Current:Home > ContactEnough With The Climate Jargon: Scientists Aim For Clearer Messages On Global Warming -Golden Horizon Investments
Enough With The Climate Jargon: Scientists Aim For Clearer Messages On Global Warming
View
Date:2025-04-16 10:30:03
Here's a sentence that's basically unintelligible to most people: Humans must mitigate global warming by pursuing an unprecedented transition to a carbon neutral economy.
A recent study found that some of the most common terms in climate science are confusing to the general public. The study tested words that are frequently used in international climate reports, and it concluded that the most confusing terms were "mitigation," "carbon neutral" and "unprecedented transition."
"I think the main message is to avoid jargon," says Wändi Bruine de Bruin, a behavioral scientist at the University of Southern California and the lead author of the study. "That includes words that may seem like everyone should understand them."
For example, participants in the study mixed up the word "mitigation," which commonly refers to efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the word "mediation," which is a way to resolve disputes. And even simple terms such as "carbon" can be misleading, the study found. Sometimes, carbon is shorthand for carbon dioxide. Other times, it's used to refer to multiple greenhouse gases.
"As experts in a particular field, we may not realize which of the words that we're using are jargon," says Bruine de Bruin.
The study is the latest indication that scientists need to do a better job communicating about global warming, especially when the intended audience is the general public.
Clear climate communication gets more important every day because climate change is affecting every part of life on Earth. Nurses, doctors, farmers, teachers, engineers and business executives need reliable, accessible information about how global warming is affecting their patients, crops, students, buildings and businesses.
And extreme weather this summer — from floods to fires, hurricanes to droughts — underscores the urgency of clear climate communication.
"I think more and more people are getting concerned because of the extreme weather events that we're seeing around us," says Bruine de Bruin. "I hope that this study is useful to climate scientists, but also to journalists and anybody who communicates about climate science."
Better communication is a mandate for the team of scientists currently working on the next National Climate Assessment, which is the most comprehensive, public-facing climate change report for the U.S. The fifth edition of the assessment comes out in late 2023.
"You shouldn't need an advanced degree or a decoder ring to figure out a National Climate Assessment," says Allison Crimmins, the director of the assessment.
Crimmins says one of her top priorities is to make the information in the next U.S. report clear to the general public. Climate scientists and people who communicate about climate science have a responsibility to think about the terminology they use. "While the science on climate change has advanced, so has the science of climate communication, especially how we talk about risk," she says.
Crimmins says one way to make the information clearer is to present it in many different ways. For example, a chapter on drought could include a dense, technical piece of writing with charts and graphs. That section would be intended for scientists and engineers. But the same information could be presented as a video explaining how drought affects agriculture in different parts of the U.S., and a social media post with an even more condensed version of how climate change is affecting drought.
The United Nations has also tried to make its climate change reports more accessible.
The most recent report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was more than 3,900 pages long and highly technical, but it also included a two-page summary that stated the main points in simple language, such as, "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land."
But even the simple summary is rife with words that can be confusing. For example, one of the so-called headline statements from the IPCC report is, "With further global warming, every region is projected to increasingly experience concurrent and multiple changes in climatic impact-drivers." Basically, the climate will keep changing everywhere as Earth gets hotter.
veryGood! (92)
Related
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- 'I'm shooketh': Person finds Lego up nose nearly 26 years after putting it there as kid
- Ohio city continues to knock down claims about pets, animals being eaten
- Shohei Ohtani pitching in playoffs? Dodgers say odds for return 'not zero'
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Man pleads guilty in Indiana mall shooting that wounded one person last year
- Cher drops bid to be appointed son Elijah Blue Allman's conservator
- We shouldn't tell Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to retire. But his family should.
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Pennsylvania high court rules against two third-party candidates trying for presidential ballot
Ranking
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Ariana Grande's Boyfriend Ethan Slater Finalizes Divorce From Lilly Jay
- Lil Tay's Account Says She's Been Diagnosed With a Heart Tumor One Year After Death Hoax
- Still adjusting to WWE life, Jade Cargill is 'here to break glass ceilings'
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- No ‘Friday Night Lights': High school football games canceled in some towns near interstate shooting
- Workers who assemble Boeing planes are on strike. Will that affect flights?
- Ohio city continues to knock down claims about pets, animals being eaten
Recommendation
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
Fani Willis skips a Georgia state Senate hearing while challenging subpoena
A cat named Drifter is safe after sneaking out and getting trapped in a sewer for nearly 8 weeks
Why is Mike Tyson fighting Jake Paul? He says it's not about the money
Have Dry, Sensitive Skin? You Need To Add These Gentle Skincare Products to Your Routine
The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray wolves
Cher drops bid to be appointed son Elijah Blue Allman's conservator
Oregon DMV mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens to vote since 2021