Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change

by Edited by Susanne C. Moser , Lisa Dilling

• ISBN13: 9780521049924
• ISBN10: 052104992X
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-10
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The need for effective communication, public outreach and education to increase support for policy, collective action and behaviour change is ever present, and is perhaps most pressing in the context of anthropogenic climate change. This book is the first to take a comprehensive look at communication and social change specifically targeted to climate change. It is a unique collection of ideas examining the challenges associated with communicating climate change in order to facilitate societal response. It offers well-founded, practical suggestions on how to communicate climate change and how to approach related social change more effectively. The contributors of this book come from a diverse range of backgrounds, from government and academia to non-governmental and civic sectors of society. The book is accessibly written, and any specialized terminology is explained. It will be of great interest to academic researchers and professionals in climate change, environmental policy, science communication, psychology, sociology and geography.

Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

List of contributors

List of tables

List of figures

List of text boxes

Introduction

Communicating Climate Change

Weather or climate change?

Communicating the risks of global warming: American risk perceptions, affective images and interpretive communities

More bad news: the risk of neglecting emotional responses to climate change information

Public scares: changing the issue culture

The challenge of trying to make a difference using media messages

Listening to the audience: San Diego hones its communication strategy by soliciting residents' views

The climate-justice link: communicating with low-income and minority audiences

Postcards from the (not so) frozen North: talking about climate change in Alaska

Climate change: a moral issue The Rev.

Einstein, Roosevelt, and the atomic bomb: lessons learned for scientists communicating climate change

Across the great divide: supporting scientists as effective messengers in the public sphere

Dealing with climate change contrarians

A role for dialogue in communication about climate change

Information is not enough

Facilitating Social Change

Stuck in the slow lane of behavior change? A not-so-superhuman perspective on getting out of our cars

Consumption behavior and narratives about the good life

Educating for 'intelligent environmental action' in an age of global warming

Education for global responsibility

Changing the world one household at a time: Portland's 30-day program to lose 5,000 pounds

Changing organizational ethics and practices toward climate and environment

Change in the marketplace: business leadership and communication

The market as messenger: sending the right signals

Making it easy: establishing energy efficiency and renewable energy as routine best practices

Forming networks, enabling leaders, financing action: the Cities for Climate Change ProtectionTM campaign

Ending the piecemeal approach: Santa Monica's comprehensive plan for sustainability

States leading the way on climate change action: the view from the Northeast

West Coast Governors' Global Warming Initiative: using regional partnerships to coordinate climate action

Building social movements

Climate litigation: shaping public policy and stimulating debate

The moral and political challenges of climate change

Creating a Climate for Change

An ongoing dialogue on climate change: The Boulder Manifesto

Toward the social tipping point: creating a climate change

About the authors

Index

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