Why Did Global Warming Tip?

Chris Mooney writes a thoughtful, two-part piece that digs into just why and how global warming got its groove.

While Gore's passion on the topic certainly played a key role, Mooney notes that a variety of factors led to global warming's current position on everyone's hot list. (Forgive me.)

Mooney points to data compiled by Matthew Nisbet, a professor at the School of Communication at American University. Nisbet analyzed coverage in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and used the Lexis-Nexis database to examine how much attention these two outlets have paid to global warming over more than two decades. His analysis shows that political events (such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol) drove spikes. But 2005 saw a big jump in interest, which Nisbet attributes to a variety of factors: "the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, a record temperature year globally, and most of all, Hurricane Katrina." Katrina, along with Gore, turn out to be our global warming superstars.

Mooney's article is an interesting study in the multiple factors that can drive an issue to the tipping point and how the subtle shifts in framing an issue can influence media coverage, and hence the public.