Experts Gather at the Aquarium to Develop New Approach to Motivate Public Action on Climate Change

November 2, 2016

On November 2, 2016, the Aquarium of the Pacific will host a forum to bring together climate scientists, social scientists, psychologists, and a psychiatrist for the first time to develop a new approach to get the public to act on climate change. The output from this forum will include strategies for communicating climate change to the public that will be tested with the Aquarium’s visitors and a forum report summarizing the discussions and recommendations. The findings will be shared with museums, aquariums, and zoos across the nation and other public learning institutions. The forum was inspired by climate scientist and Jungian psychologist Jeffrey Kiehl’s new book, Facing Climate Change.

While a majority of Americans believes the climate is changing, and concern about climate change in the U.S. is at an eight-year high, according to Gallup polls, science communicators are still searching for ways to motivate people to act and change their behavior. “The Aquarium of the Pacific is the perfect place to connect people to the issue of climate change. People visit the Aquarium to experience the living wonders within the world’s oceans. I can think of no better place than the Aquarium to communicate the tremendous importance of climate change and its effects on life in the ocean,” Kiehl said.

Forum participants will include Kiehl, biologist and paleontologist Anthony Barnosky, science communicator and exhibit designer Tom Bowman, psychologist Thomas Doherty, biologist and geologist Elizabeth Hadly, artist and architect Rori Knudtson, engineer and designer Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, climate scientist Richard Somerville, psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes, economist Gernot Wagner, psychiatrist Peter Whybrow, scientist and exhibit curator Deborah Zmarzly, and Aquarium President and CEO Jerry Schubel.

“The Aquarium of the Pacific has the most diverse portfolio of communication vehicles of any aquarium, from weekly lectures and performances to theater shows and large-scale exhibitions produced in-house. We have an appropriate audience for developing and testing different messaging strategies, with the fourth largest attendance and the most ethnically diverse audience of any major aquarium in the U.S. The Aquarium of the Pacific has the attributes to be an excellent laboratory for designing, developing, and testing different climate change communication strategies. We are committed to using the results of this forum to enhance the effectiveness of our communications to change beliefs and behaviors concerning climate change beyond our walls,” Schubel said.

After the forum, the Aquarium will publish a report on its findings, including a summary of the forum discussions and recommendations, and share this with other informal science learning institutions throughout the country at no cost. New climate change programming and exhibits based on the research will be unveiled at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Southern California on Earth Day 2017.