The Story of Climate Change : Science, Narrative, and Social Action

Abstract

Environmental scientists and activists condider global warming, or "clinate change" , to be one of the most urgent issues in the world today, a phenomenon with potent implications for the future of life on this planet. Still, many politicians in the United States - and many avetage citizens - dismiss and ognore this phenomenon, developing public policies and engaging in lifestyles that defy the indings of linate science in order to support short-term economic goals. This paper, intended for an audience of laypeople, points out the importance of language in conveying the technical details and the siginificance of climate change and in insupiring social action.