Blogging about Climate Change in Russia: Activism,Scepticism and Conspiracies

The article explores the new media’s role in climate change communication in Russia. By providing an open space for the expression of very diverse points of view, the internet creates a substitute media reality where both climate activists and climate sceptics can question the established discourse. Analysis of 374 entries published on the LiveJournal blogging platform has resulted in the identification of four discursive categories: “conspiracies of climate change,” “climate change impact,” “political games of climate change” and “online (anti-)environmentalism.” Each category demonstrates how the same topic can be framed in very different ways depending on bloggers’ worldview rather than the nature of the discussed environmental problem. The findings also show that the blogs act as “echo-chambers” for both climate deniers and climate activists reinforcing their behold beliefs. Finally, the analysis discovers some parallels with the traditional media coverage in their minimal critique of Russian state policy on climate.     

Climate Change and Energy Technologies in Undergraduate Introductory Science Textbooks

Global climate change and the implementation of energy technologies are among the most pressing issues facing society and the environment today. Related educational content spans the science disciplines. Through an analysis of introductory-level university textbooks from four major US publishers in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, this study presents trends in terminology and content. As the defining terms, “global warming” and “climate change” are used nearly equally. However, the first location of a working definition for climate change appears earlier. Energy technologies, climate change, and related environmental issues are found, on average, on ≤4% of textbook pages, and variation is large among individual textbooks. Discipline-based trends exist, especially for the energy technologies presented. Addressed separately as a non-renewable, non-fossil fuel, nuclear energy is found on ≤1% of textbook pages and unfavorably represented. The discussion within these science disciplines has implications on introductory-level education, public perception of science, and informed citizenship.     

Tipping Points and Climate Change: Metaphor Between Science and the Media

Over the past decade, scientists and journalists have prominently utilized the metaphor of a tipping point for drastic, irreversible and dangerous climate change. This paper shows how the tipping point metaphor became a multi-purpose bridge between science and the news media, describing how its meaning and use developed and diversified in interaction between these two domains. Within the scientific domain, the metaphor developed from a rhetorical device conveying a warning of drastic, irreversible and dangerous climate change to a theoretical concept driving empirical research. The news media soon picked up the tipping point metaphor for abrupt and dangerous climate change, turning it into a common part of the journalistic lexicon. Moreover, both science and the news media developed another, societal use of the tipping point metaphor, calling for radical societal change to avoid climate change catastrophe. The tipping point metaphor is hence not a monolithic notion but a highly versatile concept and expression, allowing it to be used for various communicative purposes by distinct stakeholders in different contexts.     

Enduring Extremes? Polar Vortex,Drought, and Climate Change Beliefs

Some extreme weather events may be more likely to affect climate change beliefs than others, in part because schema individuals possess for different events could vary in encouraging such links. Using a representative sample of U.S. adults and geocoded National Weather Service data, we examine how a range of extreme weather event categories relate to climate change beliefs, and the degree to which individuals’ self-reported experiences are shaped by their political views across event types. For tornado, hurricane, and flood events, we find no link with beliefs. For polar vortex and drought events, we find that although self-reported experience is linked with climate beliefs, reporting of these experiences is influenced by political identity and partisan news exposure. These findings underscore a limited role for extreme weather experiences in climate beliefs, and show that events more open to interpretation, such as droughts and polar vortex disturbances, are most likely to be seen through a partisan lens.     

Take Action Now: Motivational Framing and Action Requests in Climate Advocacy

This article explores similarities and differences between Internet-mediated climate change advocacy organizations and their legacy counterparts. It relies on a content analysis of advocacy emails produced by Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, League of Conservation Voters, Climate Reality Project, 1Sky, and 350.org. The study finds differences and similarities in strategic Internet use, including greater emphasis by climate groups on high threshold, offline actions; greater emphasis by legacy groups on low threshold, online actions; and high reliance by both framings that demand accountability from political elites. Implications for Internet-mediated and climate advocacy are discussed.     

基于CE的不同流向下农地城市流转负外部效应研究

发展与保护的权衡是土地资源配置中难以回避的棘手问题。农地城市流转在为城镇化的快速推进提供土地要素的同时,却也在社会、生态方面引起一系列外部性损失,已有研究认为该损失的大小与农地城市流转的用途和周围环境有关,但并未进一步定量揭示其关联程度。鉴于此,本文将农地城市流转的去向归纳为住宅及商服用地、工矿仓储及交通运输用地、公共管理与公共服务用地三类,以武汉市和鄂州市作为研究区域,运用选择实验法(CE)以及多元Logit模型(MNL)识别了受访者对于农地城市流转负外部效应治理方案的偏好,从而间接测度了不同流向下农地城市流转负外部效应的经济总量,以期为实施农地城市流转的用途和规模管制提供依据。结果表明:1不同流向下农地城市流转产生的交通状况恶化、噪音污染、公共设施不足等七种类别负外部效应在类型和强度上有所差异;2绝大多数居民对治理农地城市流转的负外部性具有支付意愿,且在参与程度和参与强度(支付额)方面因农地城市流转的不同流向而有所区别,并且居民的受教育程度和家庭收入水平对选择效用的影响具有显著性且呈正相关关系;3不同流向下农地城市流转所产生的负外部效应的经济总量不容忽视,三种流向的负外部效应从大到小依次为农地流转为工矿仓储及交通运输用地、公共管理与公共服务用地、住宅及商服用地。因此,作为农地城市流转的管制主体,各级政府应当采用经济性管制与社会性管制并举的多样化管制手段对农地城市流转的用途和规模予以调控和管制。     

1980年以来中国大宗作物空间格局变化分析

利用1980～2014年间的大宗作物(玉米、水稻、小麦、棉花、油菜)面积数据,以省级行政区为研究单元,采用多种数理统计和GIS空间分析技术,结合同期作物之间的竞争性用地关系,对全国上述五类大宗作物的空间分布格局及其变化特征进行分析.研究结果表明:玉米的空间分布相对较均衡;小麦的空间格局总的变化不明显但是省际分布最不均衡;棉花近30 a来空间格局变化极其显著,其面积重心从河南境内不断地向西北地区移动,目前位于甘肃省境内;油菜的面积重心自湖北境内不断地向南推移到湖南境内,水稻的面积重心则自江西境内逐渐向北移动到湖北境内.另外,部分区域的同期作物(如油菜与小麦、棉花与春玉米)空间格局变化存在明显的“消-长”关系,特别是在甘肃和内蒙,油菜小麦的面积变化有着极强的负相关性,其pearson系数低于-0.8.作物种植的成本收益变化是造成这些大宗作物空间格局变化的主要原因,城市化发展的程度、农民非农就业机会的高低、同期作物之间的比较效益差距等也是这些大宗作物时空格局产生变化的重要原因.     

Risk and Responsibility in Public Engagement by Climate Scientists: Reconsidering Advocacy During the Trump Era

The election as US President of Donald J Trump, who denies the scientific consensus on climate change, raises questions about the role of scientists in public discourse. How far should scientists wade into the waters of advocacy before risking their credibility of fair arbiters of knowledge? The new study by Kotcher, Myers, Vraga, Stenhouse, and Maibach [2017. Does engagement in advocacy hurt the credibility of scientists? Results from a randomized national survey experiment. Environmental Communication. doi:10.1080/17524032.2016.1275736] is a reminder that scientists are among the most trusted people in public life and have some freedom to engage publicly without harming their reputation. However, with the power to influence public debate comes the responsibility to carefully consider the impact of statements and actions. This commentary discusses the challenges facing scientists at a time of great potential for public engagement, and for a gap between perceived and actual intent of public statements.     

Metaphors for the War (or Race) against Climate Change

Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, millions of Americans fail to view climate change as a pressing threat. How can we address this disconnect between science and public opinion? In the present study, we investigated the role of metaphorical framing in shaping attitudes toward climate change. Participants read a brief article that metaphorically described US efforts to reduce carbon emissions as a war or race against climate change, or non-metaphorically described it as the issue of climate change. We further manipulated whether these emission-reduction goals emphasized the relatively near or distant future. We found that, compared to the race frame, the war metaphor made people perceive more urgency and risk surrounding climate change and express a greater willingness to increase conservation behavior, irrespective of the time horizon. Those who read the non-metaphorical report tended to respond in between these two extremes. We discuss the implications of these findings for climate communications.     

Climate Change Coverage in Greek Newspapers: 2001–2008

This paper's aim is to identify the debate and document the coverage of climate change (CC) in the Greek national press and to assess to what extent this reporting exhibits the traits anticipated by the “polarized pluralist” character of the Greek “media system.” In order to do this, we analyzed articles published in three Greek quality newspapers (Kathimerini, Ta NEA, and Eleftherotypia) over the period 2001–2008 (N =2072). Our findings suggest a mixed picture: the Greek media debate is characterized by consensus on the anthropogenic causes of CC and on the promotion of renewable energy sources as a means for tackling Greek CC-related emissions. However when examining more specific/controversial CC-policy decisions, there is less evidence supporting a close link with the national character of Greek media reporting, with newspapers appearing to align themselves along partisan lines.