Communicating Antarctic Climate Science

• Main Authors: Schroeter, Serena, Lowther, Nick, Kelman, Emma, Marcus, Arnold
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; SCAR
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14304

Many societal-political aspects of climate change act as barriers to positive climate change action. Despite the efforts of scientific researchers, stakeholders and the media, effective and accurate communication of Antarctic science is below an acceptable standard. The findings and implications of high-quality Antarctic climate change science are failing to resonate with civil society and policy makers, dictating the need to reevaluate how members of society cognitively approach the contentious issue of climate change and how current Antarctic science communication resources are distributed. An individual’s worldview, cognitive mindset and religious dogmas in conjunction with misreporting and misinterpretation of climate science are all factors influencing how an individual responds to the climate change message but rarely have they been analysed together as a complete overview. In this report, we introduce a new approach, advising that climate scientists, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders are involved in all stages of science acquisition, legislation and decision making through a targeted boundary committee, strongly integrated with a thorough education, outreach and communication (EOC) approach, within SCAR, and tasked with communicating Antarctic science and its global teleconnections. We draw on the barriers identified through literature investigation to establish this recommendation. The incorporation of a strong EOC approach in climate science communication will provide the catalyst required for substantial climate change action.