To pursuade more people about climate change we need a greater diversity of argument
Category: Climate change
Experts and Cultural Cognition
Dan Kahan's blog at the Cultural Cognition Project makes some conjectures about whether experts think in similar ways to non-experts. Specifically he wonders whether experts exhibit the kinds of cultural biases already demonstrated by non-experts. Do experts use cultural cognition? My observation is that there would need to be care taken to avoid something like … Continue reading Experts and Cultural Cognition
It matters who presents the message
Who would you trust to tell you what the risks are? Research from the Cultural Cognition project suggests the cultural identity of the presenter matters significantly to the public reception of a particular message about risk. In other words, we need our experts to be our experts, not the other side’s experts. It follows from … Continue reading It matters who presents the message
The more things change…
A theory of change requires a set of assumptions about the status quo. These assumptions often go unnoticed and unquestioned. Sentences that include the words always and never are indicative of these assumptions hard at work in the background, demonstrating the unexamined existence of a worldview in which particular forms of stability are taken for … Continue reading The more things change…
Climate, Cultural Theory and the Myths of Nature
A nice article by Howard Silverman of People & Place on the links between climate change, cultural theory and the myths of nature identified by the Resilience Alliance. http://bit.ly/959Dmp
Culture and the Science of Climate Change
George Monbiot at the Guardian has finally begun to take account of Cultural Theory as a possible explanation for why people either believe or ‘refuse’ to believe in climate change. He cites an article in Nature by Dan Kahan of the Yale Law School Cultural Cognition Project. Prof Kahan says: ‘we need a theory of … Continue reading Culture and the Science of Climate Change
“People tend to conform their factual beliefs to ones that are consistent with their cultural outlook”
...according to law professor Don Braman, that is. NPR has an interview with members of the Cultural Cognition Project, who have been demonstrating experimentally that people's climate change beliefs are strongly linked to their worldview. It's intuitively obvious that our views, opinions and beliefs are linked together a bit like constellations in the night sky, … Continue reading “People tend to conform their factual beliefs to ones that are consistent with their cultural outlook”
Warmer is better!
Well into the Twentieth Century the slate industry of North Wales was the world’s largest. It roofed the buildings of the world and left a huge scar on the beautiful landscape of what is now the Snowdonia National Park. But that’s not all it left. If you visit Yr Amgueddfa Llechi Cymru - the National … Continue reading Warmer is better!
Stewart Brand: Four sides to climate change – but which four?
Stewart Brand (whom, incidentally, we have to thank for the 'whole earth' photo at the Fourcultures masthead) wrote an op-ed recently in which he identified four types of climate change talk, based on two scales, scientists-politicians and agreement-disagreement. This produced four poles, not merely two. They are: denialists (ideological disagreement) skeptics (scientific disagreement) warners (scientific … Continue reading Stewart Brand: Four sides to climate change – but which four?
On the science and politics of climate change
Mike Hulme, author of the splendid Why We Disagree about Climate Change, has written a very measured op-ed about the theft of his emails from the University of East Anglia and the relationship between science and politics in the climate change debate. Fourcultures has previously written about: Mike Hulme's book, Why we Disagree about Climate … Continue reading On the science and politics of climate change
Four Cultures 