University of Nottingham - Climate phrases

The language of climate change is littered with metaphors and emotive terms, from the ubiquitous "carbon footprint" to descriptions of environmentalists as "carbon fascists". Now linguists at the University of Nottingham are to chart the rise and fall of climate change-related phrases. The group has received £190,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council to uncover how certain words and phrases become commonplace in the environmental lexicon. The researchers say that understanding the way in which complex scientific concepts such as climate change are communicated to the public could have important implications for policymakers developing awareness campaigns.