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Scientists who try to explain climate change to the public with emotional images of parched fields and stories about starving polar bears should stop because they are not only misleading and “ludicrous,” but they may actually do more harm than good, according to new psychological research.

Science communicators should only use stories and images that reflect long term trends that are unambiguously attributable to climate change, such as rising sea levels or retreating glaciers, according to a new paper in the journal PLOS Biology.

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“Snowballs, igloos, a cold winter in Egypt, or a starving polar bear do not satisfy those criteria,” according to psychologists Stephan Lewandowsky and Lorraine Whitmarsh of the University of Bristol.

On the contrary, images of an apocalyptic future “may actually demotivate audiences, triggering denial or apathy instead of engagement.”

Simple anecdotes, images and memes can be misleading “because not all droughts and parched landscapes can be unambiguously attributed to climate change,” they write. “How can we legitimately use the anecdotes and images that we, as humans, find so alluring and convincing without risking scientific inaccuracy?”