Shoshana Mayden, co-sponsored by the University of Arizona Department of Geography and Regional Development and the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth

Climate variability and change has a great influence on the livelihoods of the people in the Desert Southwest, impacting areas such as agriculture, water supplies, tourism, energy production, and human health. Newspapers are a powerful and effective medium for reaching both everyday citizens and decision makers. However, while weather stories are frequently front-page news, the underlying climate dynamics are often absent or sometimes misrepresented— particularly in smaller newspapers that don’t have dedicated science or environmental reporters

My outreach project seeks to establish a climate education program for journalists, with the ultimate goal of better informing the public on these issues. The initial plans are for a series of short (1-1.5 days) workshops where journalists will partake in hands-on learning activities, real-time data demonstrations, question and answer sessions with scientists, and a trip to the “field” to see climate science in action. Although it will be challenging in a short workshop, I hope to develop a curriculum that will engage participants in scientific inquiry and processes, rather than presenting an overwhelming amount of facts. The journalists participating in the workshops will walk away with a stronger knowledge base regarding climate variability and change to draw from during breaking news stories, as well as new ideas about data (including NASA products) and expert sources that can inform their future work.

I am fortunate to be partnering with two mentors from existing outreach-related programs at the University of Arizona: Gregg Garfin, Program Manager of the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) project, and Arizona Cooperative Extension Specialist Mike Crimmins. Both are currently involved in a joint effort to produce climate and drought information targeted to the general public in Arizona and New Mexico and are interested in developing a permanent media outreach program. They are aiding in workshop planning, as well as in the development and presentation of educational materials.

The plan for fall 2005 is to workout logistical details and to begin planning the workshop curriculum. The initial workshop, planned for February 2006 (final date TBD), will target Arizona print media with efforts to include journalists in under-served communities (Hispanic and American Indian). Subsequent workshops (planned for fall 2006 and spring 2007, contingent on funding) may grow to include journalists from other parts of the country. We have decided to focus primarily on climate change and I am completing graduate coursework on the climate system this semester that will aid in developing a module on the climate effects of global warming in Arizona. We have put together our initial workshop budget and solicited funds from Cooperative Extension and NOAA. I am also spending time investigating successful media outreach programs at other institutions and looking at the academic literature on how journalist perceive and portray climate change issues. This will be followed by an analysis of newspaper articles regarding climate change from the Southwest and an initial survey of invited participants.

Fall 2006 Update

One goal of the project is to develop a curriculum that will engage participants in scientific inquiry and processes, rather than presenting an overwhelming amount of facts. To this end, I created a web module demonstrating how climate change may already be increasing winter minimum temperatures at several locations around the state that allows users to ask questions and explore climate data. This module was coupled with other hands-on activities at the workshop, including a visit to the UA Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research to see how the varying annual bands of trees hold clues to the climate of the past and an interactive presentation of the online vegetation-monitoring tool, Arizona RangeView.

For 2006-2007, we are planning a second workshop to be held in northern Arizona and will possibly extend the outreach program to editors, publishers, and journalism students. As part of graduate seminar on climate change, I am working with other students to analyze the latest climate change projections and determine how they will influence the Southwest. The information from the class will fuel some of content for the next workshop and I will also be aiding in developing website content for the public based on the results. I am continuing to refine the web module developed in the first year of the project and am working with a professor at Pima Community College who plans to use it her biology/environment courses. My final goal for the project is to develop a website that will be a permanent resource for journalists writing about climate change issues.