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The Colour of Risk: An Exploration of the IPCC’s “Burning Embers” Diagram

Mahony, Martin and Hulme, Mike (2012) The Colour of Risk: An Exploration of the IPCC’s “Burning Embers” Diagram. Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 6 (1). pp. 75-89. ISSN 1913 0465

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Abstract

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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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Mahony, Martin
Hulme, Mike
Depositing User: Miss Charlotte Marcotte-Toale
Date Deposited: 29 Jan 2019 18:31
Last Modified: 29 Jan 2019 18:31
Item ID: 15686
Journal or Publication Title: Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science
Publisher: The University of Toronto
Official URL: https://spontaneousgenerations.library.utoronto.ca...
DOI or Unique Handle: https://doi.org/10.4245/sponge.v6i1.16075
Date: 3 October 2012
Page Range: pp. 75-89
Volume: 6
Number: 1
ISSN: 1913 0465
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15686

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