Climate Change: The Sciences, the Media, and Politics

1463 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: media coverage on climate change

The roles of science, the media, and politics greatly influence public opinion and understanding of the world around us. These three spheres of information and action are invariably linked when discussing complex global issues like climate change. However, the presentation and resolution of disagreement within the three spheres is incredibly independent. The many ways that climate change, specifically the debate on the existence of climate change, is portrayed within these spheres can greatly affect public emotion, knowledge, and policy of such an issue. This is particularly evident in the United States (US) (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007). This paper attempts to briefly outline the portrayal and settlement of the debate on the existence of climate change within the three spheres of the sciences, the media, and politics. In the field of science, a well defined procedure exists to create scientific debate and controversy. The procedure begins with the scientific method, a generalized series of steps used to collect data and accept or reject hypotheses. It is important to note that the scientific method exists not only to prove ideas, but also to disprove them and to continually build upon understandings. From data collection and interpretation of the results, a synthesis of the experiment and discoveries made are submitted for peer-review. The peer-review process is formal review from other professionals in the scientific community, and is used to attribute credibility and academic quality to an article prior to publishing (UVictoria). Legitimate arguments in the sciences are based on data and, “sustained debate within the broader scientific community” (Egger & Carpi, 2010). Thecontinued interest and skepticism in the scientific commun... ... middle of paper ... ...Works "Science" HowStuffWorks, Inc. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. . Seymour, Julia A. "U.S., European Media Worlds Apart on Climate Change." Reuters.com Article Worries 'U.S., European Media' 'Worlds Apart' on Climate Change. Media Research Center - Business & Media Institute, 07 July 2011. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. . "What Does Peer-review Mean?" UVic Library. University of Victoria, 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. . "The Discovery of Global Warming." Introduction - Summary. American Institute of Physics, May 2010. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. .

Show More
Related

  • The Media's Misrepresentation of Environmental Issues

    1989 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today’s mainstream media has a deep influence on numerous aspects of economical and social life, it provides information and data almost on everything that happens on our planet. Mainstream media became one of the most important and influential instruments in our society, as the news stories reach a large numbers of people in a short time. Different people are using mainstream media as a first source of information; humans need the information, which is why there is a great deal of trust on media. We follow the news because it is our duty as citizens to be informed; it gives us the facts that help us make the right decisions and also gives us something to talk about. The media has a great public responsibility in front of their audience; therefore, they are expected to provide information that is accurate, reliable and free from bias. It is essential that the public is truly informed about the controversial topics on environmental issues, like DDT and GMOs. Media informs the public with regard to science and technology, which further impacts policy making within the society. The drawback with today’s mainstream media is that it tends to provide information that is far from what is happening in the real world. Current news media misrepresent some news report in order to gain attention and they omit the most important news from television, newspapers or radio that the public deserves to know. The articles “Environmentalism for the 21st Century” by Dr. Patrick Moore, “Rachel Carson’s Environmental Genocide” by Lisa Makson, “Lawrence Solomon: For global warming believers, 2013 was the year from Hell” by Lawrance Solomon and “Global warming at work: how climate change affects the economy and labour” by Raveena Aulakh will be discussed ...

    Read More

  • Censoring Science

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Messenger, E., Gooch, J., & Seyler, D. U. (2011). Arguing About Science. Argument! (pp. 396-398). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill Co..

    Read More

  • Climate Change: Overstated and Misunderstood

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, some scientists are skeptical about the consensus on climate change. This can be compared to a situation in ancient times, where the majority of people believed the earth was flat, and only a minority dared to question that consensus. These challengers note that something not known is how much does the earth’s atmosphere respond to added carbon dioxide (McNider and Christy). This means that no one has any idea of what CO2 levels did to the earth’s climate before meaningful history. So, as many sci...

    Read More

  • Daubert Vs Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals: Peer Review

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    Reviewers play a significant role in scholarly publications. Peer reviews support the validation of research, institutes a way by which it can be assessed, and increases interaction opportunities within research groups. Regardless of criticism, peer review is a commonly recognized technique for research authentication. A peer review is typically conducted by an experienced group of peers that share similar vested interest amongst the reviewers. The assigned peers perform reviews of appropriate rigor and detail of pertinent functional elements including examination of content, identification of issues that potentially hinder achievement of objectives, and recognize and correct

    Read More

  • The Low Information Rationality Model

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is common for an individual to mentally categorize controversial topics, such as climate change, in order to efficiently form their opinions on the matter. Often, it is the case that controversial science becomes politicized and categorized into party affiliations. More than 85% of Americans agree that “even if it brings no immediate benefits, scientific research that advances the frontiers of knowledge is necessary and should be supported by federal government” according to the National Science Board (2008). Ame...

    Read More

  • The Psychological Ramifications of Global Environmental Change

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Weber, E. U., & Stern, P. C. (2011). Public understanding of climate change in the united states. American Psychologist,66(4), 315-328. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023253

    Read More

  • Skepticism: A Good or Bad thing?

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the AOK of the natural sciences, having a skeptical approach can be quite beneficial. The natural sciences utilizes extensive methods in which they come to conclusions about the information presented, based on the various experiment...

    Read More

  • Climate Change Persuasive Essay

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    Climate change is considered a controversial topic. Although scientists have been studying the issue, there are many citizens that are still not fully educated about it. Therefore, there are people who support scientists in their results, and there are people who deny the scientists’ findings as propaganda or exaggerations. This is the same issue even in politics, where the two main parties, Democrats and Republicans, have opposing perspectives on climate change. One can really tell just by looking at their approach to the issue, especially their tone and diction. The republican candidates doubts climate change, and when the topic is brought up during an interview, the republicans flatly deny it with no further discussion. They do give some

    Read More

  • Argument Against Global Warming

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although this is true to some extent, most major newspapers and television news stations report the same stories quantitatively. Global warming is more controversial than ever. On one side of the argument we have scientists, climate change campaigners and the greater majority of the earth’s population who recognise the significance in preserving and taking immediate action against global warming. The media have targeted these people using figurative and emotive language that exploits our morals and values to evoke our willingness for change.

    Read More

  • Climate Change: A Rhetorical Analysis

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Climate Change has become an incredibly controversial topic because of the bid to win votes. As with any successful political party, capital and supporters are needed to fund and support campaigns and activities to secure votes. The Democratic and Republican parties have taken opposite sides of the ring regardless of scientific proof. In relation to global warming, the Democrats represent the environmentalists in the green corner and the Republicans represent the current energy tycoons in the red corner. The two opposing parties are simply trying to one up each other with each rhetorical combination thrown. The more irrational or misconstrued the rhetoric, the more the crowd rooting for each fighter reacts and the more independents rally to

    Read More

  • On Experts and Global Warming

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Global warming is an increasingly common subject in our political realm, and the opposing sides seem to be farther apart and more contentious than ever. In his article at NYTimes.com, “On Experts and Global Warming”, Gary Gutting argues that given the nature of the arguments this should no longer be the case. The use of experts as evidence for each side’s belief, he suggests, takes the argument out of the hands of “nonexperts” and places it within the climate scientists’ domain. While this is the example he uses, Gutting, a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, makes it clear that this isn’t the only forum where his idea applies.

    Read More

  • Media Coverage of Climate Change

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    The mass media plays an enormous role in influencing the public. In the age of globalization many technologies like Internet, television, newspapers, magazines, radio and so on, make news available and accessible for everyone around the world. The media can easily get any information out there to the public regarding any subject such as political views, health issues, entertainment, education, human tragedies…and those information do have an impact on our everyday life decisions, opinions and raise our awareness on a subject. The media is most of the time the only way people can get information on subject that they cannot fully understand such as science. Because “science is an encoded form of knowledge that requires translation in order to be understood” (Ungar 2000), many studies have shown that the media plays a very crucial role in raising people understanding of the scientific world and the environmental issues, especially the climate change and global warming. Climate change has become an important issue today and people need to understand how serious it is in order to take actions to prevent it from getting worse; and the only way the information can get to the public is via the mass media. Today global warming is raising many concerns and the media coverage is increasing but yet many scientists complain about the limited coverage of the subject because it seems that it is not enough compared to the gravity of the situation. Because of the lack of information, many people are still very skeptical and some are just very confused about the global warming and how it affect our atmosphere.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Critical Thinking in Science

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Critical thinking is a very important concept in regards to science, especially since science and the concepts therein have been fluctuating from the time of their origins. As stated in Kirst-Ashman’s book;

    Read More

  • Global Warming: A Global Crisis

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    The controversial subject of global warming according to a large amount of scientists is not a prominent concern. Over 31,000 scientists have signed on to a petition saying humans aren't causing global warming. More than 1000 scientists signed on to another report saying there is no global warming at all. There are tens of thousands of well-educated, mainstream scientists who do not agree that global warming is occurring at all. If so many scientists believe it is not a concern then why should we think any different? Well, a consensus shows that in reality 97% of all climate scientists agree that global warming is an issue and that it is most likely due to ...

    Read More

  • Climate Change is a Natural Phenomenon

    1572 Words  | 4 Pages

    Schmidt, G. A., R. A. Ruedy, R. L. Miller, & A. A. Lacis (2010), Attribution of the present‐day total greenhouse effect, Journal of Geophysical Research, 115, D20106, doi:10.1029/2010JD014287.

    Read More

More about Climate Change: The Sciences, the Media, and Politics

Open Document