The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media

Profiles

Wesleyan University’s Gary Yohe:
On Carbon Costs, Media, and Not ‘Looking Silly’

By Christine Woodside | June 25, 2009

Wesleyan’s Gary Yohe: Coverage Better…But Still ‘Spotty’

Economist Gary Yohe is no newcomer to the costs and benefits of combating climate change.

For decades, the Wesleyan University mathematician-turned-economist has been calculating the price of climate change - what it would cost the economy if countries act, or don’t, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a senior member of the Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Yohe shares with his IPCC colleagues a fair claim on the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and he has emerged from his academic milieu into a more public one.

Notable … and Quotable

Encounter a catchy or “keeper” quotation about climate change and climate change communications over the preceding few weeks? Let us know, and we’ll include it in this new feature we call ‘Notable … and Quotable.’

The quotes have to be on-point, concise, meaty, self-standing … and not so overtly partisan that they would demand clarification, elaboration, or further context. Here are a few examples that we think meet these standards. Do you know the source of the individual quotations, and can you link the quotations with those responsible for the specific quotation?

Media

Polls and Surveys Grab Media Headlines;
But Beware Polling Pitfalls on Climate Change

By John Wihbey | June 16, 2009

Public opinion polls and surveys are attention getters, headline grabbers.

Reporters and editors love them. Sometimes they should learn to hate them … or at least to approach each new one with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Science

Coming to a Museum Near You?

Museums Moving to Fill Gap
On Climate Information, Education

By Julie Halpert | June 16, 2009

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Questions … and answers … on causes and impacts of climate change: no longer primarily the domain of mainstream news organizations.

Wander through The California Academy of Science’s “Altered States: Climate Change in California” exhibit.

View exhibits illustrating potential damages from climate change to local resources like The Sierras AND the California coastline. Consider the potential impacts on eco-tourism.

Take notes, recording your ideas on how to solve the climate challenge. You’ll need them for when you walk over to the museum’s Carbon Café, where you can determine the carbon footprint of any meal you might select.

Media

In Discussing (OUCH!) Climate Change, Global Warming

A Word is a Word is a Word?
Not When it Comes to … Pick the ‘Right’ Word

By Bud Ward | June 16, 2009

Praise, scorn, and even some good-natured (?) ridicule are greeting a consulting firm’s advice to “climate solutions advocates” on how to better package their climate change messages.

Essays

Pro, Con, Oh-Well Views Voiced

Waxman-Markey House Bill
Demands Cautious Media Analysis

By Bud Ward | June 4, 2009

In a 24/7 “breaking news” world, here’s a show stopper for those carrying the burden of informing their audiences about the climate change “fixes” now under consideration on Capitol Hill.

Go. But go slowly, prudently, carefully. But don’t dawdle. By Washington standards, the legislation is moving forward at breakneck speed.

Science

Absolute Certainty ... Elusive

That Storm, That Cold Day, That Drought …
How Scientists Try to Evaluate Links to Warming

By Mark Schrope | June 4, 2009

These days it seems as if a single hot or cold day is all it takes to inspire a reporter or politician to blame the mercury’s position on global warming, or, alternatively, claim it as proof that global warming doesn’t exist. More extreme events such as hurricanes or floods inspire even more headlines and comments … and political punditry.

Policy

What Humans Might Learn from Marmots and Picas

Berkeley Professor Barnosky’s Harrowing ‘Heatstroke’: Changing Concepts of Nature in a Warmer Atmosphere

By Bruce Lieberman | June 4, 2009

In the summer of 1988, as Yellowstone National Park burned and congressional hearings on global warming were being held in a sweltering Washington D.C., Tony Barnosky was digging into the floor of a Colorado cave.

Traveling back in time, as he wrote in his new book, Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming, Barnosky was uncovering ecosystems long gone - each shaped by changes in Earth’s climate.

Policy

Was an ‘Historic’ EPA Ruling on GHGs
Reflected by Historically Good Coverage?

By Christine Woodside | May 19, 2009

A recent Environmental Protection Agency finding that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations” prompted references to an “historic” action in many headlines and news stories.

But whether the coverage surrounding that April decision was historic in terms of its quality, depth, and thoroughness … that is another question.

Media

Q&A with UCS President Kevin Knobloch
On Climate Science, Policy, Communications

By Lisa Palmer | May 19, 2009

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UCS President
Kevin Knobloch

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - After eight years of battling the Bush administration to preserve the integrity of science and inform public policy on environmental and nuclear issues, Union of Concerned Scientists President Kevin Knobloch is not taking a rest. Instead, he’s amplifying efforts to communicate about climate change action, especially in the upcoming legislative effort.

Lisa Palmer caught up with Knobloch at UCS headquarters recently for The Yale Forum to talk about climate, the economy, and getting scientists to understand the media.

From The Editor

Features

NEWS NOTES