6.1 Climate Communication: Using Art to Get Beyond the Numbers

Tuesday, 9 January 2018: 1:30 PM
Room 6B (ACC) (Austin, Texas)
Melissa Fleming, The Weather Gamut, New York, NY

Climate Communication: Using Art to Get Beyond the Numbers

Climate Change is a complex scientific subject with a plethora of data-rich reports that detail its causation and diverse impacts. Nevertheless, as important as all that information is, not everyone responds well to facts and figures or charts and graphs. Given the importance of this topic, alternate methods are needed to reach such groups.

Art is one such avenue. It helps make complex issues - like climate change - more visible and allows society to look at and to understand the world in new ways. This type of awareness is vital if we, as a society, are to change our behavior and adapt to a new environment.

Building on my previous interdisciplinary art-science projects, (including a poster presentation at AMS 2017 in Seattle) this talk will discuss the results of a recent national survey that I conducted that shows art to be a powerful tool of communication that helps to broaden the public conversation on climate change. Moreover, as public concerns about climate change vary by region, this talk will highlight specific artworks and imagery that speak to the assorted impacts of this critical issue and its possible solutions.

Supplementary URL: www.weathergamut.com

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