Goodbye, Climate Jargon. Hello, Simplicity!

Short Wave

NPR

Science, Life Sciences, News, Nature, Daily News, Astronomy

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

People are likely to be confused by common climate change terms like "mitigation" and "carbon neutral," according to a recent study. So how can everyone do a better job talking about climate change so that no one's left confused? NPR climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher tells us the key turns out to be pretty simple.

Read more of Rebecca's reporting on climate jargon: https://n.pr/2XdfYOC
Read the study: https://bit.ly/3Adj8QT

You can always reach the show by emailing shortwave@npr.org — but please, hold the jargon.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to shortwave from NPR.
0:06.0	Hi, Rebecca Hersher.
0:07.1	Hey, Lauren Summer.
0:08.4	So this is fun to climate reporters on shortwave at the same time.
0:12.5	Yeah, nothing says fun like climate change.
0:15.7	Oh, getting.
0:16.9	Yeah, I'm kidding.
0:17.9	Uh, but I'm actually really happy that you're the one I get to talk to for today's episode.
0:22.2	Because the story I want to talk about is specifically about the words we use to communicate about climate change.
0:28.1	Oh, yeah.
0:29.2	You and I both think about this a lot because there are a lot of technical terms when it comes to the science.
0:35.2	Yeah.
0:35.7	And it turns out that some of the most common words that scientists use when they're talking about climate change are really confusing to the general public.
0:43.3	That makes sense.
0:44.1	I mean, there are words by scientists for scientists, but hold on.
0:48.8	I feel like I should probably ask, I mean, are these words that I've used in my reporting?
0:53.3	Yep.
0:53.8	Yes, they are.
0:54.8	Some of them, but I also use them and in fact, some of these confusing climate words have been used on this podcast.
1:01.2	Oh, no.
1:01.8	Yeah.
1:02.1	So one of them is hiding in this clip from an episode about sharks back in March.
	...

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