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simply speak of the effect, for fear of putting their foot in their mouth. This, let’s call it, excess
of prudence does not help the public to understand the problem.
We must remember at this point that the scientific community is and has been cautious and
they work on the principle of prudence. Based on this wariness, the latest IPCC reports have
presented a consensus in the analysis on the consequences of greenhouse gases and the
urgency for radically decreasing those emissions.
Climate change is talked about on the publication day of an important report and when there
is an explosive cyclogenesis or excessive flooding. We alternate between silence and disaster,
reproducing time and time again a communicationpattern that is as depressing as it is ineffective.
Journalists need to dispel the fear of criticism from deniers and, in particular, to educate and
inform themselves. They need certainty. For this, the numerous organisations working on the
coverage of climate change must provide clear, reliable, well-founded information that can be
attractively presented.
As we have seen in this report, climate change is not an esoteric-mathematical variable; it is a
phenomenon affecting everyone’s daily life. If we want to tear down the constructed emotional
barriers, we must talk less in numbers and impart the human stories dwelling behind.
Francisco Heras, researcher and coordinator of the Education and Cooperation Department at
the Spanish National Centre for Environmental Education, has researched this topic in depth.
We recommend reading his research: La sociedad ante el cambio climático. Conocimientos,
valoraciones y comportamientos en la población española (2011). [Society facing climate change:
knowledge, appreciation and behaviour of the Spanish populace]. Below is a brief summary
published in the journal “Razón y Palabra”, in which Heras presents a tapestry of climate
change iconography. It seems very appropriate because it supports the thesis of informational
distancing of the problem which reinforces emotional distance.
Common iconography of climate change:A polar bear on a small ice float, images demonstrating
the melting (of ice, of the planet); scenes of fissured and dried lands; diagrams explaining the
greenhouse effect, the planet in flames, heated by an enormous match, or cooked in a frying
pan; pictures of floods; satellite images of hurricanes; and billowing industrial smokestacks.
They analysed 100 images of climate change and discovered that only two of themhad“solutions”
as their main purpose. Another two contained express calls for responsible action; the rest
were directed towards the negative side of climate change. Obviously, if we seek to involve the
population in the solutions, we have to change this iconography.
Recommendations proposed by Francisco Heras:
1. Inform on starting points from a social and independent perspective.
2. Avoid encapsulating climate change as a “techno-scientific issue”.