Mass media and global warming: A public arenas model of the greenhouse effect's scientific roots

Abstract

This article examines the global warming phenomenon, popularly known as the greenhouse effect, using the Hilgartner and Bosk public arenas model in an attempt to determine the historical framework involved in scientific interest in the subject. One of the characteristics of environmental issues is that problem definitions often arise from the scientific community itself before moving to other arenas. How was the global warming issue defined in the scientific media? Using the public arenas model in examining mass communication among the scientific community, what possible explanations are there for the rise and fall of the greenhouse effect as a social problem over time? Articles, indices, references, and footnotes on the effects of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere in scientific journals from the nineteenth century to the 1960s were examined. This research is not meant to be an exhaustive summary of all scientific literature in every nation, but a representation of the scientific work published in the West in the last 150 years.