Did You Know Facts About Climate Change

March 14, 2022 Post a Comment

New York Times building

The New York Times edifice in New York Urban center.

The New York Times makes a concerted effort to bulldoze home the point that climate change is existent, but it does a poor task of presenting the basic facts nigh climate change that could convince skeptics, co-ordinate to a review of the paper's coverage since 1980.

Public polls show that Americans, whether agreeing or disagreeing with the idea that human activity is changing World'south climate, lack an agreement of the basic facts leading to this conclusion, says climate scientist David Romps, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of earth and planetary science. A big percentage of the public doesn't know that global warming is happening at present, that it'southward caused by record levels of CO₂ from fossil fuel burning, that 99% of climate scientists agree on this and that the changes are effectively permanent.

"If the New York Times isn't doing information technology, my estimate is that it is just non happening across print journalism," Romps said. "One of the hopes is that, past at to the lowest degree pointing this out, information technology might occur to people to accept a look at what kind of context is provided in news coverage of climate change."

Romps and co-author Jean Retzinger, the onetime acquaintance managing director of UC Berkeley'south Media Studies program, published their analysis in the periodical Environmental Research Communications.

five basic facts about climate change

The five facts everyone should know about climate change and global warming.

Later on more than than a decade of research focused on how climate alter affects the atmosphere — in item, clouds and lightning — Romps became frustrated nigh the public'due south lack of bones knowledge of the science that underlies the 99% consensus among climate scientists.

"The notion that there is a scientific consensus has been referred to as a gateway belief by people who written report how the public thinks about climate change," Romps said. "They find that, if you can get people to understand that fact, information technology kind of pries the door open and makes them open to learning more and potentially changing their minds."

Even so, equally of 2019, the fact of a scientific consensus is mentioned in a mere 4% of Times articles about climate change, he and Retzinger found. The fact that nosotros are experiencing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that haven't been seen in millions of years — and never before in human history — is mentioned in but one% of the paper's articles.

Times coverage of climate facts

The percentage of climate change manufactures in the New York Times since 1980 that mention five basic facts nearly global warming. (Graphic by David Romps, UC Berkeley)

And the fact that climate change is permanent is mentioned in simply 0.iv% of articles.

"We are talking nearly an alteration of the planet's climate, and in all of my conversations with people, no one has ever asked me how long it lasts," Romps said. "I don't empathise how people can have any sort of stance about global warming without knowing that fact: that information technology is effectively permanent. The fourth dimension scale for drawing the CO₂ bibelot back downwards to where it was 50 years ago is on the order of 100,000 years, x times longer than human civilization. So it is, for all intents and purposes, permanent. And each additional increment of warming is effectively permanent."

Lack of facts sows confusion

A quaternary climate-alter fact he looked at — that CO_ii produced by fossil fuel burning creates a greenhouse effect that warms the planet — was mentioned in only 0.1% of the articles. Many people confuse the effects of carbon dioxide with the ozone hole, which is caused by chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigerators, or think that warming is due to the rut produced by burning oil and gas.

Times mentions of mechanism and immediacy of climate change

Two key facts – that climate change is already happening and that carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning is causing it – have received the about ink in New York Times articles, though mention of the latter has dropped to almost zero in recent years. The other three facts were hardly ever mentioned in the newspaper'southward news articles about climate change. The dots indicate the percentage of articles containing these facts in each year, while the blue is a measure of doubt. (Graphic by David Romps, UC Berkeley)

His data testify that, in the 1980s, when the concept of global warming was notwithstanding new to many readers, the Times oft referred to the mechanism of greenhouse warming and did so, in some years, in every commodity. Only 20 years later, this mechanism is seldom mentioned, despite a whole new generation of readers.

The only fact mentioned regularly — in nearly i-tertiary of all articles — is that the effects of climatic change are existence felt now. But of the 600 news manufactures mentioning climate change over the 38-year period, the vast majority contained none of the five bones climate facts. This occurred despite the ease with which the basic facts of climate scientific discipline were embedded in manufactures that did mention these facts.

"Nosotros take this major problem: that people don't seem to accept a solid grasp of the fundamental ideas. And why would that be?" he asked. "There has been a well-funded campaign to spread misinformation and sow doubt nigh global warming, which has been very successful. On the other hand, climate scientists are non necessarily out there communicating effectively to the public."

"After you terminate school, you learn well-nigh scientific discipline primarily through the news," he added. "And if you are not getting appropriate context from that news coverage, you are going to exist confused."

Romps is embarking on an experiment to effort to change this, partnering with UC Berkeley'south Graduate School of Journalism to offering fellowships to student environmental writers to discuss with climate scientists the bones facts nearly climate change and how best to convey them within news manufactures. If this proves effective in irresolute public understanding, it could open up the door to a broader national discussion of climate alter coverage in the media.

Paper of record

To assess whether the basic facts behind the scientific consensus most climate change are being communicated through the media, Romps and Retzinger focused on perhaps the number one paper of record in the nation, the Times.

timeline of Times climate coverage

The 597 climate-change articles published by the New York Times since 1980 show consistent coverage of the upshot, with peaks during significant news events. (Graphic by David Romps, UC Berkeley)

"Nosotros chose the New York Times because it certainly has this reputation of being excellent in roofing ecology problems and climate alter, and I personally retrieve it's one of the best," he said. "At the same time, I had this feeling from having read stories on climate that they didn't convey the basic facts to readers, and that that might be a problem."

They enlisted the aid of a dozen undergraduate students to review New York Times articles mentioning climatic change that were published between 1980 and 2018, in search of the cardinal words employed when mentioning 5 bones facts: the consensus, mechanism, longevity, magnitude and immediacy of climate change.

They then searched for all articles that included these key words, and Romps read each 1 to judge whether or non information technology mentioned these five facts.

"I don't call back that everyone learning the bones facts I take outlined here is a solution in itself. But I practice believe information technology is a necessary condition," he said. "We are not going to brand the progress nosotros need until everyone from both political parties, from rural and urban areas, from all states, have the fact that global warming is happening, it is caused past us, and that the solution is to stop called-for fossil fuels. These are the basic facts that climate scientists know, policy wonks know, only somehow the broader public does non quite appreciate yet."

In addition to his efforts to improve communicate the facts of climate change, Romps hopes to set an example for those wanting to reduce their carbon footprint. Last year, he refused to fly to an awards presentation, and since January has not flown to any scientific meetings — a big driblet from his typical yearly air mileage topping 100,000 miles. He'd like to deliver scientific papers to colleagues via video streaming, but this is non still an accustomed practice at almanac meetings.

Yet, he is heartened by younger people speaking out, and he supports the Sept. 20 worldwide climate strike, including a UC Berkeley rally at xi a.m. in Sproul Plaza with talks by students and faculty. While Romps that day will exist instruction his undergraduate course on the science of climate change, he plans to attend the rally and encourages his students to do the aforementioned.

"Being a climate scientist can be a adequately depressing occupation," Romps said. "But seeing young people stand upwards and make their voices heard is really quite encouraging. There is hope. The youth have been heeding the phone call, and we demand grown-ups to kickoff heeding the phone call, too."

This written report was supported by the National Science Foundation (1535746) and the National Institute for Climate Pedagogy.

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