Oh, lovely climate jargon
“Humans must mitigate global warming by pursuing an unprecedented transition to a carbon neutral economy.”
Let's take a moment and reflect on what this may mean or how this sentence can be interpreted. As professionals who are often exposed to topics of climate science, risk management and resiliency initiatives, this sentence would make sense. It may perfectly describe an action item that global governments need to pursue such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other related carbon dioxide issues; however, to the general public, confusion is often what follows several re-reads of this sentence.
I often see in relatable discussions the misuse and mix-up of words such as “mitigation”, “adaptation", "resiliency”, “mediation”, and “sustainability” just to name a few. Each of these terms highlight a critical process is the disaster response and risk management cycles but without prior education of what these cycles illustrate, it is easy to substitute one word for another. I will also add that when learning these terms, myself, I often found it helpful to walk through visuals and timelines of exactly when each of these terms occur in the life cycle of a disaster.
With more community residents becoming aware of severe weather events and other climate change impacts, the need for explanation, understanding, and communication is becoming more increasingly critical. There is a sense of urgency that forms an underlying tone in these terms and without comprehensible as well as accessible information delineating the meanings and associations of these terms, residents who wish to advocate for their communities in these efforts are left unprepared.
The biggest issue posed by this article is that most of the terminology relating to climate change initiatives are not clear and often confuse the general public. Hershey puts forth a big call to action, challenging scientists and related professionals to do a better job communicating about global warming, climate change, and the severe impacts that result from these changes.
My main issue with this argument is that though the call to action is certainly valid, not much is said regarding how best to approach more clearer communication which I feel is the root of the issue. The use of different media can certainly help but one needs to understand their audience and ultimately what is significant or even more important, relatable to them. We often need to provide condensed versions of reports and think of other platforms that allow for the public to engage and feel like they can be a part of the conversation. This is where the true creativity of solutions begins for the general public. The moment they feel like they cannot relate or can be a part of the conversation is the moment we lose them, and it becomes increasingly difficult to get them back on board.
I can’t help but correlate the confusion and frustration highlighted in this article with public comprehension of policies related to risk management and climate change as well. A good example is the 9/11 policy that was not only quite lengthy but at many moments, difficult to interpret even as a professional involved in a similar field. For the 9/11 policy, though goals were clearly established, it took a little time to interpret how they were to achieve these goals and measure their effectiveness and success in implementation. I often feel that when the general public first sees a lengthy document and then it includes phrases or terms that are not relatable to their everyday life, they walk away from it. I am often tempted to do this myself when reviewing policies but often I remember, my aim is to help make these policies clearer to the general public to inspire them for action. I think at the end of the day, we as professionals in this field, have to not only develop the awareness of when we use highly technical terminology but take the time to understand what is relatable to the community we may be serving and begin from there.
Reference Enough with the climate jargon: scientists aim for clearer messages on global warming