PR Battles

The Friends of Science site basically wipes the floor with Grist's 'How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic'. Both the web design and the language used in Friends of Science is much better than Grist's. People want information to be well packaged, simple, and straightforward.

The clarity in type, page layout, and eye-pleasing blue background make reading the information on the page much more pleasant than Grist's much narrower page layout with way too many links and much less pleasing-to-the-eye to the eye white background. +1 to Friends of Science in the PR Battle.

The fact that Grist's page of links is much longer than the Friends of Science page of 10 straightforward 'myths' and 'explanations', is another indicator of loosing the PR battle. +1 to Friends of Science. People do not want to click 261 separate links (Yes, I counted). If I as an environmentalist am put off by their website, how can they ever hope to get skeptics to wade through their poor web design?

The fact that Grist has so much information is laudable, but it also hints at the fact that many environmentalists and climate scientists still do not realize that they are not in a battle of science, they are in a PR Battle. It is understandable that scientists speak in science. But, they (and we) need to realize that the vast majority of the public does not. They need to think back and remember that most people didn't like school, and especially didn't like their science and math classes. To expect all these people to reason through science is, unfortunately, naive. People think in terms of money and people. Grist's site fails to recognize this. +1 to Friends of Science.

I could go on, but really the result is the same. Until the environmental movement learns to speak in popular terms, they will not only lose the war, but most of the battles as well.