Communicating Climate Change

1. Communicating Climate Change Frank Niepold, NOAA Climate Program Office Climate Education and Literacy (frank.niepold@noaa.gov)

2. Why do we need to “create” a climate literate public? Climate Mission Goal Second Outcome “Climate-sensitive sectors and the climate-literate public effectively incorporating NOAA’s climate products into their plans and decisions” NOAA’s FY 2006-2001 Strategic Plan • Why is NOAA’s climate goal engaged in science literacy? • Where is the climate goal developing a climate literate public? • “NOAA’s mission is directed at serving our Nation’s need for oceanic and atmospheric information to support economic, social, and environmental prosperity. Fulfilling this mission requires more than the delivery of accurate and precise scientific information; it also demands a public that is sufficiently empowered to translate scientific information into appropriate actions to protect lives, property, and the environment.” • General John J. Kelly Deputy Under Secretary, NOAA

3. Public Scientific Literacy Why Should NOAA Conduct Education and Outreach? Scientific Knowledge The Public is currently operating on a 5th grade level understanding of science Based on AAAS Project 2061 Analysis

4. Public Scientific Literacy Scientific Knowledge Why Should NOAA Conduct Education and Outreach? Scientific Knowledge “If we have no scientific breakthroughs in science in the next ten years, we could still diminish the gap between what we know today and what the public knows.” NOAA Climate Modeler Public Scientific Literacy Literacy Effort Reduce Literacy Gap

5. Methodologies for Environmental Literacy

6. BLOOM-BASED MODEL WIGGENS-BASED MODEL EVALUATION SELF- KNOWLEDGE SYNTHESIS INFORMED DECISION MAKING ANALYSIS EMPATHY LITERACY APPLICATION PERSPECTIVE KNOWLEDGE COMPREHENSION APPLICATION KNOWLEDGE INTERPRETATION AWARENESS EXPLANATION Literacy is… …a continuum of competency SIMPLIFIED MODEL Based on the work completed by the NOAA Education Council’s Environmental Literacy Outcomes Working Group (2006)

7. WEATHER & WATER COMM & TRANS CLIMATE ECOSYSTEMS INFORMED DECISION MAKING LITERACY KNOWLEDGE AWARENESS NOAA Environmental LiteracyExpectations for the Current Public • E-Lit expectations, so the current general public is reflected in the mission goal requirements for E-Lit. • Approach: Audience-specific

8. What does an Environmental Literacy Person Look like? At NOAA, Environmental Literacy is a process of lifelong learning about of the environment’s influence on you and your influence on the environment. An environmentally literate individual: • appreciates and values the natural world; • has a comprehensive understanding of the relationship & interdependence of humans, oceans, coasts, and the atmosphere in the global ecosystem; • uses NOAA science to make informed decisions regarding the environment and its resources.

9. NOAA Environmental Literacy Audiences “an informed society” encompasses all FUTURE and CURRENT public sectors, e.g., • General Public • Comprised of many different audience that require differentiated communication “products” • Students (e.g., K-12, postsecondary) • Business & Economic Leaders • Others • Decision Makers • Stakeholders • Policy Makers/Civic Leaders • Resource Managers • Scientists, Engineers, Technical Experts

10. A New Communications Approach for a Public Climate Education Campaign • Repetition and simultaneity: Repeated exposure to the messages would be especially important, and simultaneous reception from multiple sources would favor success. • Visual drama: Dramatic visual portrayals of climate change are persuasive, even in animated form • Message discipline: Even though different messages would be
crafted for different target audiences, it is important to discipline the overall effort with a coordinated set of core messages so that the impact is cumulative and reinforcing. • Pre-testing: Messages should be pre-tested, using not just standard qualitative focus groups, but also quantitatively rigorous methodologies. • Measurable outcomes: Baseline measurements of beliefs and attitudes should be performed before the start of the effort and measured against results afterward. • Avoiding duplication: It will be vital to ensure that all the key players in all key domains are on board with this strategy and not institutionally threatened by it.

11. Effective Communications about Global Warming A useful model proposes that seriousness judgments about global warming are a function of beliefs that require the following aspects: • Existence of global warming, • beliefs about whether global warming is a problem are a function of relevant personal experiences (with the weather) and messages from informants (in this case, scientists), • Attitudes toward it, • attitudes toward global warming are a function of particular perceived consequences of global warming • The certainty with which these beliefs and attitudes are held, • certainty about these attitudes and beliefs is a function of knowledge and prior thought • Beliefs about human responsibility for causing global warming and • People’s ability to remedy it. Survey data point to psychological mechanisms that may be responsible for the public’s assessments of national problem importance and on public policy preferences.