Poroi Jan 2010 Open Access

Before Climategate: Visual strategies to integrate ethos across the “is/ought” divide in the IPCC’s Climate Change 2007: Summary for Policy Makers

Lynda Walsh University of Nevada, Reno

Abstract

In this paper I analyze strategies policy scientists use to bolster their ethos with American policymakers and the public in the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Working Group I Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), from their Fourth Assessment Report released in 2007. Specifically, I treat the visualizations of computer climate models included in the SPM as technologies that the IPCC authors used to re-integrate their paradoxical ethos: commissioned to give policy guidance on the basis of their scientific reputation, these authors nevertheless field ethical attacks if their guidance runs counter to prevailing political winds. The visualizations perform continuity between the authors' traditional scientific ethos and their policy ethos. They also shift the locus of persuasion in the SPM from ethical questions to appeals to values and logic (e.g. the results of the climate models).

Journal
Poroi
Published
2010-01-31
DOI
10.13008/2151-2957.1066
CompPile
Open Access
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Citation context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Ackerley (2026)
    Equipping Readers: Composing Policy Reports for Extended Rhetorical Use
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Gordon et al. (2022)
    Masked Meanings: COVID-19 and the Subversion of Stasis Hierarchy
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Lanius (2022)
    Rhetoric of Social Statistics: Statistical Persuasion and Argumentation in the …
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Carter (2021)
    The Construction of Value in Science Research Articles: A Quantitative Study of…
    Written Communication
  5. Pietrucci et al. (2019)
    Scientist Citizens: Rhetoric and Responsibility in L’Aquila
    Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Show all 7 →
  1. Walker (2016)
    Mapping the Contours of Translation: Visualized Un/Certainties in the Ozone Hol…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Walker et al. (2012)
    “No One Yet Knows What the Ultimate Consequences May Be”: How Rachel Carson Tra…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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