Dear Chapman Colleagues:

Whether you are a physical scientist concerned with the broader impacts of your work, a social scientist concerned with improving decision support, or a professional communicator, we would like to encourage you to submit an abstract to our session at the AGU Fall Meeting this December:

Why Should We Talk About What We Don't Know? Implications of Communicating Scientific Uncertainty (PA016)

(Please note that since this is a Public Affairs session, you are allowed to submit a second abstract to the AGU meeting.)

Session Description:

When it comes to today’s pressing geoscience issues—climate change, energy development, natural disasters, geoengineering—how we choose to communicate uncertainty can have far-reaching societal consequences. Not only do scientists, policy actors, and the public perceive uncertainty differently, but they may also construct uncertainty to justify political action or inaction. Given the information needs of decision makers and the public, as well as what we as scientists understand about the earth system, how should we best communicate what we don’t know? When is stressing uncertainty effective? When is it counterproductive? We encourage contributions from physical, social, and political sciences.

Abstracts must be submitted by 6 August 2013, 23:59 EDT: https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/scientific-program/abstract-submission-poli...

This year's conference takes places 9-13 December 2013 in San Francisco.

We hope to see you there,

Adriana Raudzens Bailey University of Colorado adriana.bailey@colorado.edu

Lorine Giangola University of Colorado

Elizabeth McNie Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences