Depolarizing
Climate
Conversations
Aaron Huertas
Science Communications Officer
twitter.com/aaronhu
ahuertas@ucsusa.or
• Why do some people reject climate
science?
• Why do some people who accept it feel
hopeless?
• How can scientists help people overcome
these biases?
Shifting public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010
Robert J. Brulle, Jason Carmichael, J. Craig Jenkins Climatic Change 03 Feb 2012
Los Angeles Times political cartoon 9/26/2012
Finding it really hard to source this one!
Huertas A., Kriegsman R. Science or Spin: Assessing the Accuracy of Cable News Coverage of Climate Science 2013
ucsusa.org/scienceorspin
Hierarchical
Centurion Health Corporation
Individualist
Egalitarian
Archives.gov
Communitarian
High Country Press
Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers, Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky 1982
Perceptions of Scientific Agreement on Climate Change
90
80
70
Experts
agree
60
Experts
disagree
or are
divided
50
40
30
20
10
0
Egalitarian Communitarian
Hierarchical Individualist
Kahan, Dan M., Jenkins-Smith, Hank and Braman, Donald, Cultural Cognition of Scientific
Consensus (February 7, 2010). Journal of Risk Research, Vol. 14, pp. 147-74, 2011
Scientists need to stay true to the science
AND
They have to respect the fact that people have
different values and political ideologies
“As scientists, we’re the map makers.
As policymakers, you’re the
navigators…” -- marine science and
chemistry professor David Hastings
(Eckerd College in Florida)
How is your talk being promoted?
• “Climate change threats to our coasts”
• OR
• “Coastal hazards: erosion, storms,
development and rising seas”
Sequencing – When to bring up
climate?
• Climate change is a hazard on our coasts
• We’ve tracked 10 inches of sea-level rise
historically
• We have a best estimate of 1.3 feet of sealevel rise by 2050
• This is happening alongside coastal threats
from erosion, development, storms
Sequencing – When to bring up
climate?
• We’re already dealing with coastal threats
from erosion, development, storms
• We’ve tracked 10 inches of sea-level rise
historically
• We best estimate of 1.3 feet of sea-level rise
by 2050
• So climate change is an additional hazard on
our coasts that we can prepare for
Military Voices
“The impacts of climate change may
increase the frequency, scale, and
complexity of future missions…” –
Department of Defense Quadrennial
Defense Review
“Climate change is a national security
challenge…it will affect the type,
scope, and location of future Navy
missions.” – U.S. Navy Climate Change
Roadmap
Businesses
“We realize we need to prepare for a future when carbon dioxide
emissions must be reduced.” – Duke Energy
“There is growing recognition that addressing the risk of climate
change will require significant efforts by both the developed and the
developing world.” – Exxon-Mobil
“Energy and climate represent two of the most important business
challenges of this century….” – General Electric
Freedom and Taxes
Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Green Tea Coalition (image from
Green Tea’s facebook profile)
Theleek.com
ucsusa.org/playingwithfire
Pricing carbon can be seen
through multiple political
lenses
Point to “First Responders” in Action
Emphasize Choices, Not Inevitability
UCS: Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment, 2007
Point to Movement, Along with Adequacy
Sanford et al. NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 4 | MARCH 2014
ucsusa.org
CarbonBrief.org
UCSUSA.ORG/ScienceNetwork
twitter.com/aaronhuertas / ahuertas@ucsusa.org
Extra Slides on Dealing with
Misinformation
CDC, Flu Vaccine Facts & Myths
CDC, Flu Vaccine Facts & Myths
Percent of Older Subjects Remembering False Claims as True
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Half Hour Later
Three Days Later
Skepticalscience.com
Skepticalscience.com
UCS background briefing to media on climate misconceptions