Baylor Fox-Kemper, co-author of a new study looking at how climate scientists communicate risk, explains why prompting urgent action on climate change is often so difficult despite the dire consequences.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - A new study authored by an international group of climate scientists, including an expert at Brown University, found that climate scientists have long struggled to find the best ways to present crucial facts about future sea level rise to policymakers, stakeholders and the general public.
But on a positive note, they have started to improve that ability in recent years.
The study analyzed decades of language and graphics used in the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate assessment reports, highlighting areas of success and identifying areas where language can be improved. This includes language communicating uncertainty that surrounds future sea level projections, which the analysis found has often been oversimplified or confusing in reports and could potentially lead policymakers to underestimate outcomes and alter plans that counter some of the worst effects of rising waters.
Baylor Fox-Kemper, a professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences who is affiliated with the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, is among the authors of the new study, which was published in Nature Climate Change. He also served as the coordinating lead author of the oceans, ice and sea-level rise chapter in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Physical Science Basis Report. He shared details about key findings from this latest study and why it's so difficult to prompt urgent action when communicating about climate change.
