Have public media and journalists contributed to confusion and doubt about climate change? What can/should they do to present science and scientific debate accurately on this topic? The general public relies on media and journalists to get all of their information.  This information can be relayed to the public in a number of ways.  Depending how news is presented, the public forms opinions based on what the media communicates to them.  With topics such as climate change, political variance plays a major role in the scientific debate.  Because politically focused news broadcasters present information based on the political party of which it supports, these contrasting parties create controversy when spreading accurate information to the public.  The science of climate change is not to be debated between divergent parties; the evidence behind … Read entire article »

How can we reconcile the variability of weather with that of climate?  How does our humanness restrict our thinking? I have been taking Environmental Studies courses for as long as I can remember; continually covered in class is the topic of Climate Change.  The first lesson on Climate Change is always the difference between “weather” and “climate.”  The distinction between the two always seems to be a common misconception for us humans.  The general public has a tendency to believe that the terms weather and climate are interchangeable.  In truth, they are quite different.  Weather is defined by the state of the atmosphere with respect to wind, temperature, cloudiness, etc.  Climate, on the other hand, is defined as the composite of prevailing weather conditions in a region, throughout the year, averaged … Read entire article »