Hope Or Fear For The Climate Fight?

Does hope inspire more action on climate change than fear? We don’t know. On climate change communications, the science really isn’t settled.

David Roberts, December 5, 2017 (VOX)

Editor’s note: As always, David has written a piece that is worth the time it takes to click through and read in full.

“…[The most read article in New York magazine history ignited heated debate around two distinct but often often conflated or confused issues.] The first has to do with the role of emotion in climate change communication…The second has to do with the role of climate scientists in refereeing public climate debates…To make a long story short: We don’t know much of anything about how messages affect people, so everybody’s better off just doing the best they can…[A study concluded that] people have characterized the role of emotion rather too crudely…[The resulting] uncertainty suggests humility — a humility advocates have not always displayed [is needed]…Every individual is different, and emotional responses to particular images or messages [vary]…Climate scientists are of course welcome to weigh in on such matters…[but] should be careful not to smuggle subjective judgments under the banner of [scientific objectivity]…” click here for more

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