Climate science needs more human connection
Photo credit: S Migaj/Pexels.
This week, I joined a session on ‘Demystifying the work of the IPCC’ hosted by Dickinson College. It was part of the International Climate Symposium - Science-based choices for climate action: Insights from the IPCC 6th assessment report.
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) can certainly do with some demystifying. The international body tasked with providing policy makers with regular scientific assessments on climate change is, to many non-specialists, just an acronym - one that pops up in the media from time to time with the latest article on climate change.
Over the years, I have felt that the IPCC can do much better at communicating climate science. The communication material it produces is typically dry and laden with climate change jargon. It’s tough to digest and feels like the domain of climate specialists and policy makers.
One way to build a better connection with non-specialists is to show the human side of the scientists who work on climate change. And that’s what the Demystifying talk did.
At the session, two IPCC report authors — Karen Seto, with the Yale School of the Environment and IPCC Working Group 3, and Alexander Ruane, with NASA/GISS and IPCC Working Group 1 — shared their experiences of working on IPCC reports.
They shared insights into the somewhat arduous task of producing an IPCC report’s summary for policy makers, which is done live with government representatives in the room. They shared about what it’s like to work to deadlines on these mammoth publications, and juggle a team of authors from around the world (all of whom work as volunteers!). They explained how the IPCC does its science and draws its conclusions.
It was great to see some of the humans behind the acronym. I was reminded that there are people doing hard and important work to keep us informed about what’s happening with climate change. These are people who care about science and care about the future of our planet and its people.
Organisations that want to make climate change, and the science behind it, more accessible to non-specialists should look into hosting these types of outreach events. When scientists speak about their work and its implications in a more informal way - it builds connection with a broader audience, showing people the human side of climate science.
I hope to see more of this type of public engagement from the IPCC and other big organisations working on climate change in future.
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Brendon Bosworth is a science communication trainer and the principal consultant at Human Element Communications.