Scientists Repeat: Climate Change Is a Risk We Cannot Take

You know that TV commercial that you can practically recite, or that radio ad that you’ve listened to so many times that you know it better than most songs? Imagine if the facts about global warming were so catchy.

Stating the facts more clearly and more often might help. This week, on March 18, scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) released a report to help connect people to the problem of global warming. This report—appropriately titled “What We Know”—wastes no time with the caveats before getting to the point: climate scientists agree that global warming is happening, it could have devastating consequences, and the sooner we act, the better we can manage the risks and costs. The AAAS is also planning an outreach campaign to spread this message to a wider audience.

We need more reports like this. In the environmental community, it might seem like this is a list of obvious facts. But we would do well to remember what communications specialist, David Fenton, said in a recent interview with Grist:

“It’s only when you’ve said something so many times that you’re utterly and completely sick of it that someone has even heard it. Marketers understand this. Scientists and people from the humanities less so — they get bored by it.”

In order to continue to make progress in fight against global warming—progress which we recently documented in Moving America Forward –more people need to understand and care about the risks of global warming. Let’s not get bored with repetition—we need to market the dangers of global warming to the public. This team of scientists has taken Fenton’s advice, by using an urgent, clear message and, just as importantly, making a plan to repeat it. Climate scientists agree that global warming is happening, it could have devastating consequences, and the sooner we act, the better we can manage the risks and costs.