Climate change on social media: what do we know, what do we see, what do we do?

Climate change and social media talk at Met Office by Grantham supervisor Dr Warren Pearce. 

Dr Warren Pearce works at the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. He researches the intersection of science, policy and publics. One of his areas of expertise is climate change communication and he recently gave a talk at the Met Office examining how climate change is discussed on social media.

Warren says there are 3 main take-aways from his work on social media and climate change. Firstly, social media platforms are problematic spaces, but offer huge potential for talking about climate. Secondly, different social media platforms have different cultures, require nuanced engagement. And thirdly, people should be intentional and reflective about social media usage.

During the talk Warren discussed echo chambers, polarisation and the way science is portrayed on social media. He also draws attention to the use of images online, saying that there is a dominance of stereotypical climate imagery e.g. polar bears etc. As a result there is potential for more human-oriented images of climate impacts

Warren has captured his talk as a Twitter story, and you can find it below. If you click on the image than you’ll find a full thread.

Warren supervises Grantham Scholar August Lindemer. If you want to keep up to date with all our researchers than you can join our newsletter.

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