Public representations of scientific uncertainty about global climate change

This paper addresses the representation of scientific uncertainty about glo bal warming and climate change in the U.S. popular press. An examination of popular press articles about global warming from 1986 to 1995 reveals that scientific uncertainty was a salient theme. The paper describes several fo rms of uncertainty construction and means through which it was managed. I a rgue that scientific uncertainty was used to help construct an exclusionary boundary between "the public" and climate change scientists. This rhetoric al boundary delegitimated lay knowledge by suggesting that the public did n or hold appropriate reverence for scientific uncertainty and the need for m ore research.