date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:04:28 -0000 from: "Laura Middleton" subject: Dangerous climate change - brown bag lunch,1-2, Tues 15 March, to: , "'Woodgate Fiona Mrs \(ENV\) e438'" , , , , , , , -All welcome and bring your sandwiches!- (Re)Thinking the dangers of climate change: perceptions and communication This informal lunchtime discussion will focus on: - how climate change is currently portrayed by scientists, media and government, - how climate change is perceived by the public, - the influence of climate change communication on individual behaviour. It will draw upon the outcomes of the recent Exeter conference on Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change conference and the now completed Dangerous Climate Change project. We will comment upon how the media covered the findings of the ADCC conference, how Hollywood has capitalised on some potentially dangerous impacts of climate change (in the blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow) and how these relate to public perceptions of climate change. We will also link the lessons learnt from our work with the recently launched DEFRA climate change communication strategy. This in itself is set out to alter individual attitudes to climate change, not enact behavioural change. Questions to discuss could include: - What does 'dangerous' climate change mean? Is it a useful concept? Can / should it be defined? By whom? - What does this imply for policy making? Are current activities / initiatives to address climate change likely to be successful? - Given that groups within society portray climate change differently, is one preferable over others, in terms of motivating individuals to reduce their contributions to climate change? - Are there other factors that need to be considered or enacted before individuals change their behaviours, such as enabling them to do so by increasing the saliency of climate change and creating agency? Irene Lorenzoni, Tom Lowe and Sophie Nicholson-Cole CER / Tyndall For more info see: http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/events/events_timetable.shtml http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/forum/messages/archive/dangerous.html Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\winmail64.dat"