There’s plenty of information available about climate change. The question is whether it's understandable.
There’s plenty of information available about climate change. The question is whether it's understandable.
A new study finds that U.S. residents struggle to understand terms frequently used by scientists to describe climate change. Study participants said some of the terms were too complex to understand. Other terms were misunderstood in the context of climate change. Participants suggested simpler, alternative language.
The study was published in a special edition of the journal Climatic Change titled Climate Change Communication and the IPCC.
“One survey respondent summed it up nicely when saying, ‘It sounds like you’re talking over people,’” said Wändi Bruine de Bruin, the study’s lead author and Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Sciences at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and USC Price School of Public Policy. “Scientists need to replace jargon with everyday language to be understood by a lay audience.”
Read more at University of Southern California
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