With the amount of Americans recognizing climate change stagnating, a greater number of informational programs are needed to reach out to climate change skeptics and deniers.

Realizing this need, the Obama administration announced the creation of a website last Wednesday that will provide multimedia communications on climate change. The site, climate.data.gov, will mainly work as a web-based app, divulging computer simulations and models about what climate change effects will look like for different localities.

New education resources like this are more necessary than ever, as the latest Pew Research Center survey states only 67 percent of Americans believe climate change is happening. This startling statistic, released in January, clearly shows the extreme need for increased educational programs.

When one-third of the American population still ignores the threat of climate change, any efforts to quell the climate will be an uphill battle. To influence public opinion and increase trust in science, a variety of learning techniques must be utilized. As public understanding increases, it will be more likely that our country will be able to move forward in assessing and mitigating climate change.

This website will help gain momentum toward successful climate action.

The aim of the website is to turn scientific data into eye-catching images of flooding, sea level rise and other effects — all determined by certain geographic areas. By using different forms of media and focusing on localities, the website has the promise of reaching out to a larger variety of people.

Since not all people learn in similar ways, a variety of communication methods are necessary in order to affect public opinion.

In this case, computer simulations will be used to reach out to visual learners and can also instill an emotional response in viewers. In other forms of climate change information, such as articles, these aspects are not readily available.

With this ability to reach others with alternative learning styles, the computer simulations are location-specific. Because of this, the materials can influence people by showing the direct effects of climate change to a place near and dear to their hearts, whether it is their hometown or another area to which the viewer has a strong attachment.

The models can change a common misconception of climate change: that it is too broad and vague to matter to everyday Americans. Instead, they will show that climate change will affect people in all walks of life throughout our country, and not just people in a far away place.

This increase in spatial specificity will also increase understandings of the science behind climate change. Too often the understanding of climate change is left to specialists. With this new website, non-specialists can see images of what is likely to happen, instead of many common publications and websites rattling off non-relatable numbers and statistics about environmental effects.

This website is not the answer to our country’s issue with public perception of climate change, but it is part of the work needed to sway the crowds to understanding climate change science and its social aspects.

As this website will target viewers in alternative manners, there should also be an increase in the creation of alternative teaching techniques, both different from the jargon-ridden, scientific norm and this new computer simulation.

With these increased variations, we can change our country’s perception of climate change and inspire action in the near future.

Meg Callaghan is a senior environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published on March 27, 2014 at 12:24 am