Environment & Climate Change
65
4.
Socio-economic and political impacts
Keywords
Media, climate change
Expertise
Research at Liverpool provides insights into how climate
change is being reported through traditional media
(
newspapers and television), and the web (including
blogs and websites). Our studies have looked at
the communication process, from climate science
researchers, to journalists, the general public, stake-
holders and NGOs, but also touch on the impact of this
communication on the public. Research in this domain
also connects mediation of climate change to mediation
of other topics, like energy security and peak oil.
We can offer advice to organisations on how to
manage their communication campaigns to ensure they
get across the right messages and have an impact.
Our knowledge of how people’s perception of the
climate change issue affects their behaviour can also
help to steer how organisations manage and
communicate their green credentials. Our expertise in
this area could help businesses explore how customers
perceive their environmental impacts and evaluate their
approaches to communication.
Acknowledging and understanding the public
perception of climate change also provides essential
context for decision-makers as they endeavour to
design and implement successful policies.
Relevant centres and groups
•
Europe and the World Centre.
Keywords
Climate change impact
Expertise
Climate change can only be understood with a
long-term perspective. Humans have been responding
to climate change for tens of thousands of years.
We are reconstructing historical changes in climate
and mapping these trends to human adaptation and
the transformation of early human culture, migration
and activities.
Our research extends from understanding the
evolutionary effects on our species of climate change,
to documenting successful and unsuccessful
responses to change of various kinds and intensity
during the Holocene period.
We pool the expertise of archaeologists, palaeo-
environmentalists and historians to discover the story
of mankind’s response to environmental pressures and
change. Our expertise and modelling techniques help
policy-makers, businesses and communities to
prepare for, and respond to climate change impacts.
Our historical perspective also feeds into modelling
efforts to assess future effects on human settlement and
land-use in many areas of the globe that are vulnerable
to climate change.
4.2
Understanding human involvement
Our knowledge of how
people’s perception of the
climate change issue affects
their behaviour can also help
to steer how organisations
manage and communicate
their green credentials.
4.1
Climate change and the media
Also see:
Energy & Sustainability,
page 68
Society & Culture –
7.
Film and media, page 176
APPLICATION AREAS
•
Built environment
•
Civil engineering
•
Energy
•
Food supply
•
Sustainability
•
Transport and infrastructure
