Understanding the Communication of Climate Change Risk: Climate Scientists' Perspectives of Media Sources and Policy Makers

Despite the volumes of research that climate scientists produce examining the causes, effects, and history of global climate change, there continues to be an acceptance gap between these scientists and the public and government officials. While climate scientists share a consensus that climate change is occurring and is primarily caused by human activity, many citizens and public officials remain skeptical about climate change. One cause of this gap could be the nature of scientists' communications of their work to the media, the public, and decision makers within the government. We conducted a survey of climate scientists to find out how they view this gap, its causes, and potential solutions. We focus our analysis on the scientists' assessments of three intervening factors - knowledge, media relations, and trust.