Is there a hole in the ozone layer of your climate change? From scientific culture to popular culture

Authors

  • Pablo Ángel Meira Cartea University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.0.4219

Keywords:

scientific culture, popular culture, social representation, climate change, ozone

Abstract

Eight out of ten Spaniards think the hole in the ozone layer, caused by human actions, is the key physical cause of climate change. This belief, constructed from scientific elements (concepts, images, icons, discourse), is a product of popular culture. Science has never confirmed this relationship. It was the ability of popular culture to incorporate scientific «objects» according to its own epistemology that established and popularised the idea until it became a global cultural belief. The divergence between social and scientific representation invites us to reflect upon how contemporary societies embrace and remodel scientific culture to construct representations for interpreting reality and directing responses (or inaction) to threats identified by science.

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Author Biography

Pablo Ángel Meira Cartea, University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

Professor of Environmental Education at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). He is member of the Social Pedagogy and Environmental Education Research Group and the director of the Resclima research project (www.resclima.info). He has written several books on climate change, education and communication.  

References

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Published

2016-04-15

How to Cite

Meira Cartea, P. Ángel. (2016). Is there a hole in the ozone layer of your climate change? From scientific culture to popular culture. Metode Science Studies Journal, (6), 57–62. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.0.4219
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Issue

Science grid: The public understanding of science (2016)

Section

Living with climate change. The challenge of a new cultural change

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