Four words that every partner or spouse dreads and four
words most scientists dread too. Environmental practitioners are recognizing
that communicating environmental science to various sectors of the public is
becoming more and more important. You just have to look at how the human
influence on climate change is portrayed in the media to realize what a poor
job environmental scientists have done in communicating environmental science.
For example the media regularly portrays a balanced debate
among scientists on whether or not climate change is being caused, or at least
exacerbated, by humans or is due entirely
to natural events. However, 97-98% of practicing climate change
scientists agree that present-day climate change is primarily anthropogenic.
The equality with which the media treats both sides of a very unequal debate
translates into a US public where less than half believe that humans are
influencing climate change. A Gallup poll found that 34% of the public believe
climate change is human caused; 47% believe it is natural; 14% said it was
both. To translate the inequality of scientific opinion into something that
perhaps may be more accessible to the public: Imagine seeing an article on a
religious debate in the London Times - on one side would be the Christians,
Jews, Hindus and Muslims all agreeing on a religious tenet, whilst on the other
side, being given equal weight, would be Jedi dissenters. (In the 2001 UK
census, approximately 1% of the general public who declared a religion said
they were Jedi; in the New Zealand census that year, the percentage of
declared Jedi was 2.5%). Even at my university campus, the level of
understanding of environmental issues can be low; for example, less than 5% of
GMU students in one survey could correctly identify the most endangered whale
species from a list they were given.
So how do we communicate better? Many scientists who publish
a scientific paper believe their job is done. The information is in the public
domain, and therefore it will be somehow disseminated to the public. I’m a
co-author on a 2009 paper that apparently was the most cited in the top journal
of the conservation field, but how many citations earned it that accolade? Just
82 in over four years. So how many citations do other papers get? With the ease
of internet searches to find paper references, even a citation is not a guarantee
that a paper has actually been read. I’ve certainly seen citations of my own
papers where it was clear the author had not actually read the original paper.
And as for theses - the average
readership for a PhD thesis besides the student is their committee plus two
(and one of these is usually a long-suffering spouse/partner). So unless you
get your thesis published, all of your hard work really goes for naught.
Getting your work published in a peer-reviewed journal
establishes it as a high-quality study, accepted by the academic community, and
it is an essential step. But to have any influence, you need to go beyond that.
At the very least, produce a press release and get your university media people
to send it out.
When doing a press release make sure that:
-
It has a ‘snappy title’- journalists review hundreds of press releases
every day and you need to grab their attention.
-
Describe quickly what the issue is in a clear
and concise way, avoiding jargon. Remember to keep it simple, but simple
doesn’t mean “dumbed down”.
-
Explain
why the public should care ¡V what does this issue mean to them? Are there any
public benefits?
-
If it is an environmental problem you’re
describing, what might the solutions be?
- Include a couple of quotes from yourself about the work
and try to make these snappy sound bites: perhaps personal anecdotes, or
quotes using descriptive metaphors.
- Provide your contact details and those of expert
colleagues who know your work and who could comment.
Finally make sure you are available when it is released to
speak to reporters. If they try to contact you and you’re not around, they will
likely give up and move onto the next news item.
Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are increasingly
being used to disseminate scientific information. Personally, I regularly post
environmental articles I find interesting on Facebook. Blogs are also a useful
medium through which to disseminate your research or ideas. The proportion of
blogs based on science and conservation issues are ten times that of the
proportion of such articles in newspapers. One of my favorites is SouthernFried Science, which is written by a bunch of imaginative and passionate marine
science graduates. Try it. Trust me,
they have far more readers than most scientific journals.
In a bid to try to promote better and more diverse
communication skills in our department’s students, we ran a seminar this
semester on “communicating environmental issues”. Students had a variety of in-class and homework
projects, including writing tweets, press releases, op-eds on their
environmental research and taking part in mock TV/press interviews. Within the
first few weeks a couple of students actually got their class op-eds published,
and other students were thinking about developing blogs.
So I asked the class what their take home messages would be
regarding the need for environmental scientists to communicate with the wider
public: “it’s fundamental” said one, “not only do you have to be able to
communicate, but you have to be able to ‘sell’ what you’re communicating as
well” said another, and added “it’s not
just your job to do your science, but you have to publicize it as well”.
Some students offered advice for their fellow students:
"You need to be flexible
in the types of communication you use, such as Twitter or blogs, and to be
willing to change - many scientists are frightened of change.”
“Just communicate the
most important thing, don’t try to give everything all at once, keep your
message simple.”
“If you’re not comfortable to go in front of a crowd, get
someone to do it for you.”
But what if you don’t think that your project would be of
interest to the public? One student commented as a final thought: “if you can’t
work out why someone should care about your issue, perhaps you should be doing
something else!”
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