Communicating climate change is an ongoing controversy. Many scientists and people around the world agree that drastic changes in our global climate are due to anthropogenic reasons, like humans burning oil, gas, and coal. However, there are those who are skeptical of the scientific evidence.
In 1988, a neutral body of scientists became part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The focus of this group of scientific professionals is to offer neutral advice on global warming. This September, in Stockholm, Sweden, they will make public a new report on the world’s changing climate.
Communicating Climate Change in Previous Years
In 2007, the IPCC and former vice-president, Al Gore shared honors in receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in bringing about awareness of man-made climate change and how to go about counteracting this change. Their work led to a summit in Copenhagen, in 2009, which turned out to be considered a fiasco.
Communicating climate change to world leaders in this previous summit widened the gap between developed and developing countries for a number of reasons, including conflicting interests. For instance, Americans didn’t want to go very far on any agreement; Europeans didn’t want to increase their goals to reduce carbon dioxide; China didn’t want supervisors coming into their country.
With the Copenhagen Summit failure and the financial crisis that took place in Western economies for the last several years, climate change issues and concerns were placed on the back burner, so to speak.
New Report on Climate Change
United Nations scientists are preparing to unveil a more detailed massive report on climate change in late September, in Stockholm, Sweden. Agence France-Presse has already viewed a draft of this behemoth report that magnifies the first warnings expressed in 2007.
In communicating climate change, the panel of scientists adamantly articulated in the new report that climate change is due to anthropogenic reasons affecting extreme weather, such as wildfires, droughts, floods, and heat waves. They also warn us that by the end of the century, coastal cities may be completely flooded due to rising sea levels.
This first document concentrates on the science of climate change, with two more volumes to be released next year. There’s no doubt, both skeptics and believers will be communicating climate change based on their own interpretations of this new scientific study.
Read more of George Zapo’s articles about public, global, and environmental health at his website: georgezapo.com.
