According to the Christian Science Monitor, climate scientists are appealing to Hollywood for help in getting their message across.
The importance of getting the word out has science organizations scrambling to explore new channels, from souped up websites to asking Hollywood for help.
The current climate-change furor has become the poster child for what happens when there’s a communications gap between scientists and the public. The vast majority of scientists see compelling evidence that the world’s climate is about to change significantly, and that the change is largely driven by human activity. Yet polls show public opinion becoming more skeptical about climate change.
Let me offer some skepticism of my own here. I have my doubts about the "vast majority of scientists" and the " compelling evidence" the Monitor says they see. On the other hand, I suspect a smaller, vocal, politically driven group of scientists see compelling evidence that the climate change gravy train might be slowing to a crawl.
What we got here, says the Monitor, is a failure to communicate. Thus the plea from scientists for help from celebrities.
Keeping the public looped in on what scientists are discovering has never been easy. For one thing, the traditional explainers – journalists – can distort, hype, or oversimplify the latest breakthroughs. But the need to communicate science broadly and clearly has never been more urgent.
Unfortunately, the communications breakdown at the root of the climate change furor did not arise from any distortion, hype, or oversimplification by journalists. The problem was with the scientists themselves who offered "dog ate my homework" excuses for not sharing the information that was supposed support their global warming theories.
The academic at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.
Colleagues say that the reason Professor Phil Jones has refused Freedom of Information requests is that he may have actually lost the relevant papers.
Professor Jones admitted it was possible that the world was warmer in medieval times than now, which would argue that global warming is not caused by human activities. He also said there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming for the past 15 years. While there may not have been any significant warming, there has been significant money.
Since 1990, Jones has received $22 million in grant funding. Of that, $19 million was just in the period from 2000 to 2006 – nearly $3 million per year. Most of the grants came from government agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Union.
Besides, Hollywood is already on the case. Been on it for years.
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