies were most often seen. Mentioning politicians
and big companies seem to have more influence than the mentioning of scientists
has on the public opinion. In the acknowledge group the cause of climate change
was often mentioned quickly and implicitly; while in the sceptical articles there were
often explicit and direct statements made towards the existence and cause of climate
change, this could be an explanation of the lack of public concern as well. In the
acknowledged group there was more often a negative tone present in the newspaper
articles, while in the sceptic group the majority was written in a more neutral tone.
There could hereby be said that the usage of a neutral tone seems to have a bigger
influence than a negative tone on the public concern. There are five framing themes
indicated since research showed these are of influence (Industrialized countries’
economic policies, Sustainability, Technological optimism, Emerging economies’
responsibility, Global understanding of ecology). These themes often appeared in the
acknowledge group, while these rarely appeared in the sceptic group, hereby this
way of framing seem less of an influence than expected.
Not all the findings are inline with the amount of doubt in the USA towards the
existence of anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, further research is
necessary, since this research only focuses on newspaper coverage. Nonetheless,
this research has found some interesting possible explanations.
Abbreviations
IPCC: International Panel of Climate Change
MSF: Multiple Streams Framework
NYT: New York Times
UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
USA: United States of America
WP: Washington Post
1
Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 3
Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 4
Climate Change ................................................................................................. 4
Public and policy................................................................................................ 4
Influences on public concern towards climate change ....................................... 6
Use of framing in the media ............................................................................... 6
Methodology .......................................................................................................... 8
Part A ................................................................................................................ 8
Part B ................................................................................................................ 8
Results Part A: amount of appearances .............................................................. 10
Conclusion part A ............................................................................................ 10
Results Part B: framing........................................................................................ 11
Acknowledgers ................................................................................................ 11
Sceptics ........................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion part B ............................................................................................ 12
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 14
Discussion ........................................................................................................... 15
Recommendations & action horizon .................................................................... 15
Literature ............................................................................................................. 16
Appendix A .......................................................................................................... 18
New York Times - Acknowledged .................................................................... 18
New York Times - Sceptic ............................................................................... 27
Washington Post - Acknowledged ................................................................... 35
Washington Post – Sceptic .............................................................................. 44
2
Introduction
About fifty per cent of United States citizens are in doubt or are sceptical about the
existence of anthropogenic climate change (Mommers, 2015). Nonetheless there is a
paradox towards this 50 per cent, since there is 97,2 per cent consensus among all
research done towards climate change, and acknowledges that there is a human
influence (Cook et al., 2013).
The public concern towards this subject is relatively small, but it is very
important that the citizens of the United States of America acknowledge the
anthropogenic climate change, since they partly determine the US policy towards
climate change. When researching climate change and public concern, ‘public
concern’ is most often discussed instead of national mood, however in this research
they are assumed to be the same (Brulle et al., 2011). The importance of the role of
the public becomes clear in the different literature about public concern and policy
output. Public concern appears to be one of the core influences of policy output
(Zahariadis, 2006; Walgrave et al., 2008). This makes it important to take a better
look at the influences on this public concern. There are several different effects
influencing public concern. For instance Brugge and colleagues (2011) indicated
various different influences, such as media, on the public concern of climate change,
which in turn influences the policy output.
This research had its focus on one of these influences: the media. The media
plays an important role in the formation of the public concern and therefore
researched tried to contribute towards an understanding of the fact that fifty per cent
of US citizens are in doubt or sceptical about the existence of (anthropogenic)
climate change (Brüggemann and Engesser, 2013). The leading question for this
research was: What are the differences between the use of media of climate sceptics
and those who acknowledge the anthropogenic climate change in the United States
of America?
To answer this question the research was separated into two parts, on the one hand
how often both groups appeared in leading newspapers, and on the other hand how
they appeared in these newspapers, ergo what kinds of ‘framing’ were used by both
groups. Framing is an organizational idea for news content to supply context and
provides suggestions about what the issue is (Tankard et al., 1991).
The focus of this research was the USA, due to the fact that the USA plays a
very important role concerning climate change. In the past the USA has made some
decisions that still have enormous consequences for the rest of the world, for
instance not participating in the Kyoto Protocol (Manne & Richels, 2001). By looking
at the differences between media appearances (amount of appearances and
substantively) of the two groups this thesis contributed to the debate concerning
anthropogenic climate change and its consequences. There has already been a
great deal of research conducted regarding the shifting opinion on climate change
(Antilla, 2005; Carvalha, 2007; Mazur & Lee, 1993). A direct comparative research
between those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change and those who do
not has not recently been conducted. This research will therefore contribute to an
overview of the differences between the two groups in 2014 in the United States of
America and thus also contributed toward the scientific knowledge on the different
usage of media regarding climate change.
A review of the existing literature on media coverage and climate change is
followed by an elaboration on the methods used, followed by an analysis of the data.
The analysis of one year of articles on climate change leads to a conclusion directly
followed by a discussion and further research recommendations and an action
horizon towards the main theme, media and climate change.
3
Theoretical framework
To answer the main question the differences between the use of media by
‘anthropogenic acknowledgers’ and the use of media of ‘climate change sceptics’,
were compared, based on the amount of appearances in the media and based on the
subject-matter with the use of framing.
This theoretical framework points out most of the theories regarding media
public concern and climate change. However before doing this the definition of
climate change is made clear, as this forms the basis of this research. This definition
is followed by an explanation of the existing connection between the public opinion
and the policy output. To gain a better understanding of this public opinion, the
different influences towards it are examined. With a proper idea of public opinion and
its influences, this will be specified towards the general theme of this research;
climate change and the media. While explaining the importance of the media
appearances, framing is also explained in general and with respect to climate
change. To conclude this information has been included in a conceptual model to
give a visual perspective on this research.
Climate Change
The main theme of this research is climate change. Before starting it is essential to
get an understanding of what climate change is. The definition of the IPCC will be
used:
“Climate change in IPCC usage refers to a change in the state of the
climate that can be identified (e.g. using statistical tests) by changes in
the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an
extended period, typically decades or longer. It refers to any change in
climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of
human activity. This usage differs from that in the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where climate
change refers to a change of climate that is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed
over comparable time periods.” (IPCC, n.d.)
This definition of the IPCC directly mentions the definition used in this research of
‘anthropogenic climate change’; it is the definition of the UNFCCC as mentioned in
the IPCC definition above.
Contrary to these anthropogenic acknowledgers there are the climate change
deniers or sceptics. The definition is: “those who deny there is such a thing as an
upward trend in global temperatures, or they accept that the world's climate may be
changing but do not think that it is caused by human activity” (Poortinga et al., 2011).
4
Public and policy
The role of the public is important for policy, because the public concern is partially
responsible for the policy outcome on a national level. Nowadays the USA performs
a small role in the combat against climate change, partly because of the
disagreement of its citizens towards anthropogenic climate change (Schwartz, 2015).
Ironically, the US contribution to climate change is rather high. The role of the public
is very important for a policy outcome, and this becomes clear for instance in The
Multiple Streams Framework of Nikolaos Zahariadis (2006). Zahariadis states that
there are three streams identified flowing through the policy system: problems,
policies and politics (Zahariadis, 2006, p. 65). This Multiple Stream Framework
(MSF) deals with policy making under conditions of ambiguity. Ambiguity hereby
refers to “a state of having many ways of thinking about the same circumstances or
phenomena” (ibid, p. 66). Politics, as a third stream of the influences on policy, is the
part where the public concern becomes visible. The political influence on policy is
divided into three elements: the national mood, pressure group campaigns, and
administrative or legislative turnover (ibid, p. 37). Zahariadis states: “the national
mood refers to the notion that a fairly large number of individuals in a given country
tend to think along common lines and that the mood swings from time to time” (ibid).
For the government it is important to follow these mood swings, by mainly monitoring
it since it is one of the most powerful effects on formatting a policy (ibid). This
national mood is also represented in the diagram of the MSF:
Model 1: Zahariadis (2006)
Besides Zahariadis’ research, this linkage between national mood (or public concern)
and policy output becomes clear in several studies (Walgrave et al., 2008; Cohen et
al., 1972; McCombs, 2004; Kennamer, 1992). The ‘agenda-setting theory’ is a wellknown theory where this is also encountered (Walgrave et al., 2008). In this theory it
becomes clear that the media inter alia, influences the public concern and the public
concern in turn influences the policy output (ibid). The literature about this influence
is not completely in consensus yet, but it is shown that there is at least some
influence.
5
Influences on public concern towards climate change
In a research from 2011 by Brulle and colleagues, it became visible that the main
influences on the public concern can be grouped into three areas
1. Media Coverage
2. Issue Space
3. Elite Cues
Media coverage is the first mentioned influence. This influence means the mention of
a problem in the media is one of the most important influences on the public concern.
The second influence, issue space – simply explained, meaning there is no space to
solve every problem – is not easy to change since that is a part of a greater whole.
The third influence, elite cues, or, those problems that the elite sees as problems, are
mainly dependent on the different interests of these elites. Brulle and colleagues
(2011) hereby quote McDonald: “When elites have consensus, the public follows suit
and the issue becomes mainstreamed. When elites disagree, polarization occurs,
and citizens rely on other indicators, such as political party or source credibility, to
make up their minds.” (Brulle et al., 2011, p. 17). Due to the different interests of the
two most important political parties in the United States, democrats and republicans,
there is a great existing polarization concerning climate change. The choice is made
to focus on one of these influences, the media, to get a complete and clear overview
on this influence. Brulle and colleagues (2011) showed the connection between
media and public concern, where the media has an important influence on the public.
In their research they mainly focussed on the quantity of media coverage towards
climate change. They found that the greater the quantity of media coverage is
towards climate change, the bigger the level of public concern level will be.
Use of framing in the media
Besides counting the amount of appearances, since this influences the public opinion
it is also useful to research the articles substantively. Framing is a useful concept for
analysing substantively. Framing is defined as “a bridging concept between cognition
and culture” (Brüggemann & Engesser, 2013). News frames are “conceptual tools
which media and individuals rely on to convey, interpret and evaluate information”,
thereby this is also an influence towards public concern (Neuman et al., 1992, p. 60).
Brüggemann and Engesser (2013) conducted research about the framing of
climate change and indicated five frames used in climate change news coverage.
These are:
-
Industrialized countries’ economic policies
Sustainability
Technological optimism
Emerging economies’ responsibility
Global understanding of ecology
The ‘industrialized countries’ economic policies’ frame has a perspective that climate
change causes problematic consequences for society, and the responsibility for
solving the problem lays within these countries policies. ‘Sustainability’ displays a
causal interpretation that sees ‘capitalism’ as a structure, and consumption behaviour
at the root of the problem. ‘Technological optimism’ is, with regards to climate change
seen as a solution for the climate change, and supports the development of new
6
technologies. This could be a frame more on the side of the anthropogenic climate
change deniers, and the technology will solve it. ‘Emerging economies’ responsibility’
is based on a single idea; namely that the emerging economies are a case for
concern, as their future growth will prevent a solution to the climate problem. ‘Global
understanding of ecology’ is the last frame indicated by Brüggemann and Engesser
(2013), and it differs from the other four. In this frame the deficient communication of
the climate change problems is the cause for current failure, so it promotes a better
public understanding of ecology (Brüggemann and Engesser, 2013).
The five frames indicated by Brüggemann and Engesser is one of the options
to perform framing analyses on climate change. Since climate change is a
continuously developing research subject and this is the most recent research
addressing it, this is the most up to date way. Once these themes can be indicated
there has to be a research towards the way of contemplating these themes.
According to Tankard and colleagues (1991, p. 3) a media frame is described
as ‘‘the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests
what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration’’.
This is a clear view towards media and framing. Ghanem (1997) elaborated this
further and presented framing mechanisms such as placement and size, the tone
(positive, neutral or negative), and other dimensions, such as the social actor(s)
(people or agencies) involved (in Runhaar, 2015). This way of analysing towards
framing is used by inter alia; Segvic (2005), Kang (2006), van Ruler (2004).
All these theoretical findings in framing and amount of appearances are combined
into ‘the use of media’, so that it is in line with the central question of this research.
All the literature is combined into a conceptual model (model 2). The players that are
irrelevant for this research are not included, such as the other influences on policy
that came out of the model of Zahariadis (2006). The arrows represent an influence,
from one player to another.
Use of media by
anthropogenic
acknowledgers
Elite Cues
Public Concern
Use of media by
climate change sceptics
Policy Output
Space Issue
Model 2
The main question of this research was focussed on the left part of this model. The
comparison was made between those two influences on public concern, to possibly
declare the low public concern.
7
Methodology
To saw the differences in the use of media between the different groups concerning
the debate on the cause of climate change, a two-way research was conducted. The
two newspapers that have been looked into are the New York Times (NYT), and the
Washington Post (WP). These newspapers are considered two of the biggest in the
USA, based on readership. Hereby it was possible to get a representative overview
of the media coverage of climate change. To narrow the scope of this research the
year that was looked into is 2014. In that way this research tried to be as relevant
and up to date as possible.
For the collection of newspaper articles, the database of LexisNexis was used
(http://academic.lexisnexis.nl). This is a digital database that consists of newspaper
articles since 1980. Using the term ‘climate change’, in the year 2014 in the two
newspapers, gave all the possible relevant articles.
Part A
Climate change as a search term is considered to be a neutral term and hereby it
was possible to get an as small as possible biased collection of newspaper articles.
An article was considered relevant as soon as the main subject of the newspaper
article was climate change or there was something specifically mentioned about the
existence, or the cause of climate change/global warming. Once the item met the
requirements, it was placed in one of the two groups, sceptic or acknowledged.
Global warming and climate change are used interchangeably in the US
newspapers (Tatarski, n.d.). In this research the term climate change was used. Of
course there is a difference between the two terms, but global warming is mentioned
in some of the newspapers as if it is the same. Therefore when an article mentioned
the cause of global warming, the article was then included in the group mentioning
the cause of climate change. Since climate change is a more general term than
global warming, climate change was the used term (ibid).
An article was placed in the ‘sceptic’ group as soon as there was some doubt
of the cause of climate change, or climate change as a whole was questioned. On
the other hand there is the group ‘acknowledgers’. This group contains those articles
that explicitly mention the existence of man-made climate change, or those who
implicitly mention it by elaborating on the need of for instance cutting emissions,
since these are widely accepted factors influencing climate change.
For greater clarity, there are two extra groups created since not all relevant
articles could be allocated in one of these two groups (completely). These two groups
have been given the titles ‘no position towards cause’ and ‘existence acknowledged,
but focus on combat’. The group ‘no position towards cause’ spoke about climate
change and possibly also on its causes, but did not take a stand towards what the
correct cause is. The group ‘existence acknowledge, focuses on combat’ contains all
the articles that made it clear that it is needed to address climate change and
mentions that humans are the ones that can act against climate change, but the
cause of it is not mentioned. These articles were not further researched, since the
focus of this research could only be regarding the acknowledgers and the sceptics.
At last it became visible that not all articles could be allocated in just one of
the two groups, because some articles discussed more parts or actors who
mentioned different things. Thereby some of the articles are put into more than one
group.
Part B
8
For the content part of this research (part B), forty newspaper articles have been
used, chosen from those articles that are deemed relevant in part A. From both of the
newspapers twenty articles were analysed, where ten of them were in the group
‘acknowledged’ and ten were in the ‘sceptic’ group (based on the findings in part A).
In this way the possible differences became apparent. The articles used, are to be
found in appendix A. These twenty articles per newspaper were also chosen based
on their publication date to cover the whole year of 2014, because in this way 2014 is
examined in its entirety.
In this part the articles were categorised in the five framing themes
(Industrialized countries’ economic policies, Sustainability, Technological optimism,
Emerging economies’ responsibility, Global understanding of ecology) coming from
the literature of framing in climate change. Within these theme-appearances the
method of analysing is based on the findings of Ghanem (1997). The themes will be
analysed on how they are set; by indicating the social actors mentioned (local
people, research institutes, politicians, scientists, etc.), tone (negative, positive,
neutral, etc.) and substantively what specifically is mentioned regarding it. Tone was
researched on the specific words used; for a negative tone these words were for
instance ‘bad’, ‘horrible’, ‘degradation’ etc. While for a positive tone these words were
for instance ‘good’, ‘better’, or ‘improvement’. For the ‘doubt’ tone the indicated words
were ‘not sure’, ‘not convinced’, doubt, etc. When none of these words were to be
seen, the tone was indicated as neutral. Besides tone the argumentation or
background towards the claim on the cause of climate change was highlighted if the
article mentions the existence of it. It became quickly visible that in the articles in the
‘sceptic group’ the indicated themes were not mentioned. These articles mostly
mention the debate regarding climate change, or mention a specific person that
denies or is a sceptic. Hereby in these articles, the arguments or statements towards
(the cause of) climate change are analysed for tone and the actors mentioned.
9
Results Part A: amount of appearances
All of the newspaper articles in the NYT and the WP of 2014 that met the
requirements to be indicated as relevant can be found in table 1. The search in
LexisNexis for the term ‘climate change’ presented 980 articles for the NYT and 710
for the WP. After checking all of those articles there were 293 articles relevant from
the NYT and 194 of the WP.
New York
Times
Acknowledge
anthropogenic
climate change
Acknowledge
existence,
human influence
not mentioned
Sceptic/In doubt
of existence, or
human influence
No position
towards cause
Total
293
114
239
30
31
Percentage
100%
38,91%
81,57%
10,24%
10,58%
Washington
Post
Acknowledge
anthropogenic
climate change
Acknowledge
existence,
human influence
not mentioned
Sceptic/In doubt
of existence, or
human influence
No position
towards cause
Total
194
72
153
16
8
Percentage
100%
37,11%
78,87%
8,25%
4,12%
Table 1
In both newspapers, the group that acknowledges the existence of climate change
and states that there is action needed, is the largest. This is an amount of 80 per cent
of the total for both newspapers. The second largest group acknowledges the
existence of anthropogenic climate change, with a percentage of approximately 37
per cent. The third group is the sceptic group, equal to around 10 per cent of the total
appearances in both newspapers. The smallest group is the group without any
position towards the cause of climate change; this is equal to 10 per cent and 4 per
cent respectively.
Conclusion part A
Based on the amount of appearances we can see that there is a vast majority of
newspaper articles that spread the word that climate change has to be addressed;
however not all of these articles address the cause of climate change. The group of
articles where the cause of (anthropogenic) climate change is doubted or there is
scepticism towards the existence of climate change is, in any case, rather small.
Furthermore all of the articles considered to be ‘sceptic’, are mostly, but not
completely denying climate change. Mostly these articles just mentioned the
existence of doubt or deniers, and did not explicitly acknowledge (anthropogenic)
climate change.
When we strictly compare the ‘acknowledge’ and the ‘sceptic’ group, the
group that acknowledges is larger than the sceptic group. The total amount of
newspaper articles of NYT and WP addressing climate change is 392. The
acknowledge group contains 186 articles, and the sceptic group contains 51 articles.
This is a difference of 135 articles, which is a difference of 34%.
There are no major differences evident between the two newspapers. The
only apparent difference is that the NYT featured a hundred more newspaper articles
about climate change compared to the WP.
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Results Part B: framing
Appendix A includes all forty articles put into a table that features all of the
information needed for this analysis. The findings of the analyses are split per group
(sceptic and acknowledged), with occasional examples of articles included, and
followed by a small combined conclusion.
Acknowledgers
Climate change opinions
In all twenty articles of the newspapers in the group ‘acknowledge anthropogenic
climate change’ there is a clear conviction that humans are the cause of climate
change. In most of the articles, the scientific background towards the existence of
humans as a cause of climate change is mentioned, by inter alia NYT: Frank, Gillis (a
and b), Davenport, Sellers and WP: Philips, Warrick & Mooney, Eilperin (although
small implicitly), Editorial Board (a&b), Eilperin & Mufson and the Bloomberg news
article that appeared in the WP. The article of Becker (NYT) is the only article that
acknowledges anthropogenic climate change but still mentions the fact that there is
an unresolved doubt. On the contrary the articles of inter alia Frank and Gilles
mention explicitly that there is no need for any doubt or uncertainty. Some of the
articles mention the human inducement rather briefly and, with little or no elaboration
(WP: Elliott, Eilperin).
Tone
The general tone differs widely per article, mostly based on the specific subject. The
most common tone seen (eight out of twenty) is a neutral tone, by objectively stating
the facts. The second tone used most often is negative (eleven out of twenty). Within
this negative tone there are certain noticeable differences. There is a negative and
pessimistic tone (WP: Warrick & Mooney) where the writer does not see a bright
future towards combatting climate change. On the other hand there is a negative but
still optimistic tone (NYT: Riordan) where the writer does have a negative way of
describing the whole climate change phenomena, but nonetheless foresees a
positive outlook in the battle against climate change. The third negative tone seen in
the articles is somewhat indifferent, in that it describes climate change in a negative
way, but is not convinced of the capabilities towards combatting it, describing it
thereby indifferently (NYT: Satija). A positive or optimistic tone is not often
encountered. Indeed this tone was present, only two times out of the twenty articles
researched.
Themes
It was not always possible to categorise the articles into five of the themes indicated
in advance; this is mainly dependent on the specific subject of the article. The theme
‘Industrialized countries economic policies’ mentioned most often pollution
regulations and policies, since 2014 was a year were some of these policies were
created. Sustainability was the least mentioned theme. In the technological optimism
theme there is a differentiation visible between faith and trust in technology including
the assurance that it will be/is possible (NYT: Editorial Board, Sellers), and on the
other side wishful thinking that it hopefully will/could be possible (NYT: Frank, Gilles
(b)). In the ‘emerging economies’ theme there was no line visible. It is evident that
this theme depends completely upon the subject. The Global Understanding of
Ecology is often supported with the scientific present in the articles. The meaning of
this theme was the promotion of public understanding, but in the articles this is not
always the case. Thereby an extra row has been created in the tables: ‘scientific
11
knowledge’ which is a big part in most of the articles. This made clear if there was a
lot of scientific knowledge used, although not in favour of the cause of climate
change.
Actors
The actors mentioned in all of the articles are scientists and politicians. Besides that
there is the occasional mention of some environmental groups (Greenpeace for
instance) mentioned, or specific research institutes.
Sceptics
Climate change opinions
In the twenty analysed articles the group sceptics was mainly written about people
who very explicitly made a statement towards climate change. Only two times, in the
article of Unger (NYT) and Krauthammer (WP), science was mentioned in favour of
the denial of human caused climate change. In the rest of the articles some scientists
are mentioned, but not in favour of the denial of anthropogenic climate change.
In most of the articles the doubt or denial is focussed on one specific
component of climate change. The best illustration of one of these components is the
hiatus in the heating of the earth (NYT: Cone). This is not clearly explained by
scientists, and thereby the sceptics directly used this to rule out climate change
completely.
Tone
In the sceptic group we see with an enormous majority (ten out of twenty) purporting
a neutral tone was evident, by mentioning those people or findings regarding the
doubt towards (anthropogenic) climate change without any additions in tone. The
second most common used tone was the one of doubt (seven out of twenty). In
articles where this doubtful tone was present it was mostly because they mention
those in favour and in doubt of anthropogenic climate change, followed by a short
conclusion of being unconvinced about the cause of climate change. Other tones
besides neutral or doubtful rarely appeared.
Themes
It is clearly visible that almost none of the themes are discussed. The only thing
clearly mentioned in the deniers group is the resistance towards some of the climate
policies. Hereby people are mentioned (mostly politicians), that explicitly deny the
existence of (anthropogenic) climate change to justify the criticism towards the
climate policies.
Actors
In every article in this group there are politicians mentioned or some local people
concerning the specific subject. Mostly there are statements cited of explicit deniers
such as Marco Rubio an American republican politician or Tony Abbott the Australian
prime minister, whom explicitly deny anthropogenic climate change.
On the other hand there are also those companies or people mentioned who
will face trouble with the policies discussed, since they often do not agree with the
policies created (WP: Robinson).
Conclusion part B
12
In the explanation of climate change there was a difference visible in the use of
scientific knowledge. In the acknowledge the use of scientific knowledge was often
most evident, to create a statement towards the existence of anthropogenic climate
change; while in the sceptic group there were mainly opinions stated or the debate
was explained with a lack of knowledge regarding this opinion. In a sceptic article,
only when a specific part of climate change discussed, was the scientific knowledge
towards this part included; however, climate change as a whole denied with scientific
knowledge is never to be seen.
The themes are often mentioned in the acknowledged group, but not in the
sceptic group. This could be explained by the fact that the acknowledged group
describes the phenomena more comprehensively and completely compared to the
articles in the sceptic group.
Based on the findings there are differences between the two groups visible on
the used tone. The acknowledged group more often presented a negative tone, while
in the sceptic group the negative tone was more prevalent.
The actors mentioned do differ slightly, per group. Scientists and politicians
are most often used in the acknowledged group, while scientists are used less and
big companies were mentioned more in the sceptic group.
The most striking difference visible is the fact that in the acknowledged group
very often the cause of global warming is mentioned implicitly, while in the sceptic
group the doubt or denial is mentioned very explicitly.
13
Conclusion
This research has been conducted to present a better explanation for the fact that
many US citizens are in doubt on the existence of (anthropogenic) climate change.
Hereby was a central question created: what are the differences between the use of
media of climate sceptics and those who acknowledge the anthropogenic climate
change in the United States of America?
To make these differences visible a comparison was made on the newspaper
coverage in 2014 of those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change and
those who are sceptic about it. This comparison was based on the amount of
appearances and substantively while looking at framing.
The difference between the two groups on the amount of appearances is
34%. Those articles that acknowledge anthropogenic climate change appear 186
times in 2014, while only 51 articles were sceptical towards (anthropogenic) climate
change.
On the content side there were many other differences apparent. In the
explanation towards climate change the difference in the acknowledge group was a
use of knowledge, while this did not appear in the sceptic group. The framing themes
often appeared in the acknowledged group, while this did not appear either in the
sceptic group. Researching the tone of the articles it became visible that in the
acknowledged group there was more often a negative tone present, while in the
sceptic group the majority was written in a more neutral tone. In line with the
explanation towards climate change the actors mentioned mainly in the
acknowledged group were scientists; while in the sceptic group, politicians and big
companies were the most often seen actor. The implicit and explicit manner of
mentioning the cause of climate change also differs. In the acknowledged group it
was often seen that this was mentioned quickly and implicitly. While in the articles of
the sceptic group there was more often an explicit and direct a statement made
towards climate change.
The differences between the two groups are now visible, but when we look at these
differences this does not automatically explain why so many American citizens are
not convinced about climate change. The amount of appearances is not in line with
the amount of Americans convinced by climate change, since the acknowledged
group is a great majority, and this is not in line with the findings of Brulle and
colleagues (2011).
Regarding the content side there are some explanations evident. The
negative tone is often utilized in newspaper articles acknowledging climate change,
while the sceptic group is presented in a more neutral way.
Based on these findings and considering that the newspapers have an
influence on the public opinion, it is implied that the mentioning of politicians and big
companies have more influence, than the mentioning of scientists on the public
opinion, since politicians are more often mentioned in the sceptic group and most
often scientists are mentioned in the acknowledged group.
A further explanation could be the implicit mention of anthropogenic climate
change in the acknowledged group, while the sceptic group makes a more explicit
statement. Therefor this could have a bigger influence on the public opinion.
Nonetheless not all the findings are inline with the amount of doubt in the
USA towards climate change. Consequently, further research is necessary to get a
complete insight on the influences towards the public opinion towards climate
change.
14
Discussion
There are several other options to perform research on the influence of media on the
public opinion regarding climate change. The first part that must be discussed is the
fact that only newspaper coverage has been researched. The media is of a great
influence towards the public opinion, but the media consists of much more than what
has been addressed in this research. For a complete media research, other forms of
media (television, internet, etc.) have to be addressed to gain a complete knowledge
on the overall media influence on the public opinion. Moreover, the media influence is
a continuous process and in this research only the year 2014 has been examined, as
this gave the most recent and relevant understanding, but perhaps a broader period
of time could give a more comprehensive understanding. That being said, a broader
period of time could potentially give a more comprehensive understanding.
On the other hand, there could also be something said about those people
who read NYT and WP. Those who read a newspaper could perhaps be not
encountered in those who are sceptic towards climate change.
There was chosen for this research to not further elaborate on the second
group in part A, those who acknowledge climate change but do not mention the
cause, but do find it important that humans are the ones that battle against it. This is
an interesting group for further research, since here framing could also play a role.
A further discussion point for this research is the search term used in
LexisNexis. In this research the words ‘climate change’ are used; but, as mentioned
in the research, climate change and global warming are used interchangeably.
Hereby it is possible that not all relevant newspaper articles were found and the
overview of articles might not be fully complete.
The last point of discussion towards this research is the precise subdivision of
articles in the group sceptics. Some of the articles in this group could be considered
as implicitly acknowledged. These articles mention sceptics, and are thus placed in
the group deniers, because there is no specific mention of acknowledgement, while
the general tone of the article could be somehow in line with anthropogenic
acknowledged group.
Recommendations & action horizon
Based on the key findings of this research there are some proposals to conduct
further research. Since the media, or at least the newspaper coverage, does not
have a major influence towards the public opinion, it could be useful to research the
other influences on public opinion. In addition, to get a complete view towards the
media, the other forms of media must also be addressed, including more
newspapers.
It seems like that not all the authors of the articles feel the urgency to create a
greater awareness about the causes of climate change. Nonetheless, it appears to
be very important, since the public opinion influences the policy output. Therefore it
would be beneficial if all those writers who do mention the cause of climate change
mention it explicitly. This explicit indication could help to create a greater public
awareness, to gain more influence on the policy output, since climate change is
proven to be happening in science, and thereby it must be addressed.
15
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17
Appendix A
New York Times - Acknowledged
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Restored Forests Are Making Inroads Against Climate Change
Justin Gilles (a)
2513 words
Deforestation - Amazon
Promoting activities (in the battle against): “Scientists are still
Industrialized
countries
economic trying to figure out how much of a difference an ambitious forest
policies
regrowth strategy could make. But a leading figure in the
discussion has argued for turning some 1.2 billion acres of
degraded or marginally productive agricultural land into forests.”
“Some countries have already pledged to restore tens of millions of
acres.”
“The intense pressure (by Brazil red.) resulted in a sharp drop in
deforestation, by 83 percent, over the past decade.”
“Costa Rica, a ''green republic'' famous worldwide for its efforts to
protect forests, shows how difficult a forest restoration strategy can
be in practice.“
Counteracting activities: ''Asian companies are rushing into
Africa and grabbing as much land as possible,'' said Mr. Hurowitz,
of Climate Advisers. ''That's kind of scary.''
The actors mentioned are different countries and politicians, and
the tone is
Sustainability
“Moreover, the Brazilian ministry of agriculture began to focus on
helping farmers raise yields without needing additional land.”
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding Deforestation + burning coal --> carbon cycle
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“A large body of scientific evidence shows that the amount of
carbon in the air at any given time, in the form of carbon dioxide,
largely determines the planet's temperature.”
“The burning of coal, oil and natural gas effectively moves carbon
out of the ground and into the active carbon cycle operating at the
earth's surface, causing a warming of the globe that scientists
believe is more rapid now than in any similar period of geologic
history.”
General tone
Sarcastic/pessimistic: ''Every time I hear about a government
program that is going to spend billions of dollars on some carbon
capture and storage program, I just laugh and think, what is wrong
with a tree?''
“saving the ones that are left, and perhaps letting new ones grow -is the single most promising near-term strategy.”
18
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Environment group of Greenpeace (and other environment groups)
Climate Advisers
Scientists
World Resources Institute (think thank)
Woods Hole Research Center
Local people
Research outpost: La Selva Biological Station
Cause
of
climate “humans have cut down or damaged at least three-quarters of the
change
world's forests, and that destruction has accounted for much of the
excess carbon that is warming the planet”
Striking features
Elaborates a lot on the urgency to leave the nature alone!
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Hydrogen Cars, Coming Down the Pike
Editorial board
681 words
Hydrogen cars
Industrialized
“The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations invested in
countries
economic hydrogen research to varying degrees. “
policies
“The state of California, where many of the first fuel-cell cars will be
sold, plans to spend up to $200 million to build 100 fueling stations
in a decade. Countries like Japan and Germany are also investing
in refueling stations. And car companies like Toyota and Honda are
providing loans to help their business partners build hydrogen
stations.”
Sustainability
“Hydrogen could be produced more cleanly by using alternative
energy sources like solar and wind power to split water into
hydrogen and oxygen atoms. And it can be generated from
renewable sources like sewage and animal waste.”
Technological
“The once-distant promise of clean, affordable hydrogen-powered
optimism
cars is starting to become a reality.”
Emerging economies
“There is little doubt that the world will need many transformative
technologies to deal with climate change.” --> not per se optimism
“The development of fuel-cell technology has been helped along by
federal and state government support.”
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“Most hydrogen today is created from natural gas in a process that
generates carbon dioxide. But scientists say fuel cells are still good
for the environment, because making hydrogen produces far fewer
emissions than burning fossil fuels.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Environmental Protection Agency
Scientists
19
Department of Energy
Cause
of
climate “[...] in lowering emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants
change
responsible for climate change.”
“Cars and other modes of transportation account for about 28
percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, second
only to power plants, according to the Environmental Protection
Agency.”
Striking features
Critics are mentioned, but called short-sighted.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Wobbling on Climate Change
Piers J. Sellers (acting director of earth science at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center)
826 words
Climate change knowledge
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
“So, if you have no faith in the predictive capability of climate
optimism
models, you should also discard your faith in weather forecasts and
any other predictions based on Newtonian mechanics.” -->
technology is capable of predicting climate change
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“A Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch, worked out the
theory during the early years of the 20th century. He calculated by
hand that variations in the earth's tilt and the shape of its orbit
around the sun start and end ice ages. I said that you could think of
ice ages as resulting from wobbles in the earth's tilt and orbit.”
“This whole system of observation, theory and prediction is tested
daily in forecast models and almost continuously in climate models.
So, if you have no faith in the predictive capability of climate
models, you should also discard your faith in weather forecasts and
any other predictions based on Newtonian mechanics.”
“The earth has warmed nearly 0.8 degrees Celsius over the last
century and we are confident that the biggest factor in this increase
is the release of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning. It is almost
certain that we will see a rise of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit) before 2100, and a three-degree rise (5.4 degrees
Fahrenheit) or higher is a possibility.”
General tone
Negative, direct attack towards deniers. “So, if you have no faith in
the predictive capability of climate models, you should also discard
your faith in weather forecasts and any other predictions based on
Newtonian mechanics.”
20
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
change
of
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Republican from Texas
Scientists
climate “The earth has warmed nearly 0.8 degrees Celsius over the last
century and we are confident that the biggest factor in this increase
is the release of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning”
Striking features
Sarcastic, negative tone towards deniers/sceptics.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Why Republicans Keep Telling Everyone They're Not Scientists
Coral Davenport
1047 words
Republicans avoid subject climate change
Industrialized
“In 2012, President Obama and Mitt Romney never once
countries
economic mentioned climate change in their three debates.”
policies
“[...] and at least 67 percent said the government should limit
greenhouse gas emissions.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
“Major corporations, including longtime Republican donors like
ExxonMobil, Walmart and Coca-Cola, have acknowledged the
science of human-caused climate change and are planning for
future taxes or regulations on carbon pollution.”
Global understanding “[...] detailed the ways in which climate change caused by burning
of ecology
coal and oil is threatening the American landscape, from rising sea
levels in Florida to more wildfires in Colorado to more devastating
droughts across the Southwest.”
Scientific knowledge
“Jon A. Krosnick, who conducts polls on public attitudes on climate
change at Stanford, finds the phrase perplexing. ''What's odd about
this 'I'm not a scientist' line is that there's nothing in the data we've
seen to suggest that this helps a candidate,'' Mr. Krosnick said.”
“Since then polls show that the political landscape has changed. A
2013 survey by USA Today and Stanford University found that 71
percent of Americans say they are already seeing the results of
climate change, and 55 percent support limiting greenhouse gas
emissions from power plants. Mr. Krosnick, a professor at Stanford
University, analyzed polls in 46 states conducted between 2006
and 2013 and found that in every state surveyed, at least 75
percent of the population acknowledged the existence of climate
change, and at least 67 percent said the government should limit
greenhouse gas emissions.”
General tone
Neutral
- takes a direct attack towards republicans calling
themselves not scientists, but with arguments attacking, not to see
in the tone.
21
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Politicians
Survey methodology researcher
National climate assessment
Scientists
Cause
of
climate “While the politicians debate, the scientific evidence linking weather
extremes to climate change continues to mount.”
change
and see ‘global understanding of ecology
Striking features
“Voters place climate change low on the list: ''It is very difficult to
find an issue that voters place lower on the list than climate
change,'' Mr. Ayres said. ''It vies with gay marriage and campaign
finance reform as the least important issue.”
“Republicans try to avoid being called a climate change deniers, by
not taking a stand and saying: “i’m not a scientist””
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Warming Temperatures Threaten Fragile Balance in Canadian
Arctic
Michael Becker
1331 words
Canadian Arctic and climate change
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “While they are a natural part of the landscape's evolution, it is the
of ecology
current change in their frequency and distribution that may signify
the effects of a warming climate.”
Scientific knowledge
“The 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report
projected that the Arctic would warm much more rapidly than the
global average, with warming over the land far greater than over
the ocean.”
“If the duration of winter declines, Dr. Schmidt says, the population
of musk oxen may gain in the short term. But ''in the long run,
higher temperatures will lead to fewer musk oxen, because of more
unstable winter conditions.''
'The broader scientific community supports the idea that extreme
summers like 2012 are a sign of increased global warming in polar
regions,'' he said. ''One year on its own can be a simple anomaly;
however, several summers within a fixed time period, about 10
years, is more likely part of a longer-term trend.'' And whether this
trend is part of a natural cycle of warming or linked to human
factors, he continued, ''is still difficult to resolve.''
General tone
Neutral – scientific, mentioned some doubt!
22
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
IPCC
Scientists
Humans “The interactions among all the elements of the region are
complex, especially given the added influence of human-driven
climate change.”
Human influence almost hidden mentioned.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
In the Ocean, Clues to Change
Justin Gillis (b)
921 words
Ocean warming
Industrialized
“At a time when people are causing profound changes on the
countries
economic planet, he said, governments had failed to invest enough in
policies
monitoring systems like satellites, causing gaping holes in the
information that scientists have to work with.”
Sustainability
Technological
“Developing robots able to go deeper has been a technical
optimism
challenge, but scientists think they are about to lick it, permitting
temperature measurements of virtually the entire ocean -- a
milestone in science.”
Emerging economies
“Another possibility, as strange as it may sound, is that the rapid
rise of coal burning in China has temporarily slowed planetary
warming. Coal releases greenhouse gases that will have a longterm warming effect, of course, but it also throws particles into the
air that can reflect sunlight back to space over the short term.”
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“This documented ocean warming is hard evidence that scientists
have gotten the basic story right when it comes to the effects of
human emissions.”
General tone
Negative/Sarcastic – “and the great veil of human ignorance will lift
a bit further.” Direct attack towards deniers.
Scientists
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate Humans “The greenhouse gases released by humans are still
change
trapping heat, and the vast bulk of it is being absorbed by the
ocean, as has always been the case.”
Striking features
Global warming: “that scientific problem has become a political
problem”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Shattering Myths to Help the Climate
Robert H. Frank - economics professor at the Johnson Graduate
School of Management at Cornell University
965 words
The myths around climate change
23
Industrialized
“If the United States and Europe each adopted a steep carbon tax,
countries
economic they could elicit broader cooperation through heavy tariffs on goods
policies
produced in countries that failed to do likewise. India and China
need access to our markets, giving us enormous leverage.”
Sustainability
Technological
“The actual cost of reducing CO2 emissions would be only those
optimism
costs associated with the cleaner processes we're led to adopt, and
they promise to be low.”
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“In 2009, the respected M.I.T. global climate simulation model
estimated that if we do nothing to curb greenhouse emissions,
there's a 10 percent chance that temperatures will rise by more
than 12 degrees Fahrenheit by century's end, causing wholesale
destruction of life as we know it.”
“many scientists now believe that storms and droughts caused by
climate change are already causing enormous damage, so all that
remains uncertain is how much worse things will get.”
General tone
Negative – “If we fail to act, future historians may wonder from
behind high sea walls why we allowed the more effective
responses we could have pursued to be blocked by an easily
debunked collection of myths.”
Scientists
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate Humans – see scientific knowledge
change
Striking features
Mentions solution so climate change can easily be addressed!
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
When Beliefs and Facts Collide
Brendan Nyhan - assistant professor of government at Dartmouth
College
679 words
Beliefs and facts towards climate change
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“scientists and advocates have concluded that many people are not
aware of the evidence on these issues and need to be provided
24
with correct information.”
“46 percent of Republicans said there is not solid evidence of
global warming, compared with 11 percent of Democrats.”
“Mr. Kahan's study suggests that more people know what scientists
think about high-profile scientific controversies than polls suggest;
they just aren't willing to endorse the consensus when it contradicts
their political or religious views.”
Positive, “One implication of Mr. Kahan's study and other research
in this field is that we need to try to break the association between
identity and factual beliefs on high-profile issues -- for instance, by
making clear that you can believe in human-induced climate
change and still be a conservative Republican like former
Representative Bob Inglis or an evangelical Christian like the
climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.” – it is possible!
Actors
The Pew Research Centre
speaking/mentioned
Scientists
Advocates
Republicans
Evangelical Christians
Cause
of
climate “One implication of Mr. Kahan's study and other research in this
change
field is that we need to try to break the association between identity
and factual beliefs on high-profile issues -- for instance, by making
clear that you can believe in human-induced climate change and
still be a conservative Republican like former Representative Bob
Inglis or an evangelical Christian like the climate scientist Katharine
Hayhoe.”
Striking features
“In other words, religious people knew the science; they just weren't
willing to say that they believed in it.”
“But we also need to reduce the incentives for elites to spread
misinformation to their followers in the first place. Once people's
cultural and political views get tied up in their factual beliefs, it's
very difficult to undo regardless of the messaging that is used.”
Implicitly mentions believe in human cause climate change.
General tone
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
A Paltry Start in Curbing Global Warming
Eduardo Porter
1220 words
Growth and climate change
Industrialized
“Humanity is hitting hard against the limit of the planet's carrying
countries
economic capacity. The world's leaders have yet to rise to the task.”
policies
“the Obama administration unveiled its much-anticipated rules to
curb greenhouse gas emissions at the nation's power plants.”
“The new rules call for a 30 percent reduction in emissions of
carbon dioxide by the nation's power plants by the year 2030,
compared with a base in 2005.”
Sustainability
25
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
“ [...] that citizens of developing nations are entitled to become
roughly as rich in 2050 as Europeans. Let's take note that the world
will be home to more than nine billion people by then.”
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Negative – pessimistic “Growth, he concluded, is ''ecologically
unsustainable.'' We must start thinking about how to live without it.”
Actors
Scientists
speaking/mentioned
Energy Information Administration
Politicians
IPCC
United States Climate Initiative
World Resources Institute
Cause
of
climate Humans – mentioned implicitly: “[...] preventing a global climate
change
disaster. [...] Advanced nations emit 60 times that much, according
to the Energy Information Administration. Developing nations emit
90 times that much. It's enough to make a sustainable development
expert despair.”
Striking features
General tone
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Don't Sell Cheap U.S. Coal to Asia
Michael Riordan – physicist author of ''The Hunting of the Quark.''
947 words
US export of coal to Asia
Industrialized
“Asian nations hungry for energy have much looser pollution
countries
economic regulations and will pay dearly for coal, despite its noxious impacts
policies
on health and the environment.”
“Our nation needs a new, transparent, clean-energy policy that no
longer turns a blind eye to the many negative impacts of coal
burning -- or to companies trying to sell coal to other nations
playing catch-up in the global economy.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
“When coal companies can strip mine Western coal for less than
$10 a ton and sell it in Asia for nearly 10 times as much, lucrative
profits can be banked all along the global supply chain.”
“But today, as utilities convert to cheap natural gas and American
coal use declines, mining companies are seeking customers in
China, Japan and Korea.”
Global understanding
26
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“The health impact of coal emissions has recently become obvious
in China, where this pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature
deaths in 2010, according to the Global Burden of Disease study,
published in The Lancet, a British medical journal.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Negative
Politicians
Scientists
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
Cause
of
climate Humans “''Taxpayers are likely losing out so that coal companies
change
can reap a windfall and export that coal overseas, where it is
burned, worsening climate change,'' said Senator Edward J.
Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, who requested the study.”
Striking features
New York Times - Sceptic
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
California Drought Is Said to Have Natural Cause
Henry Fountain
336 words
Consequences of climate change
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding ''The drought is consistent with what can happen with natural
of ecology
variability,''
“But there was nothing extraordinary about the temperature
patterns, the report concluded.”
Scientific knowledge
See ‘cause of climate change’
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Neutral – doubtfull (see quote two in ‘cause of climate change)
Scientists
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
“Scientists who have analyzed California's extreme drought have
concluded that it is a result of natural climate variability over the
past three years and that climate change caused by humans has
played little role.” --> partly denied.
“In September, a series of papers on a drought that hit Australia
last year unanimously agreed that it was a direct consequence of
climate change. But three papers on the California drought -which, like the ones about Australia, were published in the Bulletin
27
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
of the American Meteorological Society -- were divided on a link to
climate change, with only one seeing a clear connection.” --> doubt
Mentions acknowledgers and deniers, especially not sure about
climate change consequences.
Everything Is Political
Nicholas Confessore - political correspondent for The Times,
covered Albany and New York State politics from 2007 to 2011.
1271 words
Politics
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding ''but surely we must all agree that extreme weather patterns have
of ecology
developed.''
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Neutral
Actors
Politicians
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate ''There's debate over global warming,''
change
Striking features
Climate change is only mentioned at the end of the article.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
China, Coal, Climate
Paul Krugman
807 words
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Neutral – sarcastic “To understand why, you first have to
understand the defense in depth that fossil-fuel interests and their
28
loyal servants -- nowadays including the entire Republican Party -have erected against any action to save the planet.”
Politicians
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
Article is in favour of battle towards climate change. Mentions
deniers by negating their arguments, but leaves the question open.
Name article
Author
To Save the Planet, Don't Plant Trees
Nadine Unger – assistant professor of atmospheric chemistry at
Yale
Length
Subject
Industrialized
“The science says that spending precious dollars for climate
countries
economic change mitigation on forestry is high-risk: We don't know that it
policies
would cool the planet, and we have good reason to fear it might
have precisely the opposite effect. More funding for forestry might
seem like a tempting easy win for the world leaders at the United
Nations, but it's a bad bet.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding While trees provide carbon storage, forestry is not a permanent
of ecology
solution because trees and soil also ''breathe'' -- that is, burn
oxygen and release carbon dioxide back into the air.
Scientific knowledge
“humans have changed about 50 percent of the earth's surface
area from native forests and grasslands to crops, pasture and wood
harvest. Unfortunately, there is no scientific consensus on whether
this land use has caused overall global warming or cooling. Since
we don't know that, we can't reliably predict whether large-scale
forestation would help to control the earth's rising temperatures.”
“Climate scientists have calculated the effect of increasing forest
cover on surface temperature. Their conclusion is that planting
trees in the tropics would lead to cooling, but in colder regions, it
would cause warming.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
Neutral
Scientists
Politicians
Deforestation could be a cause of climate change, or not. Doubt!
29
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Texas, Leader in Greenhouse
Vulnerable to Their Effects
Neena Satija
1164 words
Texas and climate change
Gases,
Stands
Industrialized
Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Republican
countries
economic candidate for governor, have refused to regulate greenhouse gas
policies
emissions, and have sued the Obama administration over its major
climate change initiatives.
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “Ms. Nashed, Mr. Perry's spokeswoman, said the governor was
of ecology
committed to protecting the environment by reducing other ''known
pollutants'' like nitrogen oxide but did not believe that greenhouse
gases fell in the same category.”
Scientific knowledge
The state's climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon of Texas A&M,
projects that global warming will reduce Texas' water supply by as
much as 15 percent in the coming decades. But state agencies
have not consulted with him on such climate change data, he said.
General tone
Negative - ''Texas is really at the forefront of this problem,'' ''I call
Texas a 'state of denial,'
Indifferent - ''Given that climate change has been politicized across
the board, it doesn't surprise me at all,''
Actors
Senate Natural Resources Committee
speaking/mentioned
Politicians
Scientists
Cause
of
climate State Republican leaders, however, have questioned whether the
change
earth is warming and that humans are responsible.
Striking features
Disagreement, science acknowledge, politicians do not.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
The Amazon's Floating Fields
Jer Longman; Miriam Wells and Mauricio Lima contributed
reporting.
1150 words
The Amazon and water
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
30
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“As scientists study the impact of deforestation on the Amazon
basin, and the cooling and warming of the Pacific Ocean, extreme
patterns observed over the last 25 or 30 years raise an important
unanswered question”
General tone
Positive - ''I like it here, but the land is better because when you
fall you don't hurt yourself,''
Actors
Scientists
speaking/mentioned
Local people
Cause
of
climate Doubt: Schˆngart said: ''Are these trends human-induced climate
change, or can we explain this with natural variability?''
change
Striking features
Climate change small part of the article
31
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
How El NiÒo Might Alter the Political Climate
Nate Cohn
1081 words
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“Even though atmospheric temperatures are higher than at any
time in the past 4,000 years, surface temperature increases seem
to have slowed down since 1998. The planet has gotten warmer
over the last decade, but climate change skeptics have used this
so-called hiatus or pause in warming to take aim at the accuracy of
the climate models, which appeared to predict more significant
warming than has so far happened.”
“The planet has gotten warmer over the last decade, but climate
change skeptics have used this so-called hiatus or pause in
warming to take aim at the accuracy of the climate models, which
appeared to predict more significant warming than has so far
happened.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Scientists
Local people
Politicians
Cause
of
climate “Marco Rubio, who recently said he did not believe human activity
change
was causing climate change.”
Striking features
“There is some evidence that the number of Americans who don't
believe in global warming has increased by about 7 percentage
points since the pause or hiatus began to gain mainstream news
media attention”
“One-third of Americans don't trust climate scientists, according to
Jon Krosnick of Stanford University, and they make their decisions
about climate change ''based on very recent trends in warming.''
Belief in warming jumps when global temperatures hit record highs;
it drops in cooler years.”
32
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Rubio Denies Humans Have an Effect on Climate Change
Emmarie Huetteman
624 words
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“His comments challenged a major scientific report released
Tuesday that found the effects of human-induced climate change
are being felt in every corner of the United States, from dry regions
where water is becoming more scarce to historically wet regions
that are seeing increases in torrential rains.”
General tone
Neutral
Actors
Politicians
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate ''I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic
change
changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it''
''Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do
is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now
evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely
attributable to man-made activities.''
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Lessons From the Little Ice Age
Geoffrey Parker - history professor at Ohio State University and the
author of ''Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in
the Seventeenth Century.''
988 words
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
33
Scientific knowledge
Neutral – indifference (see cause of climate change, whatever the
cause of climate change, prepare for it)
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate “So while we procrastinate over whether human activities cause
climate change, let us remember the range of climate-induced
change
catastrophes that history shows are inevitable -- and prepare
accordingly.”
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Still Stuck in a Climate Argument
Henry Fountain
759 words
Antarctic sea ice increase
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “Unlike the Arctic, where sharp declines in recent decades in the
of ecology
ice that floats on sea surfaces have been linked to warming, sea
ice in the Antarctic has actually increased, scientists who study the
region say.”
“Scientists say that increases in greenhouse gas concentration in
the atmosphere, as well as depletion of atmospheric ozone, have
changed temperature gradients from the tropics to the poles, which
affects atmospheric circulation.”
Scientific knowledge
''The truth is, we don't fully understand what's going on,''
Doubt - “there was still a lot unknown”
Scientists
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
climate Not convinced, indifferent? – “Whatever the explanation”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
change
Striking features
''The skeptics do have a good point,''
34
Washington Post - Acknowledged
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Study finds cutting down forests immediately harms climate
Dom Philips
682 words
Deforestation
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding "Deforestation is about much more than carbon dioxide. Forests
of ecology
regulate the climate in many ways, and storing CO2 is just one of
them"
"Tropical deforestation on many scales influences local, regional
and even global climate. Deforestation-driven changes to water
availability and climate variability could have strong implications for
agricultural production systems and food security in some regions,"
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Journal Nature Climate Change
Scientists
Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute
National Institute of Space Research
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
Cause
of
climate “But as a report out this week argues, scientists are making the
change
case that cutting down these forests does more than simply release
carbon into the atmosphere - it has a direct and more immediate
effect on the climate, from changes in rainfall patterns to increases
in temperatures.” --> implicitly!
Striking features
“But where scientific opinion diverges is on how forests affect
climate.”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Ancient bones tell tale of climate change
Dan Elliott
578 words
Ancient bones research
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
35
Emerging economies
Global understanding “mastodon tusks grow a little each year, producing rings like trees
of ecology
do, he said. The size of each ring indicates whether times were
good or bad”
Scientific knowledge
“The warmer weather allowed forests to reach about 2,500 feet
farther up the mountainside than today's tree line, which is about
11,500 feet above sea level at the Snowmass site. Forests also
may have been denser, and smaller trees and grasslands might
have been more widespread amid drier conditions.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Scientists
Earth Sciences Department
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Cause
of
climate “It also means that figuring out the effect of human-produced
change
greenhouse gases combined with natural changes might be more
complicated than previously thought. "The point is . . . if we haven't
seen all the natural variability in the system and we are causing
warming, where are we going?" Miller said.” --> small mention, like
it is not a matter of debate anyhow.
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Effects of climate change 'irreversible,' panel says
Joby Warrick + Chris Mooney
1235 words
Report of IPCC on (irreversible) climate change
Industrialized
“The final document to emerge from the latest of five assessments
countries
economic since 1990, it is intended to provide a scientific grounding for world
policies
leaders who will attempt to negotiate an international climate treaty
in Paris late next year.” --> scientific background for policy
“Scientists and policymakers have set a goal of restraining the
average global temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees
Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, on grounds that a higher
increase would change the climate so dramatically that neither
humans nor natural ecosystems could easily adapt.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
“Concentrations of the heat-trapping gas is 40 percent higher than
in pre-industrial times, a level "unprecedented in at least the last
800,000 years," the report states.”
Global understanding "Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further
of ecology
warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate
system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and
irreversible impacts,"
36
“Most of the excess heat is absorbed by the ocean, muting the
effects. Yet, climate change is having profound impacts on "natural
and human systems on all continents and across the oceans," the
panel concluded.”
Scientific knowledge
“the report lays out possible scenarios and warns that the choices
will grow increasingly dire if carbon emissions continue on their
current record-breaking trajectory.”
Negative – “claims about a possible slowing of global warming
may be swept aside by new data”
"The longer we are stuck in a debate over ideology and politics, the
more the costs of inaction grow and grow. Those who choose to
ignore or dispute the science so clearly laid out in this report do so
at great risk for all of us and for our kids and grandkids."
Actors
IPCC
speaking/mentioned
Scientists
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Policymakers
Cause
of
climate “"Human influence on the climate system is clear," the panel states
change
in a 40-page summary intended for policymakers.”
Striking features
Some changes are irreversible
Mentions the debate: “Candidates in several Senate and House
races have clashed over how to respond to climate change and
whether it indeed exists.”
General tone
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Whistleblower over editing of climate-change reports
Juliet Eilperin
928 words
Climate change reports manipulation
Industrialized
“which in December 2007 concluded after a 16-month investigation
countries
economic that the Bush administration had "engaged in a systematic effort to
policies
manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and
the public about the dangers of global warming” --> no policy
because of manipulated information.
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Negative
Climate Policy Analyst
White House Council on Environmental Quality
Politicians
37
Climate Science Watch
World Wildlife Fund
Cause
of
climate “exposed how top-level George W. Bush administration officials
change
edited scientific reports to minimize the link between human activity
and climate change” --> proven but minimized by Bush
adminisitration
Striking features
“The U.S. Global Change Research Program, through which U.S.
government agencies coordinate their support for research on
climate. He quit in March 2005, citing frustration with the Bush
administration's efforts to change the testimony of federal
officials and the reports they submitted documenting the impact of
global warming”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Innovators wresting Earth from human destruction
Barbara J. King
925 words
Book The Human Age
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “Wildlife demographics have changed as a direct result of our
of ecology
world-tampering: Some scientists say that, by 2100, half the world's
plants and animals will be extinct. Meanwhile, birds' biological
clocks tick faster in cities than in the country, and coyotes are likely
to roam those cities, seeking food as we encroach more and more
on their natural habitat and experiencing newly close encounters
with us.”
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Positive, optimistic - "We can become Earth-restorers and Earthguardians. We still have time and talent, and we have a great many
choices."
Actors
Climate change activists
speaking/mentioned
Writer of ‘The Human Age’
Cause
of
climate “Hand in hand with our astonishing scientific and technological
change
progress since the Industrial Revolution and the first significant
fossil-fuel production goes the havoc our species has caused. "The
world is being ravaged by record heat, drought, and floods," as
Ackerman puts it.”
Striking features
38
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
As the world warms
Editorial Board a
659 words
Climate change
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
“the need to slash carbon dioxide emissions over the next several
decades.” --> need of policy, no policy measures mentioned.
Scientific knowledge
“In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
deemed this conclusion "unequivocal," pointing to multiple,
independent lines of evidence, including decades of direct
temperature readings [...] verified this conclusion after a two-year
review of the data.”
“Among many pieces of evidence is the breakneck rate of carbon
dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere, coinciding with measured
temperature rise. Other human "fingerprints" are becoming visible:
Scientists, for example, are seeing a pattern of warming in the
troposphere and cooling in the stratosphere that suggests
greenhouse gases - not, say, variations in solar activity - are the
cause.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Negative
Former sceptic
Scientists
IPCC
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Cause
of
climate “For decades, they've realized humans can affect the climate by
change
burning coal, oil and gas.”
Striking features
Gives reasons for sceptics, but none of these reasons are reason
enough for inaction.
39
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
EPA to seek cuts in coal plants' emissions
Juliet Eilperin + Steven Mufson
1760 words
EPA
Industrialized
“propose a regulation Monday that would cut carbon dioxide
countries
economic emissions from existing coal plants by up to 30 percent by 2030
policies
compared with 2005 levels”
“Other compliance methods could include offering discounts to
encourage consumers to shift electricity use to off-peak hours.” -->
possibility
“The proposal, which would cut 500 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide annually by 2030, ranks as one of Obama's most farreaching climate policies. His previous measures to limit carbon
emissions in cars and light trucks produced between fleet years
2012 and 2025 will cut 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas
emissions over the lifetime of those vehicles.”
In doubt of best policy
Sustainability
“with different approaches to energy efficiency, shifting from coal to
natural gas, investing in renewable energy and making power plant
upgrades”
“energy-efficiency measures to flatten out or even lower electricity
consumption. A March report by the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy looked at efficiency programs in 20
states from 2009 to 2012 and found an average cost of 2.8 cents
per kilowatt hour - about one-half to one-third the cost of alternative
new electricity resource options, the group said.”
Technological
“Opponents, including coal producers, some utilities and many
optimism
Republicans, argue that the EPA is using a novel legal approach to
demand stringent greenhouse gas cuts that are not achievable
given current technology.” --> pessimism?
Emerging economies
Global understanding found that a carbon limit on existing plants would reduce these
of ecology
facilities' sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions by up to 27 percent
and their nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 22 percent by 2020.
Scientific knowledge
The EPA has estimated that, by 2030, the public health and climate
benefits of the rule will outweigh the costs by at least an 8 to 1
ratio, if not higher, according to those briefed on it.
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Environmental Protection Agency
Politicians
World Resource Institute
Energy Information Administration
Scientists
Wind Energy Association
Solar Energy Industries
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
40
Business Forward
Cause
of
climate “the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, which are linked to climate
change
change”
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Hot topic
Editorial Board b
513 words
Climate change consequences
Industrialized
“The best way to cut greenhouse gases would be through a
countries
economic national policy that puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions.”
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“makes clear that global warming is changing a variety of
conditions here - changes that will become more severe as the
average global temperature rises.”
“The country has warmed, and will continue to heat up, by between
3 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, depending
in part on how much the world does to slash emissions. The
country is seeing more hot weather, more torrential rain and higher
sea levels. The Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions have been hit
with heat waves, severe rain and coastal flooding. Areas around
the District are seeing rapid sea-level rise. Other regions, such as
the Southwest, are dealing with pressing water scarcity.”
“A group of experts found that retrofitting existing buildings to better
withstand floods and storms would help in all sorts of future
conditions”
Negative – “Among the injustices [...] will not face the brunt of the
consequences”
“the trends are scary”
Actors
“The United States”
speaking/mentioned
The National Climate Assessment
Journal Science
Scientists
Government
Cause
of
climate “of human-caused climate change is that nations most responsible
change
for filling the atmosphere with heat-trapping carbon dioxide will not
face the brunt of the consequences.”
Shortly fast mentioned
Striking features
General tone
41
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
A pause in global warming does not disprove a human role in
climate change
Bloomberg News
368 words
Climate change existence
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
While the science in some areas of climate change continues to
evolve, man's contribution to warming, sea-level increases and the
decline in Arctic sea ice is "more certain than ever"
"Our expectation as scientists always was to see very complex
changes in the average temperature of the planet, and that's
exactly what we see,"
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
Negative - "more certain than ever", “exactly what we see,"
Scientists
California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
“A pause in the pace of global warming does not invalidate
research that links climate change to human activity”
Argumentation towards deniers – “Global-warming skeptics seized
on what the scientific community calls a "hiatus" in warming as
evidence that concerns over warming are overblown. [...] “due to
natural variability, trends based on short records are very sensitive
to the beginning and end dates and do not in general reflect longterm climate trends.”"
42
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Breathe locally, act globally
Editorial Board c
340 words
Pollution and climate change
Industrialized
See global understanding of ecology
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “Climate change, then, must ultimately be solved by many nations of ecology
particularly the emissions behemoths, the United States and China
- moving in the same direction.” --> also theme 1.
“But there are dozens of cross-border environmental issues, and
they will require overcoming global political tensions and short-term
economic incentives that discourage different countries from
cooperating.”
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
National Academy of Sciences
Scientists
Politicians
Cause
of
climate Implicitly mentioned – “greenhouse gases are thought of as unique
change
among environment-altering emissions, in part because carbon
dioxide released anywhere contributes to global warming
everywhere.”
Striking features
43
Washington Post – Sceptic
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
xxxxxx Fight on climate rules is brewing
Tom Hamburger
1387 words
Fight towards environmental rules of Obama administration
Industrialized
Mentions Obama’s administration environmental policy, but
countries
economic mentions groups that do not agree with that – “delay the federal
policies
rulemaking process”, “build public opposition to an environmental
movement that once had bipartisan support”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Negative/offensive – “Republicans are planning to make the
Environmental Protection Agency a primary political target”, "There
is a palpable anger at the EPA in America", "Mention them, and
you will get laughed out of any coffee shop or feed store in my
district." “ways they could undercut the credibility of the
environmental movement and its leading spokesmen” "Demands
green living. Flies on private jets."
Politicians – republicans / (disagreement with) Obama
administration
American Legislative Exchange Council
climate “James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a vocal denier of science showing a
human role in climate change, sent a letter demanding that the
EPA withdraw the new power-plant limits.”
Striking features
Battle against Obama administration environmental rules
Cause
change
of
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Climate as a moral issue
David Ignatius
800 words
Climate change
Industrialized
Negative reaction towards policy -"carbon emission regulations are
countries
economic creating havoc in my state and other states around the country"
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
44
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Doubt “Is this terrifying future really ahead of us? The honest
answer is that nobody knows.”
“Prominent scientists have become increasingly convinced that the
connection between carbon emissions and rising temperatures is
real, but skeptics have whole truckloads of studies to demonstrate
the opposite.”
General tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral
Scientists
Skeptics
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cause
of
climate They reject or minimize the arguments of leading scientists that
change
such emissions are directly linked to global warming and climate
change and could have catastrophic long-term consequences.
Striking features
“The safe (and conservative) course is to assume the worst.”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
What the planet needed
Eugene Robinson
777 words
Climate policy
Industrialized
Negative towards policies "the latest example of the president's
countries
economic crusade against affordable, reliable energy that is already hurting
policies
jobs and squeezing middle-class families." Sen. Mitch McConnell
(Ky.), soon to be the majority leader, said he was "particularly
distressed" by the deal and said that carbon regulations are already
"creating havoc in my state and other states across the country."
“The problem for Republicans who want to stall climate action is
that Obama can carry out his agenda without them.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Doubt “Can India be persuaded to take any measures at all that
might slow its rush to match China's rapid development?”
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
General tone
Neutral
Actors
Politicians
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate Writers position not clear, mentions deniers “James Inhofe of
change
Oklahoma - a state where coal is not a big industry - has called
climate change a "hoax" and a conspiracy to "shut down this
45
machine called America."”
"God's still up there," Inhofe said on a radio program in 2012. "The
arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able
to change what He is doing in the climate is, to me, outrageous."
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Fears of a water crisis grow
Joby Warrick
2090 words
Water and drought
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
“Scientists are warning that the state's cyclical droughts could
become longer and more frequent as the climate warms.” --> no
mention of climate change
Tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Neutral - doubtfull
Farmers
Scientists
Tehama Colusa Canal Authority
Cause
of
climate Doubt if climate change is happening “But if climate change is
happening, we need to invest in storage, because if we're not
change
seeing white mountains, we need to see blue water."
Striking features
Does barely speak about the cause of the drought, main focus on
consequences.
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Billions of dollars in aid pledged for Africa
Juliet Eilperin + Katie Zezima
1095 words
Industrialized
Positive towards and mentions many policies in supporting Africa
countries
economic energy supplies - “President Obama announced Tuesday that
policies
private companies are providing an additional $12 billion in aid to
the administration's electrification program for Africa, while U.S.
firms will invest more than $14 billion on the continent in sectors
including banking, construction and information technology.”
Sustainability
46
Technological
optimism
“The administration has earmarked $1 billion of the program's funds
for off-grid and small-scale energy solutions over the next five
years, which are overwhelmingly renewable
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
Positive
Politicians
Companies
Implicitly mentions doubt, there is debate – “because of the political
debate on climate change.”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Extreme weather brings . . . maggots
Danielle Paquette
1741 words
Weather changes
Industrialized
“Over the next five years, Chicago will spend $50 million on flood
countries
economic prevention, putting green touches on capital infrastructure projects.”
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
The climate changes but: “direct cause not visible”
Doubtfull – sees the changes, does not acknowledge the direct
connection
Actors
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
speaking/mentioned
City Engineers
Chicago Climate Action Plan
National Climate Assessment
Cause
of
climate Doubt – “nuanced look at climate change and its effects. The report
change
concludes that natural disasters, like floods, are striking harder and
more often. But, beyond anecdotes and weather projections, it
adds, it's hard to link one specific flood to carbon emissions.”
“still fights over whether or not climate change is real”
"Climate change is a political term," said David St. Pierre, executive
director of Chicago's Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. "But
you can't ignore that our weather has changed drastically in the
past five years."
“we cannot attribute any particular weather event to climate
Tone
47
change, some types of extreme events . . . are now more
frequent."
“They've seen the data and the changing weather patterns, but
don't think it suggests any particular cause. They don't blame any
man-made apocalypse.”
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Those right-wing Koch brothers? Closet moderates.
Daniel Schulman
1184 words
Koch brothers
Industrialized
Brothers try to influence – “The brothers have focused their
countries
economic advocacy largely on economic issues, such as blocking passage of
policies
2009's climate bill and pushing for steep decreases in state and
federal spending, but there have been subtle signs that they are
trying to influence other political battles.”
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate Brothers promote scepticism – “stoking skepticism about climate
change
change”
Striking features
Economy more important than climate
48
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Marco Rubio: I am ready to be president
Jamie Fuller
706 words
Marco Rubio, politican
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Tone
Neutral
Actors
Politicians
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic
change
changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it."
Striking features
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
Liberals helping liberals
George F. Will
812 words
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding
of ecology
Scientific knowledge
Sarcasm - “"The science of climate change is leaping out at us like
a scene from a 3-D movie." Leaping scenes? The "absolutely
certain" science is "something that we understand with absolute
assurance of the veracity of that science." And "kids at the earliest
age can understand." No wonder "97 percent" - who did the poll? of climate scientists agree.”
Tone
Sarcastic: “When a politician says, concerning an issue involving
science, that the debate is over, you may be sure the debate is
rolling on and not going swimmingly for his side. Obama is,
49
however, quite right that climate change is a fact. The climate is
always changing”
Actors
Politicians
speaking/mentioned
Bloggers
Newspapers
Cause
of
climate “The climate is always changing”
change
Striking features
“Secretary of State John Kerry, our knight of the mournful
countenance, was especially apocalyptic recently when warning
that climate change is a "weapon of mass destruction."”
Name article
Author
Length
Subject
The myth of 'settled science'
Charles Krauthammer
807 words
‘Settled science’ of climate change
Industrialized
countries
economic
policies
Sustainability
Technological
optimism
Emerging economies
Global understanding “They deal with the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans,
of ecology
argues Dyson, ignoring the effect of biology, i.e., vegetation and
topsoil. Further, their predictions rest on models they fall in love
with”
Scientific knowledge
Negative towards it: “"Climate change is a fact." Really? There is
nothing more anti-scientific than the very idea that science is
settled, static, impervious to challenge.”
“If climate science is settled, why do its predictions keep
changing?”
“And how is it that the great physicist Freeman Dyson, who did
some climate research in the late 1970s, thinks today's climatechange Cassandras are hopelessly mistaken?”
Tone
Actors
speaking/mentioned
Cause
of
climate
change
Striking features
Negative – it can not be settled!
Politicians
Scientists
Doubt; never to be sure, debate “But even worse than the pretense of settledness is the cynical
attribution any politically convenient natural disaster to climate
change”
50