Comments on: Score two for science communicators.

By: Ahuertas

Ahuertas — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:29:05 +0000

Thanks for sharing your more nuanced views on this. I do remember the older post to which you link. You'll be happy to know we're still doing the cartoon calendar.

Generally, we try to differentiate between fear and urgency, as do many other groups that are trying to communicate about the threats climate change, nuclear proliferation and the systematic abuse of science pose to society. We also want to make sure we're providing emails and actions to our members and activists that are effective, so this feedback is helpful.

By: Ahuertas

Ahuertas — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:29:05 +0000

Thanks for sharing your more nuanced views on this. I do remember the older post to which you link. You'll be happy to know we're still doing the cartoon calendar.

By: Bits about science communication and engagement « FrogHeart

Bits about science communication and engagement « FrogHeart — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:05:45 +0000

[...] has posed the question, What kind of person is a science communicator for the NAE? Thanks to a July 26, 2010 posting about science communication on Science Cheerleader, we have an [...]

By: Bits about science communication « FrogHeart

Bits about science communication « FrogHeart — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:59:00 +0000

[...] that answers the question, What kind of person is a science communicator for the NAE? Thanks to Science Cheerleader, we have an [...]

By: BD

BD — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:27:27 +0000

Sent my mother the baseball picture and she replied, “Funny, that looks like my son.”

By: BD

BD — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:27:27 +0000

Sent my mother the baseball picture and she replied, “Funny, that looks like my son.”

By: Science Cheerleader

Science Cheerleader — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:12:46 +0000

Thanks for writing, Aaron. I'm on your mailing list so I receive all the emails urging me to act (immediately?) on a variety of issues. I have to say (again, as I said this all before here: http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2008/09/some_... ) the hint of hysteria embedded in the calls to action cause me to tune out the emails. One or two sequential emails like that wouldn't be a problem. It seemed, however, every message I received was more urgent than the former one. That negative experience made my recent reintroduction to UCS all the sweeter. Those ads are terrific and they strike a perfect chord. Someone in your communications/PR office deserves an award.

By: Ahuertas

Ahuertas — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:58:15 +0000

I appreciate you highlighting what we did with the ad campaign. I'm definitely proud of it and I hope science communicators can continue to put a human face on science.

However, I take exception to characterizing our past work as being based on "fear." Instead, we've sought to highlight the idea that we actually have a choice when it comes to the severity of climate change: stay addicted to fossil fuels or switch to cleaner energy use. We highlight problems, but we always focus on solutions, too. You can see this in our climate impact analyses, which spell out the consequences of both a lower-emissions and higher-emissions futures for various regions of the United States. We've compiled two of our major analyses at climatechoices.org.

Thanks,
Aaron Huertas
Union of Concerned Scientists