REVIEW: Climate change, media, culture and the arts

• Main Author: Patrick Craddock
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pacific Media Centre 2012-10-01
• Series: Pacific Journalism Review
• Subjects: Climate change; Creative writing; Environment; Environmental journalism
• Online Access: https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/274

I approached this special edition of Dreadlocks with caution and apprehension. I saw two interpretations for the title: did it mean embracing science with creative political decisions for change, or did it mean using creativity through the arts as a symbol for approaching climate change? There is little hard science in these published papers, although there is a view from Richard Dawkins that makes an iconic appearance in a paper by Briar Wood from London Metropolitan University. This emphasises the Dawkins view that scientists must reach out to ‘…for want of a better word, poets’ and that there is a mismatch between science and the metaphorical language used to describe the real world. Improving communication and understanding is a good point to make, although where does climate science meet the arts?