Building Capacity within the CSC Network to Effectively Deliver and Communicate Science to Resource Managers and Planners
A limited amount of valid scientific information about global climate change and its detrimental impacts has reached the public and exerted a positive impact on the public policy process or future planning for adaptation and mitigation. This project was designed to address this limitation by bringing together expertise in the social and communication sciences from targeted academic institutions affiliated with the Department of the Interior’s Climate Science Centers (CSCs) through a workshop. The project team brought together expertise in the social and communication sciences from targeted academic institutions, particularly experts and scholars who are affiliated with the nation’s CSCs, by means of an invited workshop. The purpose of this effort was to bring together such a group but also to focus experts in the nation’s CSCs on how these Centers’ affiliates can more effectively communicate the science of this important but often misunderstood problem and meaningfully inform effective policy in each region. The workshop involved formal presentations from experts in a variety of disciplines on the problem of climate change and how to more effectively communicate the science of this problem. Specifically, the presentations focused on the scientific, policy, and political aspects of climate change and how to communicate its scientific essentials, as well as, its implications to the general public and policy makers, both bureaucratic and elected. Presenters were scientists and social scientists with expertise in climate change, communication sciences, public opinion analysis, disaster management, public policy, and the politics of climate change. Presenters also included an environmental photographer who offered a visual presentation of the realities of climate change.