Matthew Nisbet
Professor of Communication at Northeastern University.
nisbetmc
Posts by this author
March 5, 2010
Dan Vergano of USA Today has an important column out this weekend. Vergano, I believe, is the first major journalist to call into question the now dominant narrative that "ClimateGate" has powerfully damaged public trust in scientists.
In the column, he quotes Stanford professor Jon Krosnick with…
March 5, 2010
Chris Palmer, director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University, argues in an op-ed at CNN.com that the tragic accident at SeaWorld Orlando should draw renewed attention to the ethics and safety of keeping Orcas as captive performing animals for spectators. As Palmer, a…
March 4, 2010
Readers in Washington, DC will find this event, open to the public, of strong interest:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the American Statistical Association (ASA), present:
Climate Policy: Public Perception, Science, and…
March 4, 2010
At the blog "Global Change: Intersection of Nature and Culture," Phil Camil has an excellent overview and synthesis of research on some of the communication barriers to action on climate change and the strategies for overcoming those barriers. Camil is associate professor and director of the…
March 4, 2010
That's the question raised in an American Observer article about this week's AU Forum held on the "Climate Change Generation? Youth, Media, and Politics in an Unsustainable World." The Observer is the digital news site run by graduate students in journalism at American University. Here's how…
March 3, 2010
Graham, Kerry, Lieberman, and Gore all share the same goal but are moving to differentiate themselves as a way to claim credit for climate action and to appeal to different audience segments.
At The NYTimes.com, Greewire's Darren Samuelsohn examines Senator Lindsey Graham's strategy to define cap…
March 2, 2010
Americans under the age of 35 have grown up during an era of ever more certain climate science, increasing news attention, alarming entertainment portrayals, and growing environmental activism, yet on a number of key indicators, this demographic group remains less engaged on the issue than older…
March 2, 2010
At last night's AU Forum on The Climate Change Generation, one of the students asked what can be done to break public indifference on the issue.
In the YouTube clip above, I answered that Obama as president needs to make climate change a leading communication priority, marshaling the power of the…
March 1, 2010
More than 200 students turned out tonight for the AU Forum on climate change and youth and approximately 700,000 audience members in the DC area listened in via the live public radio broadcast by WAMU.
There will be much more tomorrow including blog reaction, news coverage, a transcript, a podcast…
February 28, 2010
What does climate change mean to you? from Andrea Posner on Vimeo.
Students in AU Professor David Johnson's class on interactive media have created a social media and discussion site for tonight's American Forum on "The Climate Change Generation: Youth, Media, and Politics in an Unsustainable World…
February 26, 2010
The School of Communication at American University in partnership with the School of Public Affairs has established a new 2 year MA degree program in Political Communication. The program is currently accepting applications for Fall 2010. Follow this link and see details posted below.
The joint…
February 25, 2010
Last week I presented at a workshop hosted by AAAS on "Promoting Climate Literacy Through Informal Science." There were a number of outstanding presentations and themes discussed including a plenary talk by historian Naomi Oreskes detailing the central arguments of her forthcoming book on the…
February 25, 2010
Last week I posted about the increasing problem of incivility at comment sections for blogs and news sites. As I noted at the end of the discussion thread that was started, I plan to return to the topic in depth, perhaps as part of an article or study.
My thoughts on the topic are apparently at…
February 24, 2010
Monday night, March 1, starting at 630pm, American University's School of Communication will be hosting a panel discussion focused on "The Climate Change Generation: Youth, Media, and Politics in an Unsustainable World." [Follow the link for location on campus and directions. This is a…
February 12, 2010
I've long questioned the value of anonymous blogging or commenting. Much of the incivility online can be attributed to anonymity. And with a rare few exceptions, if you can't participate in a dialogue about issues without using your full name and true identity, then what you have to say is…
February 9, 2010
In my remarks as part of a panel at Harvard last week, I predicted that a new public accountability narrative about climate scientists had been locked in by the "ClimateGate" controversy and that each successive event such as the dispute over the Himalayan glacier data would be re-interpreted and…
February 9, 2010
Tonight, PBS Frontline airs "Flying Cheap," a co-production with American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop. Above is an excerpt from the Frontline report and below is a description. The production has also received strong advance reviews from the New York Times and Washington Post.…
February 8, 2010
UPDATE: Due to the weather, the Forum is postponed until the end of February or early March. When a date is finalized, I will post details.
Tuesday night at 7pm, American University's School of Communication will be hosting a panel discussion focused on "The Climate Change Generation: Youth,…
February 6, 2010
Below are text of the remarks that I opened with at the Harvard panel last week on "The Public Divide over Climate Change: Science, Skeptics and the Media." To listen to audio of the panel, find links to news coverage, and read a detailed discussion of the panel, go to this post.
A little more…
February 6, 2010
On Thursday, at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, I served as one of the panelists at the event "The Public Divide over Climate Change: Science, Skeptics and the Media." The two hour session drew roughly 100 attendees, was organized and moderated by Belfer Center fellow Cristine…
February 2, 2010
A reminder for readers in Boston and Cambridge: Thursday this week I will be a panelist on a discussion about climate change and the media at the Kennedy School of Government. Details are below and at this link. Audio of the panel discussion will be archived online and I will post a link when…
February 2, 2010
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Obama called for significant government investment in nuclear energy, telling Congress that "to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe…
January 29, 2010
Much calamity has been made in popular books and by liberal commentators about the public's scores on quiz like survey questions tapping basic knowledge of scientific facts or the public's recognition of prominent figures in science.
Yet as social scientists have shown in various studies and have…
January 27, 2010
Two surveys released this week provide more information on how public opinion may or may not be shifting relative to climate change and energy. I provide some highlights and quick context below on fears over a growing "climate fatigue."
Pew: Global Warming and Energy Wane as Perceived Priorities…
January 26, 2010
In the two days leading up to their annual conference in San Diego later this month, AAAS will be sponsoring a two-day workshop on improving climate change literacy through informal education activities.
I will be participating in one of the panels and I hope to be blogging summaries of the event…
January 25, 2010
Nature magazine ran an editorial last week arguing the need for new directions in climate change communication, reflecting directly many of the themes shared at this blog and in past articles or presentations. Specifically, the Nature editors conclude:
The climate-research community would thus do…
January 25, 2010
For readers at Harvard, I will be participating in a panel discussion at the Kennedy School of Government on Thurs. Feb. 4 from noon to 2pm. Details are below and at this link.
The big draw, of course, will be fellow panelist Andrew Revkin, making one of his first public appearances since taking a…
January 21, 2010
Last week the NSF Science Indicators report was released, triggering more dramatic calls to action and overstated warnings from commentators about the alleged decline of science in American society. This predictable reaction is part of a decades enduring "fall from grace narrative" about the place…
January 20, 2010
The Katzen Arts Center on the American University campus will be host to a discussion of the civic and personal challenges that college students face on climate change.
Here's a head up on a very timely panel and forum to be held here at American University on February 9th and to be broadcast live…
January 12, 2010
After nearly 8 years as founding editor of The Scientist magazine, Richard Gallagher is stepping down to pursue new journalistic ventures. Gallagher helmed The Scientist as it grew into one of the top international outlets for reporting on trends in research, industry, politics, and ethics in the…