Language of Warning: The World Scientists' Efforts to Communicate and the Challenge of Poignancy

Slovic, Scott

doi:10.46863/ecocene.33

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…To some extent, people deployed psychological defences (inattention, distraction, data selection, denial) against disagreeable news. Perhaps more important, the news was known to be likely true, but psychic numbing ( Slovic, 2020 ) and inertia inhibited appropriate action. Individuals and groups could respond to clear and present danger, but not to warnings of dangers that were global, novel and (largely) about a relatively remote future.…”

Section: To Sensitise Humanitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two reservations run throughout the collection. One is expressed by Slovic (2020 : 46) – ‘I find that the “World Scientists’ Warning” delivers a flood of convincing information about the direness of our climate predicament but does so in a way that smothers . .…”

Section: Scholarly Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specific criticisms include: humanity is not a unified entity ( Braidotti, 2020 ; Yearley, 2020 : 19–21); people are vulnerable to psychic numbing when inundated with abstract information ( Slovic, 2020 : 43); cautionary assertions may be perceived as finger-wagging ( Slovic, 2020 : 50); and globalist arguments are not easy to reconcile with life as it is lived ( Foote, 2020 : 55). Other offerings include: climate change should no longer be seen as a purely global problem but must enter the heart of local economies ( Blanc, 2020 : 134); where geoscientists speak of a planet in crisis, humanists speak for a world where the societal responses to crisis need to be narrated and communicated widely ( Castree, 2020 : 37); lessons can be learned about the poignant use of language ( Slovic, 2020 : 45); and those in the environmental humanities, as well as natural scientists, are called to play ‘the watchman’s part’ ( Szerszynski, 2020 : 97–98).…”

Section: Scholarly Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate and nature emergency: From scientists’ warnings to sufficient action

Cottey

2022

Public Underst Sci

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Scientists’ warnings of a climate and ecological emergency have been published recently. They have been criticised as being unattractive to non-scientists. Here, the criticisms are reviewed and comments presented. The path is long between primary research and the daily concerns of hard-to-reach people (e.g., those who are impoverished). It is enough that expert scientists express their findings accurately and intelligibly to all who are receptive. Outside the ranks of the specialist experts, there are many – intellectuals of all kinds, journalists, politicians, business people, and concerned citizens – who are well placed to contribute to the generation of a worldwide groundswell of practical action. The full range of discourse on the ecological issues is divided into four registers: used in primary research; dissemination of specialists’ thinking to non-specialists; discussion with those engaged in public affairs; and discussion with those who face obstacles to becoming engaged with the issues.

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Section: To Sensitise Humanitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Scholarly Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Scholarly Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate and nature emergency: From scientists’ warnings to sufficient action

Cottey

2022

Public Underst Sci

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“…These include Fridays for Future and Youth Climate Strike which also receive support from the scientific community in terms of their value and significance (Fisher 2019). In sum, ensuring any form of environmental education is relevant, coherent, fit for purpose, funded appropriately, and available to current and future generations within and beyond 'the curriculum' will be crucial to addressing sound and pertinent warnings from scientists (Slovic 2020).…”

Section: The Need To Support a Broad Vision Of Environmental Education For Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientists’ warnings and the need to reimagine, recreate, and restore environmental education

Reid

Dillon

Ardoin

et al. 2021

Environmental Education Research

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Three decades have passed since approximately 1,700 scientists signed the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity highlighting severe environmental problems and trends affecting local and global communities. To reverse the situation, their 1992 Warning argued we need to change our behaviour. In 2017, a larger group issued a second consensus statement warning that the direction and rates of environmental change had worsened and remained unsustainable. Neither document, however, identified education as a key strategy in supporting the necessary behavioural changes that could address such trends. With this in mind, in this essay we argue that to avoid imperilling our future and the planet's-and to achieve a just transition to sustainability-environmental education is a cornerstone for the social and environmental changes expected in such Warnings. We also argue that consensus on our environmental predicaments is not simply a matter for scientists; it must be supported in multiple spheres. This includes the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and wider society. Only then will contemporary calls by organisations such as UNEP and UNESCO that 'environmental education be a core component of all education systems at all levels by 2025' , have a chance of gaining the multilateral and multileveled support the situation so urgently requires. Reimagine, recreate, restore: 3Rs for environment and educationSince 1974, World Environment Day has been marked on 5 June. Initiated and promoted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the goal for each Day is that associated events and initiatives engage governments, businesses and citizens in efforts that address pressing environmental issues, by encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of the environment.The 2021 focus is ecosystem restoration, with the theme, 'Reimagine. Recreate. Restore' . Publicity for the Day is replete with warnings of loss, destruction and catastrophic change, drawing heavily on evidence from research scientists while also emphasising consensus and the need to act.

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The role of school history in helping young people to navigate their future at a time of climate crisis

Power,

Kitson

2024

History Education Research Journal

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The need to prepare school students to respond to the climate and environmental crises is rapidly rising up educational agendas nationally and internationally, but the role of the humanities, and particularly history, is often marginalised. In England, the main context of this article, the climate crisis does not appear on any official history curriculum documentation, reinforcing a separation of nature and culture. This is not surprising, given that the climate crisis in general has been engaged with so little in the humanities, but teaching climate change as a ‘science’ problem rather than a societal one risks exacerbating students’ anxieties and sense of powerlessness. By contrast, humanities subjects, including history, can furnish students with the knowledge and skills to respond in more constructive and critical ways to a crisis that they will experience more acutely than us. We acknowledge and welcome the work that is already underway in school history, but we also call for a greater urgency to reform history curricula and provide better support for teachers. Meanwhile, mindful of how painfully slow these processes can be, we also call on history educators and academics to take matters into their own hands and make changes within existing curriculum structures where possible.

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Language of Warning: The World Scientists' Efforts to Communicate and the Challenge of Poignancy

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Climate and nature emergency: From scientists’ warnings to sufficient action

Climate and nature emergency: From scientists’ warnings to sufficient action

Scientists’ warnings and the need to reimagine, recreate, and restore environmental education

The role of school history in helping young people to navigate their future at a time of climate crisis

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