Climate change, now that’s a term that’s starting to lose its meaning.

What climate change really means was the focus of a  talk given by Massachusetts Institute of Techonology PhD candidate in History, Anthropology, and Science Technology and Soceity, Candis Callison at the UBC School of Journalism this afternoon.

When Callison visited the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, she was surprised to find an absence of dialogue on climate change.

“That’s not what we talk about,” said a resident of Kotzebue, “It’s what’s on CNN.”

As Callison got to know the community, she found that the people of Kotzebue do in fact, talk about climate change. They just don’t call it that.

The people of Kotzebue talk about climate change in terms of how it affects their daily lives. For example, there was plenty of talk around town on how a changing arctic climate has affected whaling, and altered the frequency of storms.

Interviews in Kotzebue changed Callison’s PhD thesis. She started asking how the science of climate change can be brought into the realm of the everyday. She found that critical questions that would bring meaning and relevance to a conversation on climate change were lacking in media coverage.

Callison acknowledged that it’s hard to cover science without the science. But that’s not what she wants to see. Callison called for the ethical, moral and economic perspectives, amongst others, to be a part of climate change coverage.

The facts are important, but they don’t have to drive the story.

Photo curtesy of kenyai from Flickr