Beyond counting climate consensus
Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore u...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor and Francis
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47215/ |
| _version_ | 1848797491860865024 |
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| author | Pearce, Warren Grundmann, Reiner Hulme, Mike Raman, Sujatha Hadley Kershaw, Eleanor Tsouvalis, Judith |
| author_facet | Pearce, Warren Grundmann, Reiner Hulme, Mike Raman, Sujatha Hadley Kershaw, Eleanor Tsouvalis, Judith |
| author_sort | Pearce, Warren |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore up the scientific consensus on minimalist claims such as ‘humans cause global warming’ are distractions from more urgent matters of knowledge, values, policy framing and public engagement. Such efforts to force policy progress through communicating scientific consensus misunderstand the relationship between scientific knowledge, publics and policymakers. More important is to focus on genuinely controversial issues within climate policy debates where expertise might play a facilitating role. Mobilising expertise in policy debates calls for judgment, context and attention to diversity, rather than deferring to formal quantifications of narrowly scientific claims. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:04:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-47215 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:04:44Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-472152020-05-04T18:56:34Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47215/ Beyond counting climate consensus Pearce, Warren Grundmann, Reiner Hulme, Mike Raman, Sujatha Hadley Kershaw, Eleanor Tsouvalis, Judith Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore up the scientific consensus on minimalist claims such as ‘humans cause global warming’ are distractions from more urgent matters of knowledge, values, policy framing and public engagement. Such efforts to force policy progress through communicating scientific consensus misunderstand the relationship between scientific knowledge, publics and policymakers. More important is to focus on genuinely controversial issues within climate policy debates where expertise might play a facilitating role. Mobilising expertise in policy debates calls for judgment, context and attention to diversity, rather than deferring to formal quantifications of narrowly scientific claims. Taylor and Francis 2017-07-23 Article PeerReviewed Pearce, Warren, Grundmann, Reiner, Hulme, Mike, Raman, Sujatha, Hadley Kershaw, Eleanor and Tsouvalis, Judith (2017) Beyond counting climate consensus. Environmental Communication, 11 (6). pp. 723-730. ISSN 1752-4040 Climate change climate policy climate change communication http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2017.1333965 doi:10.1080/17524032.2017.1333965 doi:10.1080/17524032.2017.1333965 |
| spellingShingle | Climate change climate policy climate change communication Pearce, Warren Grundmann, Reiner Hulme, Mike Raman, Sujatha Hadley Kershaw, Eleanor Tsouvalis, Judith Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title | Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title_full | Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title_fullStr | Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title_short | Beyond counting climate consensus |
| title_sort | beyond counting climate consensus |
| topic | Climate change climate policy climate change communication |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47215/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47215/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47215/ |