Howarth_2016.pdf (241.79 kB)
Climate stories: Why do climate scientists and sceptical voices participate in the climate debate?
journal contribution
posted on 2023-08-30, 14:14 authored by Amelia Sharman, Candice C. HowarthPublic perceptions of the climate debate predominantly frame the key actors as climate scientists versus sceptical voices; however, it is unclear why climate scientists and sceptical voices choose to participate in this antagonistic and polarised public battle. A narrative interview approach is used to better understand the underlying rationales behind 22 climate scientists’ and sceptical voices’ engagement in the climate debate, potential commonalities, as well as each actor’s ability to be critically self-reflexive. Several overlapping rationales are identified including a sense of duty to publicly engage, agreement that complete certainty about the complex assemblage of climate change is unattainable and that political factors are central to the climate debate. We argue that a focus on potential overlaps in perceptions and rationales as well as the ability to be critically self-reflexive may encourage constructive discussion among actors previously engaged in purposefully antagonistic exchange on climate change.
History
Refereed
- Yes
Volume
26Issue number
7Page range
826-842Publication title
Public Understanding of ScienceISSN
1361-6609External DOI
Publisher
SAGEFile version
- Accepted version
Language
- eng
Official URL
Legacy posted date
2016-03-17Legacy creation date
2018-10-22Legacy Faculty/School/Department
ARCHIVED Faculty of Science & Technology (until September 2018)Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedLicence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC