Sophie Nicholson-Cole

“Fear Won't Do It”: Promoting Positive Engagement With Climate Change Through Visual and Iconic Representations

Fear-inducing representations of climate change are widely employed in the public domain. However, there is a lack of clarity in the literature about the impacts that fearful messages in climate change communications have on people’s senses of engagement with the issue and associated implications for public engagement strategies. Some literature suggests that using fearful representations of climate change may be counterproductive. The authors explore this assertion in the context of two empirical studies that investigated the role of visual, and iconic, representations of climate change for public engagement respectively. Results demonstrate that although such representations have much potential for attracting people’s attention to climate change, fear is generally an ineffective tool for motivating genuine personal engagement. Nonthreatening imagery and icons that link to individuals’ everyday emotions and concerns in the context of this macro-environmental issue tend to be the most engaging. Recommendations for constructively engaging individuals with climate change are given.

Representing climate change futures: a critique on the use of images for visual communication

How people perceive their role and the responsibilities of others in determining the outcomes of climate change is of great importance for policy-making, adaptation and climate change mitigation. However, for many people, climate change is a remote problem and not one of personal concern. Meaningful visualisations depicting climate change futures could help to bridge the gap between what may seem an abstract concept and everyday experience, making clearer its local and individual relevance. Computer aided visualisation has great potential as a means to interest and engage different groups in society. However, the way in which information is represented affects an individuals interpretation and uptake, and how they see their present choices affecting their future and that of others. The empirical content of this paper summarises the results of an exploratory qualitative study, consisting of 30 semi-structured interviews investigating peoples visual conceptions and feelings about climate change. The emphasis of the inquiry is focussed on eliciting peoples spontaneous visualisations of climate change and their feelings of involvement with the issue. The insights gained from the described empirical work set the scene for further research, which will employ the use of a range of images and visualisations for evaluation.

Designing sustainable coastal futures

The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents unequivocal evidence of climate change. Coastal areas are projected to be exposed to increased risks of coastal erosion and flooding due to greater storminess and sea level rise. One challenge is to work out how coasts may alter in terms of flood and erosion risk. Quite another is to understand the associated economic, social, and environmental consequences so that meaningful adaptation measures can be developed and put in place well before the ‘future’ happens. This paper examines the shift in policy in coastal management in England, informed by the outcomes of various case studies involving participatory techniques designed to enable local communities to envisage ways of adapting to a changing coastline. A key stumbling block is that ‘future coasts’ are all but impossible to visualise; the evidence base is uncertain, and policy measures to ensure sustainable coastal futures are not in place; they have not yet been developed, never mind implemented. This means that scenarios for future coastlines are left hanging in the air: they are representational, but cannot yet effectively guide adaptation processes. There is no clear governance arrangement to drive the development of sustainable coasts for the next generation. New forms of community engagement, plus fresh approaches to governing institutions, will be necessary before sound progress can be made.

Predicted wave climate for the UK:towards and integrated model of coastal impacts of climate change.

The effect of global climate change on the wave climate of the coastal regions of the UK is investigated. A state of the art third generation wave model is used to predict changes in wave climate in the North East Atlantic and UK coastal waters. The driving meteorological data is provided by global and regional climate models, driven by different future greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Present day wave climates are validated against a previous hindcast, which has been calibrated with wave observations, and good agreement is found in regions of interest. These studies downscale the affect of global climate changes on wave climate to a previously unresolved scale. Output of these wave climate predictions are to be used in a regional Coastal Simulator managed by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The Coastal simulator is a framework of integrated hydrodynamic, morphological and socio-economic models that provides predictions of the increased risk of coastal flooding and cliff erotion on the East Anglia coastline. The drivers of increased risks of coastal flooding and cliff erosion on te East Anglia coastline. The frivers of increased risks are sea-level rise and increased storm surges and waves in possible future climate scenarios. On a large scale, for the range of future climate scenarios, strong positive changes in significant wave height are predicted in the North East Atlantic and South West of the UK. On the regional scale of the Southern North Sea the spatial pattern of changes in wave height varies considerably with possible future scenario, but positive changes in the mean and high percentiles of wave height are predicted off-shore from the particular region of interest on the East Anglia coastline.

The Tyndall coastal simulator and interface

Coastal zones attract settlements, are ideal for a range of economic activities and accommodate important natural habitats that provide ecosystem services. All these coastal activities are vulnerable to climate and other changes unless appropriate management policies are implemented. Sea-level rise and intensified storms could increase the incidence of flooding and erosion, as well as degrade coastal ecosystems. Importantly, the coast is a linked system, and management responses for one area or sector may influence the impacts for other areas or sectors. Understanding coastal processes and taking account of climate and socio-economic futures helps to illustrate/reveal impending choices,and in developing responsive informed long-term coastal management policies. This paper describes research being carried out by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research on their Coastal Simulator. The research includes the linkage of a range of modelling procedures to represent coastal management and climate and coastal processes, as well as the design of a GIS-based interface to make the intergrated results accessible. The prototype simulator provides regional impact assessments of climate and socio-economic futures under various management options in the coastal zones of Norfolk, Fast Anglia and shows that erosion and flood risk are strongly linked.