PIK Biennial Report 2000-2001 - Potsdam Institute for Climate ...

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in the Public Eye
Public interest in global change, especially in the changing
climate, remains high. The number of articles on the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research appearing
in the press over the last two years, suggests even
that a tremendous growth in public interest has taken
place. While some 400 articles appeared in the years 1998
and 1999, nearly double so many – 720 – appeared in
2000 and 2001. This figure represents only those articles
in our records, taking into account no online publications
and only a percentage of those in the foreign press.
Additionally, conversations with people outside the institute
make evident that the institute’s media presence is
well recognized. Though the focus of our public relations
is, in the first instance, quality rather than quantity,
the institute is indeed well represented with an average of
one newspaper article per day.
Media interest was particularly high in early summer
2001, during the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol and
with the appearance of the IPCC Report on the climate
and climate impact, in which a number of the institute’s
scientists played a significant role. The events of September
11, 2001, caused a noticeable shift of media interest
to other issues. Though these recent trends do not fall
within the period covered by this report, the gradual shift
of media interest back to climate change was anticipated
in the first half of 2002 and appears to be returning to a
level typical of the last few years.
Moreover, the media appears to be conveying an increasingly
more complex understanding of climate change,
indicating that the message from scientists concerning
the complexity of the Earth system and the compelling
relationship between global warming and environmental
problems is reaching more publishers and “sinking in” to
more heads. Media interest revolves less and less on the
question of whether or not the weather last Tuesday had
anything to do with global warming. The public no
longer appears to want a simplified understanding of scientific
questions and answers. Increasingly, it tends to
recognize the probabilistic character of climate and climate
impact research and does not shy away when complex
and thus more complicated issues are raised, which
cannot be addressed with a simple “yes” or “no”. This
holds true for schools, organizations, individuals and
politicians who come to us for materials, lectures and
consultations.
Margret Boysen, PIK´s Public Relations Manager
and Main Editor of the Biennial Report.
The growth in public concern on global warming and climate
change can be readily observed in the press and
public relations office. The numerous public lectures
held by institute scientists has certainly contributed to
this growth. Yet this is a trend that could all too readily
come to an end as a result of one or another shift in
political relations, which strongly influence the media.
Despite its considerable success, our public relations
efforts in the area of television have proved difficult.
With the exception of interviews (in 2000-2001 the institute
was represented in more than a hundred radio and
television interviews), TV’s hunger for pictures cannot
always be satisfied. Given its limited resources, the work
of the institute gives preference to model calculation
rather than the visualization of research results. Moreover,
scenarios developed by the institute are not prophecies.
We are often concerned that catastrophic images of
the future only fulfil the need for sensation and fear and,
in the long run, will have no impact upon viewers. The
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research thus
strives continuously to awaken public interest in the fascinating,
intricate relationships involved in environmental
research. These are complex interrelationships which
must first be mastered cognitively, not tactilely or visually.
Even when the visual is clearly desirable, it is not of
foremost concern for the institute. Our press release on
stochastic resonance as a trigger for extreme temperature
fluctuations during the last ice age demonstrates that
even complicated subjects are well received by newspapers
and their readers. The number of German articles at
six was rather low, but the quality of the articles in view
of their complexity was surprisingly good.
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