From Greenhouse Effect to Climategate: A Systematic Study of Climate Change as a Complex Social Issue
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Sociology & Social Policy
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Atanasova D
(2015)
Metaphors in Guardian Online and Mail Online Opinion-page Content on Climate Change: War, Religion, and Politics
in Environmental Communication
Atanasova, D.
(2017)
The Role of Language in the Climate Change Debate
Brigitte Nerlich (Author)
(2011)
Geoengineering the climate : verbal and visual metaphors and arguments
Brigitte Nerlich (Author)
(2011)
Geoengineering : verbal and visual images of promotion and protest
Collins L
(2014)
Examining User Comments for Deliberative Democracy: A Corpus-driven Analysis of the Climate Change Debate Online
in Environmental Communication
Collins L
(2011)
How Can Semantic Annotation Help Us to Analyse the Discourse of Climate Change in Online User Comments?
in Linguistik Online
Collins LC
(2016)
How certain is 'certain'? Exploring how the English-language media reported the use of calibrated language in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report.
in Public understanding of science (Bristol, England)
Collins, L.
(2016)
Uncertainty discourses in the context of climate change: A corpus-assisted analysis of UK national newspaper articles
in Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research
Hellsten I
(2014)
Imagining the Future at the Global and National Scale: A Comparative Study of British and Dutch Press Coverage of Rio 1992 and Rio 2012
in Environmental Communication
Hellsten, I.
(2015)
The creation of the climategate hype in newspapers and blogs: Mixed methods approach.
in Internet Research
Description | Research examining public perceptions of climate change and media coverage of climate change is booming. However, there has been little research looking at the dynamics of these processes over time. This project had four workpackages linked to the following aims: to understand what events trigger and perpetuate waves of public attention with regard to climate change; to examine which types of linguistic frames and whose types of frames dominate public understanding and motivate public action and social movements; assess the role the web plays in this communication dynamics; determine what this can tell us about the complex interactions between science and society in the context of climate change and how this information can be used to improve policy and communication practice. To achieve our aims we used a novel combination of theories and methods to monitor and analyse how climate change as a complex social and political concept was discussed over time in the UK and the Netherlands, both in traditional media and online. We employed social representations theory and identity process theory in conjunction with metaphor, discourse and visual analysis tools, as well as elite interviews (the latter were carried out by the Dutch team). These qualitative approaches were combined with quantitative ones derived from corpus linguistics, multi-dimensional scaling, semantic network analysis and twitter analysis to study climate change debates in that played out between 1988 and 2014 with relation to climate change as an emerging global threat, such two Rio summits, climategate and its repercussions in online debates carried out in reader comments and underneath YouTube videos, the fifth IPCC report and xx. We monitored and tracked the change of global climate change policies over time, as well as social science understandings of climate change risks and uncertaitnies; we monitored and assessed emerging controversies around fracking (our articles are highly cited), CCS and geonengineering (our article on that topic is highly cited). We also contributed to public opinion surveys of attitudes to fracking in the UK carried out at the University of Nottingham and we submitted a report on 'uncertainty language' to the House of Commons Select Committee on Energy and Climate change's inquiry into the IPCC Fifth Assessment review. Overall, we found that traditional media still performs an important agenda-setting function by creating ripples of interest and meaning which infiltrate social thinking concerning climate change, and, conversely, the audience of media, from readers of online newspapers to YouTube watchers or Twitter users, can themselves become active in the creation or perpetuation of such ripples of meaning. Collectively, our studies highlight the importance of exploring the role of language and identity in the social representation of climate change with particular attention to the rhetorical strategies employed in the give and take between media and active audiences. We have shown that it is not sufficient for the media to simply involve climate change in order for the public to show interest in it. Rather, the level of public interest will likely depend on the one hand upon the ways in which climate change (or technologies seen as mitigating it) is framed, the sorts of metaphors that are used, and the sorts of phenomena and images to which it is 'anchored' and on the other. We also traced differences in approaches to and understandings of climate change and associated issues in the UK and the Netherlands, in particular with relation two the Rio Summits of 1992 and 2012, the way that US responses to Hurricane Sandy were framed with references to Dutch engineering expertise. We also looked at climate science climate scepticism, the issue of authority and the IPCC from a perspective of organisational studies. We published a special issue on climate change communication and the internet for Environmental Communication which was turned into a book by Routledge. Nerlich continued working on climate scepticism within a large Leverhulme Trust funded project and, even now, interacts regularly with mainstream climate scientists and sceptics on twitter and on blogs. She has continued to publish blog posts on the blog Making Science Public: https://wakelet.com/wake/2c3f6821-1550-4fc2-9f9b-b637de5d9c6f |
Exploitation Route | Through out study of language, framing, metaphors, social representations and identity, we have changed the way that climate change communication research is being done here in the UK and beyond. Many of our articles have become go-to references for such research. |
Sectors | Energy,Environment |
URL | https://sites.google.com/site/climatechangeoraproject/home/project-publications |
Description | We have continued to publish articles and edited collections on issues related to climate change in traditional and online media. Our research has entered handbooks on metaphor studies and climate change studies. Brigitte Nerlich continues to blog on climate change issues and still stimulates wider discussions about climate change and language use in the social media. See here: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/category/climate-change/ and https://wakelet.com/wake/2c3f6821-1550-4fc2-9f9b-b637de5d9c6f Quote from reader on twitter: "Brigitte, lang[uage] is so important. I feel we need a revu/a reboot. Some terms r meaningless, like gravity sceptic :-)". Discussion about 'alarmism' and 'realism' in climate change discourse (November 2017). An article based on our research has been included in the 2018 communications handbook for climate scientists commissioned by the IPCC https://climateoutreach.org/resources/ipcc-communications-handbook/ : Shaw, C and Nerlich, B (2015). Metaphor as a mechanism of global climate governance: A study of international policies 1992-2012. Ecological Economics Vol. 109, pp. 31-40. |
First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Description | Climate Outreach and Information Network |
Organisation | Climate Outreach and Information Network (COIN) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The website 'Talking Climate' was set up by the charity COIN by Dr Adam Corner with some (private) funding from Brigitte Nerlich |
Collaborator Contribution | We contributed to a website called 'Talking climate', mainly in terms of helping with the bibliography articles relating to climate change communication. This website has now been incorporated into 'Climate Outreach' |
Impact | We contributed to the popularity of the website. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | 'Silent spring' - making science public |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/09/27/silent-spring-making-science-public/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/09/27/silent-spring-making-science-public/ |
Description | A mixed methods approach to analysing online reader comments on newspaper articles concerning climate change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Workshop presentation at "Conceptual and methodological approaches for researching climate change at different societal scales: BSA Climate Change Study Group Event", University of Southampton, March 2012. Sharing our findings and especially methods with a wider sociologically interested audience |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Abseiling down the climate cliff metaphor |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/12/17/abseiling-down-the-climate-cliff-metaphor-2/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/12/17/abseiling-down-the-climate-cliff-metaph... |
Description | Blog posts about climate change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog posts: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2018/08/11/groundhog-day-in-the-hothouse/ http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2018/07/03/air-con-apocalypse/ http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2018/10/27/climate-change-metaphors-crimes-detectives-and-fingerprints/ http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2018/04/13/antimicrobial-resistance-climate-change-communication-governance-responsibility/ Guest post by Mike Schäfer, ETH, Zurich http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2018/04/08/climate-change-politics-role-china-window-opportunity-gain-soft-power/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Blog posts about climate change debates |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of the Making Science Public blog which is linked to a Leverhulme programme (where a subproject dealt with climate scepticisim, a topic that grew out of previous ESRC climate change projects), I continue to write blog posts about climate change which are well received on twitter and sometimes stimulate discussion.http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/category/climate-change/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/category/climate-change/ |
Description | Carbon and energy/publics and politics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/05/20/carbon-and-energy/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/05/20/carbon-and-energy/ |
Description | Climate communication conundrums |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/03/14/climate-communication-conundrums/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/03/14/climate-communication-conundrums/ |
Description | Climategate, media volume and public concerns - what's the relation? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/03/02/climategate-media-volume-and-public-concerns/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/03/02/climategate-media-volume-and-public-con... |
Description | Consensus on climate change: Tracing the contours of a debate |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Weblog: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/08/23/consensus-on-climate-change-tracing-the-contours-of-a-debate/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/08/23/consensus-on-climate-change-tracing-the... |
Description | Corpus-assisted analysis of internet-based discourses : from patterns to rhetoric |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at the Department of Communication, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel. Share our methods with wider international audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Eavesdropping on the climate change debate |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | ESRC press release http://www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/features-casestudies/features/20105/Eavesdropping_on_the_climate_change_debate.aspx http://www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/features-casestudies/features/20105/Eavesdropping_on_the_climate_change_debate.aspx http://www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/features-casestudies/features/20105/Eavesdropping_on_the_climate_change_debate.aspx |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/features-casestudies/features/20105/Eavesdropping_on_the_... |
Description | Extreme weather events, climate change and the media |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/01/30/extreme-weather-events/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/01/30/extreme-weather-events/ |
Description | Extreme weather images in the media cause fear and disengagement with climate change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | New research has shown that images of extreme weather in the media create negative emotional meanings and might lead to disengagement with the issue of climate change. The images symbolised fear, helplessness and vulnerability and, in some cases, guilt and compassion. Appealing to fear of disaster can lead to denial and paralysis rather than positive behaviour change. New research has shown that images of extreme weather in the media create negative emotional meanings and might lead to disengagement with the issue of climate change. The images symbolised fear, helplessness and vulnerability and, in some cases, guilt and compassion. Appealing to fear of disaster can lead to denial and paralysis rather than positive behaviour change. Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://news.cision.com/taylor---francis/r/extreme-weather-images-in-the-media-cause-fear-and-disenga... |
Description | Extreme weather talk: Making climate public? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Weblog post http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/06/19/extreme-weather-talk-making-climate-public/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/06/19/extreme-weather-talk-making-climate-pub... |
Description | From Katrina to Sandy: Searching online for links to climate change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/11/16/from-katrina-to-sandy-searching-online-for-links-to-climate-change/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/11/16/from-katrina-to-sandy-searching-online-... |
Description | Geoengineering and (un)making the world we want to live in. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Blog entry at Geolog: The Official Blog of the Geosciences Union Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://geolog.egu.eu/2013/07/31/geoengineering-and-unmaking-the-world-we-want-to-live-in/ |
Description | Global warming is dead, long live global heating? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This blog post emerged from a weekend conversation between Mike Hulme, Brigitte Nerlich and Warren Pearce. Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Making weather personal |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I was idly reading The Observer on Sunday (2 March, 2014), when I happened to glance at an article about the Scottish island of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. I read: "The past few months, too, have shown how vulnerable an island community is when the weather becomes truculent". Truculent I thought; that's a new one. This made me think about other recent personifications of weather, as being 'on steroids' for example, and I asked myself: is (extreme) weather becoming personified in new ways? And does some weather even begin to personify climate change? (as Len Rosen asked in 2012: Is Hurricane Sandy Climate Change Personified?) Or would that be going too far? Would people say that making such a claim would be "utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification in this or any other plane!" (Death berating Dream in The Sandman)? Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Mitigation, adaptation, geoengineering: Patterns of discourse, patterns of mystery |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/06/05/mitigation-adaptation-geoengineering-patterns-of-discourse-patterns-of-mystery/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/06/05/mitigation-adaptation-geoengineering-pa... |
Description | Moderation impossible? Climate change, alarmism and rhetorical entrenchment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/02/27/moderation-impossible-climate-change-alarmism-and-rhetorical-entrenchment/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/02/27/moderation-impossible-climate-change-al... |
Description | Public understanding of climate change: The deficit fallacy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/04/07/public-understanding-of-climate-change/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/04/07/public-understanding-of-climate-change/ |
Description | Rio plus 20 minus hope |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/06/26/rio-plus-20-minus-hope/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/06/26/rio-plus-20-minus-hope/ |
Description | Unseasonable weather; unseasonable climate? Facts, fictions and fantasies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/07/15/unseasonable-weather-unseasonable-climate/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/07/15/unseasonable-weather-unseasonable-clima... |
Description | Waiting for gate-gate |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/02/22/waiting-for-gate-gate/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/02/22/waiting-for-gate-gate/ |
Description | Weather or Climate? Enjoy or worry? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Weblog http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/02/27/weather-or-climate/ Section not completed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2012/02/27/weather-or-climate/ |