Stanford Earth Sciences Partners with Student Group to Host Panel on Public Perceptions of Climate Change

To more effectively influence public opinion and policies around climate change, Students for a Sustainable Stanford and the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences organized “The Climate Debate Demystified: An Interdisciplinary Panel” on November 18. The panel brought together leading Stanford faculty, students, and Bay Area experts in policy, science, economics, and media to explore how climate change is communicated to the public and how today’s citizens subsequently think about the topic. The conversation, moderated by Stanford lecturer Tom Hayden, covered the psychology involved in thinking about climate change, media portrayal of climate change, communication of climate change to the public, and the interaction of all these to shape public opinion.

More than 175 campus community members attended the panel. Students for a Sustainable Stanford members have continued to pursue the topic since the highly successful discussion. Club members submitted an op-ed to the Stanford Daily in March confronting the climate debate on campus.