Conclusions from the Readings

As going through the readings that were assigned to us I found some concerns and influences pertaining to my project.One of the concerns that I am having was trying to define my audience and taking authority. According to Lundgren and Mcmakin, that knowing your audience is crucial to knowing what risk communication methods to use(100). When I first started my project I thought the government would be the most appropriate audience to communicate my risk but after discussing this in class I realized that the government is still way to broad. Over the past few days I was trying to figure out a good audience that I could use to communicate the risk of global warming. I finally came up with the conclusion that the Environmental Protection Agency, which is a form of government, would be the most appropriate audience to communicate this risk to. My goal of communicating this risk is try to have the EPA to take further action to try to fight against global warming by forcing major industries to reduce their emissions and to educate the public about the preventative measures they can take. Since I am only one individual I find it hard to understand why an agency with so much experience would consider listening to my risks of global warming. Maybe they would consider listening to me if I prove to them that global warming is still on a increase by showing them the statistics I have researched.

One of the influences with my project comes from the book of Risk Communication by Lundgren and Mcmackin. Throughout chapter 10 it described various ways to raise awareness for my communication effort on global warming. This may influence my audience by showing them visual graphs and pictures that represent my topic. According to Lundgren and Mcmakin, the style of these pictures is sometimes associated with persuasive communication(160). However, the pictures and graphs maybe more significant backed up by written information. This might influence the EPA to take further action. Also another good way is stakeholder participation. This would get the audience and stakeholders involved by working together in organizations to fight against global warming."Stakeholder participation can be structured to accommodate a variety of audiences, including those that are hostile or have difficulty reading or understanding other forms of communication(Lundgren and Mcmakin 165). I think this would be the best way to get people involved to contribute this major issue.

By reviewing these readings it helped me to improve my risk communication effort. The passages gave a lot of useful ideas and ways to communicate the risk associated with various topics. However, some of the readings had me questioning if I had the right audience and authority. I feel that the EPA is the best audience to communicate my risk to because they have the power to control other people's actions by forcing stricter laws or by educating the stakeholders. This is a project that will continue to take time and effort to try to communicate my risks better.

Type of Risk Communication

The issue of global warming can fit into two different categories of risk communication. The categories are "Care" and "Consensus" communication. "Care communication is communication about risks for which the danger and the way to manage it have already been well determined through scienific research that is accepted by most of the audience"(Lundgren and Mcmakin 5). Since global warming is a fairly new topic there are a few skeptics that have not accepted that global warming is caused from human activites. Many of these skeptics believe that global warming is nothing to worry about and that the Earth is just naturally warming up on its own. I belive that care communication got this important issue out into the public for most people to belive that global warming is really happening. Through scientific research there are many preventative measures that we can take to help reduce the air emissions to help save our environment and the people living in it.

The other category that global warming can fit into is "Consensus" communication. "Consensus communication is risk communication to inform and encourage groups to work together to reach a decision about how the risk will be managed"(Lundgren and Mcmakin 5). The government is also becoming more involved speaking out and educating the public of the raising awareness of global warming and the effects it has on humans. The government is not the only group of people realizing that global warming is becoming an important issue but many of the stakeholders are becoming involved by taking action to this by joining many organizational groups set up around the world. For an example, the Sierra Club has over 1.3 million members working together to protect the environment and the people in the communities. By joining an organization it will help to take action to fight against global warming.