Effectively Educating the Public About Climate Change : Five Guiding Principles

1. Effectively Educating the Public About Climate Change:Five Guiding Principles NIEHS, USFS, NOAA Symposium on Teaching Climate Change. NSTA Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, March 29, 2012 Edward Maibach, M.P.H., Ph.D. emaibach@gmu.edu

2. #1: The less you say, the more you’re heard. • Identify the few most important things you want to say. • Say them early and often. • Encourage other trusted sources in your community – and in your case, other teachers – to say them early and often as well. • Make it easy for the people in your target audience – in your case, your students – to say them to each other. This is the formula for public education effectiveness: “Simple clear messages, repeated often, by a variety of trusted sources.”

5. Trust in Sources of Information about Climate Change: General Public Source: Leiserowitz A, Maibach E, Roser-Renouf, C & Smith N. (2011) Climate change in the American Mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in May 2011.

8. #2: Audience research is an important asset in determining what is most important to say. • What to say should be determined by the needs of your audience – in your case, your students – not by what you are most eager to say. • Audience research can be used to identify: • Which facts about the about climate change, once understood, make the biggest difference in helping audience members grasp the current state of the science? • Which misperceptions are the biggest impediment to audience members’ understanding of the current state of the science?

9. Four key beliefs that are strongly associated with the attitude that society “should do more to address global warming,” and with support for a range of public policies that will help limit global warming • Global Warming • Key Beliefs: • It’s real • It’s human caused • It’s bad for people • It’s solvable + • Policy Support • Injunctive Beliefs Ding, Maibach et al (2011) Support for climate policy and societal action are linked to perceptions about scientific agreement. Nature Climate Change, DOI:10:1038/NCLIMATE1295

10. In May 2011: • Only 39% of American adults believed “Most scientists think global warming is happening” • And only 13% believed “81-100% of climate scientists think global warming is happening.” • Leiserowitz A, Maibach E, Roser-RenoufC & Smith N. (2011) Climate change in the American Mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in May 2011.

11. A myth that matters: “There’s a lot of disagreement among scientists about global warming” • Global Warming • Key Beliefs: • It’s real • Human caused • Bad for people • Solvable + + Policy Support Injunctive Beliefs Perceived Scientific Agreement Ding, Maibach et al (2011) Support for climate policy and societal action are linked to perceptions about scientific agreement. Nature Climate Change, DOI:10:1038/NCLIMATE1295

12. #3: To engage your audiences’ thoughts and feelings: be concrete, not abstract.

13. Abstract vs. Concrete

14. Abstract

15. Concrete

16. Our brains process risk information in two ways percents% words <= logic Analytic system Experiential system “experiencing is believing” requires logic and evidence Processing of risk Source: Slovic, Finucane, Peters, & McGregor, 2004

17. percents% words Analytic system <= logic requires logic and evidence Experiential system “experiencing is believing”

18. percents% words Analytic system <= logic requires logic and evidence Experiential system “experiencing is believing” • Implications for effective communication: • MAKE IT CONCRETE/EXPERIENTIAL • Invoke people’s 5 senses; use visualizations • MAKE IT LOCAL/REGIONAL • Invoke the places people care about

19. Climate scientists agree: Global warming is happening *Results from a survey of over 10,000 Earth Scientists; go to http://tiger.uic.edu/~pdoran/012009 Doran final.pdf to read the full report

22. #4: There is no such thing as “the public.” Example: Global Warming’s Six Americas Source: Yale & George Mason, June 2010

23. “If you could ask an expert on global warming one question, which question would you ask?” What can the US do to reduce global warming? How do you know that global warming is occurring? What harm will global warming cause? Source: Yale & George Mason, June 2010

24. #5. If failure (of the public education effort) is not an option, create a public education team. Effective public education is a team sport involving collaboration between: • Content experts • Decision science experts • Communication experts Baruch Fischhoff (2007). Non-persuasive Communication about Matters of Greatest Urgency: Climate Change. Environmental Science & Technology Online. 41:7204-8.

25. In Summary: • Keep it simple: the less you say, the more you’re heard. • Use social science research – not your instincts – to determine what information has the most value to your audience. • Be concrete (i.e., invoke people’s five senses). • When possible, segment your audience, and tailor your education program accordingly. • Create a public education team of climate experts, social scientists, and educators/communicators.

26. All 4C reports can be downloaded at: Climatechangecommunication.org