Forum on Public Policy 1 Climate Change and Sustainability: Connecting Atmospheric, Ocean and Climate Science with Public Literacy

• Main Authors: Mary Louise Batteen, Timothy Peter Stanton, Wieslaw Maslowski
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Climate change
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.577.7386; http://www.forumonpublicpolicy.com/summer08papers/archivesummer08/batteen.pdf

Climate has changed throughout Earth‟s history, sometimes slowly, sometimes abruptly. Organisms have either adapted to the changes or have ceased to exist. From a human perspective, climate change may profoundly influence civilization. To make responsible decisions about adaptations to climate change including sustainability, the public must understand climate change. The trouble with gaining this understanding is two-fold. From a scientific perspective, the dynamics of coupled atmosphere, ocean and climate processes responsible for climate change are complex and are still being systematically investigated. From a public perspective, one needs to learn enough about the complex climate change processes to ensure human life remains sustainable. Here we focus on some of the processes related to the ocean‟s role in modulating and regulating climate and environmental changes, using the Arctic Ocean as a key example. We then present the public‟s perception of climate change from press articles, including one stating that the Arctic Ocean could soon be ice-free during summertime. Finally we show attempts to bridge the gap between science and the press through atmospheric, ocean and climate literacy programs to help the public make scientifically informed, responsible decisions about climate change and to advance understanding of the impacts of climate change and sustainability.