The Science of Climate Change

Chasing Ice

September 4, 2012 | More on The Science of Climate Change, video, youtube | Glaciers | Comment

Latin American scientists can play a greater role in promoting robust climate policies

By Guy Edwards, Victoria Elmore* and Jin Hyung Lee**

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) is underway and is due to be completed by 2013/14. There are 84 Latin American and Caribbean contributing authors out of a total 833.

As we approach the publication date, these scientists have a vital role to play in promoting the importance of climate science in Latin America and persuading governments to create robust and ambitious national and international climate policies. In turn, regional governments should continue increasing levels of funding and scientific cooperation on climate science given the significant role it can play in developing policies on climate.

Climate Change – Bolivia

Admin

February 22, 2012 | More on The Science of Climate Change, video, youtube | Bolivia, Droughts, Floods | Comment

Brazilian Newspapers Give Little Space to Climate Skeptics

Admin

By Carlos Henrique Fioravanti*

A study by Oxford University about media coverage of climate change in six countries indicates that newspapers from Brazil, France, India and China have given less space to climate skeptics than the American and British press.

November 25, 2011 | More on The Science of Climate Change | Brazil, Media | Comment

Poles Apart – The international reporting of climate change scepticism (2011)

Admin

Poles Apart is a wide-ranging comparative study on the prevalence of climate scepticism in the media around the world. It focuses on newspapers in Brazil, China, France, India, the UK, and the USA, but includes an overview of research on the media of other countries. A wealth of new data is drawn from around 3,000 recent articles on climate change from two newspapers in each of the six countries. It concludes that climate scepticism is largely an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon, found most frequently in the US and British newspapers, and explores the reasons why this is so. The study also examines whether climate sceptics are more likely to appear in right leaning than left-leaning newspapers, and in which parts of a newspaper their voices are most heard.

Download

November 16, 2011 | More on International Climate Negotiations, Reading List, The Science of Climate Change | Brazil, China, France, India, Media, UK, USA | Comment

25 tips for climate change journalists

Admin

This post was originally published here by Mike Shanahan.

The following collection is based on training presentations to journalists from around the world, and especially the global South. It includes some tips from journalists Tim Radford and Alex Kirby, who have given permission to include them here.

1. Know your audience. When you sit down to write a story there is only one person that matters and it is not you, not your editor and not the person you just interviewed. It is the reader or listener or viewer – someone who are unlikely to ever meet. They are the most important people in the world. Be familiar with their level of knowledge about climate change and about the things they care most about. If in doubt, assume your audience knows nothing. But never make the mistake of assuming that they are stupid. The classic error in journalism is to over-estimate the audience’s knowledge and under-estimate their intelligence.

Preparation of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report includes 84 Latin American and Caribbean scientists

Guy Edwards

By Victoria Elmore* and Guy Edwards

Over the course of 2013 & 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will publish its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). In 2007 the IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Although there has been some recent controversy surrounding the IPCC, it remains the most authoritative and trusted international scientific body on climate change.

The following list, which is based on information available on the IPCC’s site, profiles all the Latin American and Caribbean scientists involved in the AR5. It is divided up into the three Working Groups and includes the name, country and institution of each scientist from the region. This list raises a number of interesting questions on the current state of investigation on climate change in the region, which we will try and address in another post soon.

May 26, 2011 | More on The Science of Climate Change | Argentina, Cuba, Guatemala, IPCC, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru | Comment