Communicating climate change

Tom Yulsman is in the business of educating the media about climate change.

Speaking to the Boulder Rotary Club in an Earth Day program, Yulsman, a faculty member of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said surveys show that a majority of the public says yes, the earth is warming and human activity is at least partly to blame – but that the importance of this issue is not great.

 Given the strong views promulgated by many about climate change, Yulsman asked, "How have the media provided information about global warming, its causes and its importance?"

He reviewed evidence that warming is a fact, citing the melting of glaciers and ice pack and the rise in carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.

By the way, Yulsman said Boulderites can stop talking about our own local Arapahoe Glacier – it's been downgraded to the category of a snowfield.

The human responsibility for warming is supported by the facts that the extensive burning of fossil fuels coincides with the start of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, and by the discovery of the "greenhouse" effect of a small concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

So why should there be controversy about global warming and climate change?

Yulsman pointed to a number of reasons. One is the lack of deep scientific knowledge among the general population.

“Science usually deals with probabilities,” he said. “By its nature it can never completely exclude any possibility."

That's a sophisticated concept, quite at odds with our desire to know for certain – certainly beyond a reasonable doubt.

Another reason is individual variations in values. Yulsman cited two opposing views on values: one person emphasizes independence in action, another prefers collaboration in solving problems.

 "The media have often described as a scientific disagreement what is in fact a values disagreement,” he said. “Some have a bias toward seeking individual independence, others look for colleagues to help, and these value judgments affect how information – particularly probabilistic scientific information – is interpreted."

The media also have their own problems that affect how they work with sophisticated information. News media revenue in general is down about 23 percent over the most recent two-year period, which has affected the availability of journalists skilled in obtaining, digesting and writing about difficult subjects.

 "Specialist reporters and writers have had to be replaced by generalists because revenue can support fewer writers overall," Yulsman said. In addition, media coverage is often affected by the idea of "balanced reporting" – there must be two sides to every story, even if one represents a fringe belief.

So what about the bottom line on global warming and climate change? Yulsman believes that the media could do a better job, but notes the complexity of both the job and of the resources available.

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