"So I ask, should scientists start communicating more to the general public; and would communicating more to the general public be more of a benefit to our society than increasing our publication record?"
Journalists grab their soundbite, run with it, and completely misrepresent the science paper, (for which they may have only read the press release). A good example of a breakdown in comms between the science and the media was seen in the recent article which suggested localised warming around wind farms<http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2012/05/wind-turbines-and-global-warming>. Another issue is that, in the UK at least, there is very little which can be done to remedy the occurrence of misinformation/misrepresentation in the media. I imagine this must be fairly similar to the US with some of the stuff FOX news puts out. <http://mediamatters.org/research/201204260015> Chris. On 17 May 2012 14:19, Basil Iannone <[email protected]> wrote: > This article (not Lovelock's, but the woman's) brings up an important point > about climate change, the lack of scientific understanding in our society > as a whole, and the role of scientists in educating the public. Clearly the > general public do not understand climate change or even "believe" in it. > And why should they when the media and politicians feed them inaccurate > information (be it intentionally or not). So I ask, should scientists start > communicating more to the general public; and would communicating more to > the general public be more of a benefit to our society than increasing our > publication record? > > NOTE: I am asking this question, not to be critical (I too work to publish > as we all should), but to get opinions as to the role that scientists > should be playing in communicating what we know. It seems like the > knowledge is getting lost (or altered) in between our journals and the > popular media (for whatever reasons). What are the chances that scientists > will start to be evaluated not only on their publication record, but also > on how much they try to facilitate understanding in the public? > > All thought and comments are welcomed. > > > On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 2:38 AM, Neil Paul Cummins < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Terrible reporting, like you say. > > > > Lovelock made predictions in 2006 (The Revenge of Gaia) concerning the > end > > of the century. > > > > There is still 88 years to ago, and yet the article claims that his > > predictions have turned out to be false. That he was wrong! > > > > Ridiculous! > > > > Also, I am sure we can think of lots of examples of people who made > > predictions, lost confidence and partially 'retracted', only for their > > initial predictions to turn out to be 'correct'. Einstein springs to > mind & > > the cosmological constant. > > > > > > Neil > > > > neilpaulcummins.blogspot.co.uk > > > > > > > > On Thursday, May 17, 2012, Matthew Peter Hill <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > I don't think we need to worry too much about what Lovelock does and > does > > > not think, especially through reporting such as that.. > > > > > > For some actual climate change science, this paper went up yesterday: > > > > > > http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00649.1 > > > > > > Showing that the the last 50 years has seen warming like no other > period > > > over the last 1000 years in Australasia, and is very likely due to > > > anthropogenic influence. > > > > > > Matt. > > > > > > On 17/05/12 7:53 AM, "Matheus Carvalho" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >> Lovelock, the proposer of Gaia hypothesis, says his predictions (and > > others > > >> also) were exaggerated: > > >> > > >> > > >> > > > > > http://www.examiner.com/article/gaia-author-james-lovelock-recants-on-global-w > > >> arming > > >> > > >> > > >> Matheus C. Carvalho > > >> Senior Research Associate > > >> Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry > > >> Southern Cross University > > >> Lismore - Australia > > >> http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ostro > > >> > > > > > > > > > > -- > Basil Iannone > University of Illinois at Chicago > Department of Biological Sciences (MC 066) > 845 W. Taylor St. > Chicago, IL 60607-7060 > Email: [email protected] > Phone: 312-355-3231 > Fax: 312-413-2435 > http://www2.uic.edu/~bianno2 >
