The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram
This article tracks the historical emergence of a new visual convention in the representation of the risks associated with climate change. The “reasons for concern” or “burning embers” diagram has become a prominent visual element of the climate change debate. By drawing on a number of cultural reso...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of Toronto Press
2012
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31043/ |
| _version_ | 1848794116453826560 |
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| author | Mahony, Martin Hulme, Mike |
| author_facet | Mahony, Martin Hulme, Mike |
| author_sort | Mahony, Martin |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article tracks the historical emergence of a new visual convention in the representation of the risks associated with climate change. The “reasons for concern” or “burning embers” diagram has become a prominent visual element of the climate change debate. By drawing on a number of cultural resources, the image has gained a level of discursive power which has resulted both in material mobility and epistemic transformation as the diagram itself has become a tool for a variety of actors to reason with. The case brings to light a number of challenges associated with attempts to know and visualize abstract concepts such as risk and danger, including the social organisation of knowledge production and the role of expert judgment in contexts where science is asked to retreat from normativity. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-31043 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:05Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | University of Toronto Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-310432020-05-04T20:21:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31043/ The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram Mahony, Martin Hulme, Mike This article tracks the historical emergence of a new visual convention in the representation of the risks associated with climate change. The “reasons for concern” or “burning embers” diagram has become a prominent visual element of the climate change debate. By drawing on a number of cultural resources, the image has gained a level of discursive power which has resulted both in material mobility and epistemic transformation as the diagram itself has become a tool for a variety of actors to reason with. The case brings to light a number of challenges associated with attempts to know and visualize abstract concepts such as risk and danger, including the social organisation of knowledge production and the role of expert judgment in contexts where science is asked to retreat from normativity. University of Toronto Press 2012-10 Article PeerReviewed Mahony, Martin and Hulme, Mike (2012) The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram. Spontaneous Generations : Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 6 (1). pp. 75-89. ISSN 1913-0465 http://spontaneousgenerations.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations/article/view/16075 doi:10.4245/sponge.v6i1.16075 doi:10.4245/sponge.v6i1.16075 |
| spellingShingle | Mahony, Martin Hulme, Mike The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title | The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title_full | The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title_fullStr | The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title_full_unstemmed | The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title_short | The colour of risk: an exploration of the IPCC's 'burning embers' diagram |
| title_sort | colour of risk: an exploration of the ipcc's 'burning embers' diagram |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31043/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31043/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31043/ |