Video: Framing climate uncertainty

The public debate around climate change is increasingly polarized. At the same time, the scientific consensus about the causes and consequences of climate change is strong. The translation of uncertain numerical climate projections into simpler but ambiguous verbal frames may contribute to this polarization.

Along with my colleagues Tarlise Townsend (Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health) and Wolfgang Gaissmaier (Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz), we conducted two studies to investigate 1) how communicators verbally frame communications about climate change and 2) how listeners interpret these frames based on their underlying beliefs about climate change.

This video blog summarises research published in Weather, Climate, and Society. The paper will be available to view via open access after 9 July 2019. [https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0002.1]