Article ID: CBB001212089

The Colour of Risk: An Exploration of the IPCC's “Burning Embers” Diagram (2012)

unapi

Mahony, Martin (Author)
Hulme, Mike (Author)


Spontaneous Generations
Volume: 6
Pages: 75--89


Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Part of a special section, “Visual Representation and Science.”
Language: English

This article tracks the historical emergence of a new visual convention in the representation of the risks associated with climate change. The reasons for concern or burning embers diagram has become a prominent visual element of the climate change debate. By drawing on a number of cultural resources, the image has gained a level of discursive power which has resulted both in material mobility and epistemic transformation as the diagram itself has become a tool for a variety of actors to reason with. The case brings to light a number of challenges associated with attempts to know and visualize abstract concepts such as risk and danger, including the social organisation of knowledge production and the role of expert judgment in contexts where science is asked to retreat from normativity.

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Article Gross, Ari; Louson, Eleanor (2012) Visual Representation and Science: Editors' Introduction. Spontaneous Generations (p. 1). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001212089/

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Authors & Contributors
Weart, Spencer R.
Oreskes, Naomi
Conway, Erik M.
Sundqvist, Göran
Erlend AT Hermansen
Baum, Rudy Michael
Concepts
Climate and climatology
Global warming
Science and politics
Controversies and disputes
Public understanding of science
Earth sciences
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
19th century
Places
Great Britain
United States
Arctic regions
Europe
European Union
Institutions
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
UK Committee on Climate Change
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