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Journalism, bias, and beliefs: a closer look at climate change.
Below, read about the premise of this project and why I chose to focus on the topic of climate change.
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In August 2020, at the start of my senior year of college, I was tasked with designing a project of my choosing for one of my capstone classes. Being a writer and designer, communication has always been at the forefront of my work; I love looking for ways to tell stories through words and visuals. So, I thought back over the almost unbelievable events of this year: natural disasters, a pandemic, stock market crash, protests and civil unrest, politically charged everything. Every day there seemed to be a new story, a new event, a new conflict. I thought about how difficult it had been to keep up with everything; news outlets couldn’t get their reports out fast enough. And naturally, everyone had something different to say. Facts and opinions swirled together with each new report. I, like many others, struggled to see the forest for the trees.
Amidst the turmoil of 2020, I decided to shape my project around my love for communication to tell a story that was accessible––something that was holistic and transparent and relevant.
My goal for this project was to look at the facts and opinions on a topic and find a comprehensive way to share them with people. To do this, I had to find a subject that not everyone agrees on. Climate change and the related topic of global warming are issues that frequent the worlds of science, news, and politics. Because these topics extend to so many aspects of our lives, there tends to be some confusion and conflict surrounding them.
With any topic there are facts and statistics that can influence how we feel and respond. But opinions are another important factor in our understanding of certain issues. Climate change is one of these topics that has heavy scientific and personal implications for people. As a result, there ends up being a range of perspectives on the issue.
In 2008, Yale University began a study on these different perspectives called Global Warming’s Six Americas (click here to see the website). These ‘Americas’ are six categories of how people respond to the issues of global warming and climate change: alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful, and dismissive.
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Here’s what each category means:
Alarmed: Those who are convinced global warming is an urgent, human-caused threat that is happening now. These people are in support of climate policies and taking action.
Concerned: People who believe human-caused global warming is happening and threatening and are in support of climate policies, but tend to believe that climate impacts are distant and therefore a lower priority issue.
Cautious: These are people who have not yet made up their minds: Is global warming happening? Is it human-caused? Is it serious?
Disengaged: Those who know little about global warming and don’t hear much about it in their daily lives.
Doubtful: People who do not think global warming is happening or believe it is just a natural cycle. They do not think the issue is a serious risk.
Dismissive: Those who do not believe global warming is happening, human-caused or a threat and oppose climate policies.
Each year, Yale surveys Americans to calculate the percentage of people in each category. Here are the standings as of April 2020:
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There have been fluctuations in these percentages since the original study in 2008, but the last five years have seen the biggest changes. Between 2015 and 2020, the “Alarmed” category has more than doubled in size from 11% to 26% of the United States Adult population. The “Dismissive” category has decreased from 12% to 7% (see source). Yale University’s Six Americas quiz can be accessed here.
For the purpose of the project, I chose to compare perspectives of older U.S. adults. I interviewed five subjects similar in age, but with different backgrounds and experiences to capture their opinions about the issue of climate change. Below is a brief description of each subject.
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William Wentz
Gender: Male
Age: 59
Location: Grew up in Ohio and Georgia, now living in South Padre Island, Texas
Education: High school and some college
Job: Logistics Manager for a power generation company
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Bill Stanley
Gender: Male
Age: 52
Location: Grew up in Oakridge, Tennessee, now living in Columbus, Ohio
Education: Undergraduate in Environmental Science and minor in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, Masters of Forest Science from Yale University
Job: State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Ohio
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Chris Yoder
Gender: Male
Age: 69
Location: Grew up in West Liberty, Ohio, now living in Circleville, Ohio
Education: Undergrad in Natural Resources from The Ohio State University, Masters in Zoology from DePauw University
Job: Research Director for the Midwest Biodiversity Institute
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Cookie Hoffmeyer
Gender: Female
Age: 69
Location: Grew up in Defiance, Ohio, now living in Columbus, Ohio
Education High school
Job: Currently working in the real estate industry
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Joe Bechtel
Gender: Male
Age: 60
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Education: Undergrad in Business Administration from The Ohio State University
Job: Partner Manager for a data management and analytics company
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Each of these subjects has their own unique experiences that contribute to their overall ideas about issues such as climate change. With such a controversial topic, comparing these variations in opinions, as well as facts, illustrates a piece of the larger story about changes to the planet.
Opinion plays an important role in any issue. But, no matter what category you fall into, something to keep in mind is the importance of listening to others. Diversity is a good thing and that means people will have different perspectives on different topics. In order to see change in any situation, we must acknowledge other’s perspectives––even if they oppose our own. When it comes to climate change, if we acknowledge both the facts and opinions, that’s when we are able to learn and grow.
That being said, let’s look at some facts.
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