Environmental Communication and Science Communication—Conversations, Connections and Collaborations

Abstract

Environmental issues, and the application of science and technology to those issues, are receiving unprecedented levels of attention in public and policy discourses. As this has been happening, differences over responses to climate change have broadened to much wider philosophical and cultural divergences over the authority accorded to science and the assessment and interpretation of scientific evidence. Many different views may be taken on the proposition that these developments mean we are moving into or already are in a post-truth world. Yet, it is evident that in authoritarian societies or once-liberal societies trending in that direction, it has become more difficult to advocate for evidence-based positions and policies on a wide range of topics, notably those related to environment and climate. In these conditions, environmental communication (EC) and science communication (SC) need to intensify their critical examination of their respective responsibilities and potentials; relations between EC and SC are an important aspect of that critical self-examination.