Abstract
Blame the messenger, not the scientist. Scientists have warned us about the consequences of burning fossil fuels since a simple experiment from Eunice Newton Foote in 1857, but when it comes to climate change, there’s a substantial gap between understandin1 and the truth. Isn’t that a failure of communication?
The latest research from Yale and George Mason Universities shows only 61% of Americans understand both that climate change is happening and that it’s also caused by humans. Despite any disbelief or mistrust, the science is clear. More than 99% of the world’s climatologists agree that our planet’s rapid warming is being driven by anthropogenic factors. Yet a supermajority of Americans (67%) do not understand the full impact of climate change on our weather. Warmer oceans and a warmer atmosphere are driving increases in frequency, intensity, and destruction from extreme weather events, and still, new research shows only one- third of Americans are “alarmed” about what’s happening, among the lowest level of concern in the world. I argue that the disconnect is, in part, due to our collective shortcomings in how we communicate and distinguish the signs of climate change from everyday weather and natural cycles. In my role as a climate journalist for NBCUniversal, I explored different topics and approaches to storytelling. How do we know climate change is caused by humans? What does that mean? What can we do about it? How is a warmer planet changing our weather? These reports aired nationally on NBC stations, NBC News Now, and various digital platforms. One of my biggest takeaways from the past few months is that climate reporting should be brief — no more than two and a half minutes but, ideally, 60 to 90 seconds. As younger Americans rely primarily on social platforms for news and information, they’re becoming accustomed to watching an entire story in far less time than before. It’s fair to say many people are focused more on their immediate matters of daily life rather than climate change. These 10 factors present immense challenges for science communicators but not insurmountable ones. Mark Twain famously noted, “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” And since our time to adequately address global warming is running short, moving forward, I will prioritize the time required to concisely communicate climate change and how it’s influencing our weather.