I am giving a lecture Saturday, April 8 at the DePaul Alumni University, DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.

My talk is entitled “Connecting on climate and energy: Finding common ground in an era of political polarization.” See here for the full schedule.

The majority of voters support US global engagement on climate change. Following the presidential election, researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities found that seven in ten (69%) of registered voters agree with US participation in the Paris agreement on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, including just more than half (51%) of Republicans. In this talk, drawing on my social media research on discourse about the COP21 Paris climate talks, protest over the Dakota Access Pipeline and hydraulic fracturing, as well as the broader field of climate change communication, I’ll explore ways in which we can connect meaningfully on climate action and energy issues in an era marked by political polarization on the issues.
Links to referenced materials are as follows:
  • President George H. W. Bush 1990 speech to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Georgetown University (see here).
  • President Barack Obama 2015 speech at the COP21 Paris climate talks (see here).
  • Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, Global Warming Six Americas (see here).
  • van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Rosenthal, S., and Maibach, E. (2017). Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change. Global Challenges: Climate Change. doi: 10.1002/gch2.201600008. (see here)
  • Roser-Renouf, C., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A., Feinberg, G., & Rosenthal, S (2016). Faith, Morality and the Environment: Portraits of Global Warming’s Six Americas. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.  (see here)
  • Pope Francis. (2015). Encyclical letter Laudato si’ (see here)
  • Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (see here) and her “Global Weirding” PBS Digital Studios project on YouTube (see here)
  • GreenFaith environmental organization (see here)
  • Corner, A., Webster, R. & Teriete, C. (2015). Climate Visuals: Seven principles for visual climate change communication (based on international social research). Oxford: Climate Outreach. (see here)