Don’t Look Up: Science Communication Revisited

In my workshops, Storytelling and Storyboarding Science, I teach scientists how to use the narrative techniques and strategies employed in movies to produce persuasive presentations and publications. Although the movie Don’t Look Up was initially intended as an allegory about climate change and the idea that decision makers are not listening to scientists, this movie does in fact highlight important issues regarding how scientists communicate science to the wider public. In this article, I discuss how this movie illustrates the challenges that I teach my students to cope with in science communication.