Weekly Writing 7: Credibility and Review

In order to best represent the risks associated with climate change, I would need to find credibility in a place where others have entered the discussion and failed. I already know that many Americans feel like climate change is an issue that is outside of their day-to-day existence and the current players in the debate are doing nothing to change that. Unlike the scientists, experts, and politicians that have exhausted the public with tales of doom, money, and doubt, I would start by bringing the issue much closer to home. Besides demonstrating an understanding of climate change in regards to its science and how it is portrayed in the media, I would earnestly personalize climate change so that individual American's and communities would find that addressing it is to their environmental and economic advantage. Because economic concerns are tangible, it’d be very important to present the issue in a way that is complimentary to personal economic benefits. Instead of positioning climate regulations in opposition to economic growth, I would need to explore new technologies and how developing industries can shape a world where new climate policies and economic redevelopment are complimentary goals. Additionally, representing this issue authoritatively would include accounting for the difficulty of imagining abstract ideas. Instead of conceding that the science is too complex to address, I think it’d be better to see how the science applies here and now. It’d make an impact to explore what climate change means locally and how our choices to invest in new technology or enact emissions restrictions would affect us every day. By combining hard facts with personal and community concerns, my audience and I would be exploring how climate change reaches beyond the debate and into real life.

The RealClimate website provides a forum for scientists and concerned citizens to discuss climate change. One of the most interesting recent posts discusses a new iPhone app that provides quick rebuttals to arguments that are skeptical of climate change. The author of this post (and certainly the app’s creator) are really trying to move the climate change debate from criticism of scientists and the media back to the science itself. They’re doing this admirably by proving that they are tech-savvy and knowledgeable and appealing to a wide audience. The site, which is part of the UK’s Guardian Environment Network, is comprised of responses to climate change articles published in the mainstream media with particular focus on articles that have appeared in The Guardian. The authors and the discussions that follow each post (the site format is similar to a blog) are drenched in scientific know-how with a large helping of practicality. The blog often deconstructs misleading media pieces and corrects out of context quotes and iffy scientific assertions with copious citations. Sometimes, the scientists and contributors who were misrepresented in the original piece also weigh in. RealClimate catches the media in the act of distorting climate change and then corrects its mistakes--very persuasive indeed.