The Special Mission of Universities in a Post Sandy World
On Sunday at 7pm EST PBS Nova is airing a special on the science of mega-storm Sandy. For readers who work and teach at universities, I encourage you to watch the program or to check it out online, since the program is likely to offer a valuable context for the special role that universities need to...
New Course on Sustainability Communication
For American University students, I am offering a slightly revised version of the seminar in Science and Environmental Communication that I have taught the past few years, focusing more specifically on sustainability-related challenges. Information about the course is below. As in past years, students from the course will also be contributing guest posts to AoE...
NPR News on Framing Global Warming as a Public Health Threat
Effectively engaging the American public on climate change—including its causes, impacts, and solutions—remains both a major research question and a communication challenge. Effective public engagement requires understanding the cognitive, affective, and behavioral nature of audiences. On the Monday, Sept. 10 2012 edition of NPR’s All Things Considered, Richard Harris reported on the findings of a...
Reading List for Course on Science and Environmental Communication
This semester, students from a diversity of majors at American University are participating in an advanced seminar I am teaching on science and environmental communication. For the first part of the semester, we are covering core issues and themes. In the process, students will be blogging on related selected topics while finalizing their research paper topic....
The Science of Science Communication: National Academies Event Examines Our Inconvenient Minds and Social Identities
Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of research from the social and behavioral sciences offering insight on how individuals, social groups and political systems come to understand and make decisions related to science, the environment, technology, and medicine. Research in this area stretches across disciplinary boundaries, university departments, funding agencies and field-specific...
Study Maps the Relationship Between Cable News and Climate Change Perceptions
A new study finds that Fox News tends to feature guests who doubt the reality of climate change and stories that dismiss the need for action, while CNN and MSNBC tend to feature guests who assert the reality of climate change and the need for action. Interestingly, however, Fox tends to devote more attention to...
American University Makes Princeton Review’s “2012 Green Rating Honor Roll”
This “meadow” is actually one of AU’s green roofs. AU has the highest density of green roofs of any campus in DC. –Post by Ravi Raman. American University is one of only 16 schools nationwide to receive the highest possible rating (99 on a scale of 60-99) in the “Green Schools” category in this...
