The seven frames of climate discussion in the media. How climate liability pushes for corporate action. Are we already unwittingly geoengineering the oceans? Jesse Zondervan’s August 2019 #GfGDpicks #SciComm

Each month, Jesse Zondervan picks his favourite posts from geoscience and development blogs/news which cover the geology for global development interest. Here’s a round-up of Jesse’s selections for the last month:

As Greta Thunberg hits the news with her zero-carbon crossing of the Atlantic, this month discussion on adaptation to climate change is voluminous. Coverage of climate change follow seven distinct frames, depending on the economy and other characteristics of countries, found a US/Vietnam based study.

Where in rich countries the focus lies on science and new discoveries, in low-resource countries the focus tends to be on international relations or natural impacts of climate change. Social progress and the potential for solving problems is the least popular frame, but arguably the most important.

Whilst the media and governments are grappling with adapting to climate change, litigation of companies causing emissions or neglecting climate risk to their facilities and infrastructure starts to really take off. This is driven partly by insuring companies, compensating damage whilst chasing irresponsible companies for negligence.

Though climate change claims and suits threaten any industry linked to hydrocarbons and greenhouse gas emissions, such as transport, manufacturing, agri-business, and finance, the biggest group of companies does not view it as strategic yet. This might change soon as the push for climate-change-related risk reporting in business intensifies.

How to make progress through communicating and applying science

So where is the potential for solving problems? Climate change adaptation planning always makes assumptions, and whether these are reasonable is up for debate. That is why geoscientists at Pennsylvania State University argue there is for wider use of Earth science to identify effective strategies for climate risk management.

Another opportunity for climate researchers to help out is by contributing to Wikipedia, especially information on the Global South, which is underrepresented on the wiki whilst it is overlooked as a communication platform beyond the scientific audience.

Geoengineering – yes/no or are we already doing it?

There is limited knowledge on how geoengineering techniques might affect the environment, making it a risky business for now. Analogies for solar geoengineering are often based on volcanic eruptions. But how accurate is this?

A new study based on numerical models suggests that unlike the disruption of rainfall patterns after a volcanic eruption, the sustained deployment of a geoengineering system would be less significant.

Another study published in Nature Communications this month takes a whole different perspective, arguing we are already geoengineering the ocean by the input of industrial iron fertilizing it. The study found at least half if not all the soluble iron in the air masses of Europe and North America derives from human activities.

Indeed, another study from UC Santa Barbara finds in over half of the oceans the cumulative human impact is increasing significantly and overall has doubled in the recent decade.

As always, there is more to read. Go ahead!