Environmental Communication Lab

The Environmental Communication Lab, led by Sol Hart, examines how communication strategies can be used to promote better social outcomes. The lab focuses primarily on issue relating to science, health, environment, and risk communication, and examines both individual and societal level questions. Some examples of recent projects include examining how best to communicate about global climate change, effective strategies to promote donations to charities working on poverty initiatives, how different media sources cover science issues, and what types of environmental news stories are likely to attract viewers with different political and environmental orientations. The lab primarily utilizes social science techniques for investigations, which include experiments, surveys, and content analyses. Theoretically, the research projects draw from a variety ofliteratures, including judgment and decision making, media effects, persuasion, mass communication, political communication, and science and risk communication. The lab is also highly collaborative, and lab members are encouraged to work together on research projects inaddition to developing independent projects. Support for lab projects has come from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the University of Michigan Energy Institute.