Two stories about climate communication today. First, the bad — announcing a rehash of the Coalition’s failed climate policy, our Prime Minister thinks he can hide its shortcomings by stammering an ocker mantra: “It is absolutely fair dinkum power. It doesn’t get more fair dinkum than this. This is fair dinkum, 100%.” But now the good — on Channel 7’s weather reports, Jane Bunn is putting weather in context, drawing on work by the Climate Change Communication Research Hub. On a rainy day in July, she notes there has been a “trend toward less July days with significant rain”; on a cool day in May, she observes the “overall trend since the late 70s is warmer than the long-term average”. Says Bunn: “I just want the facts, quietly put through in a straightforward way that people can understand.” If only our government did, too.
26 February 2019