Edward Wile Maibach

Edward Wile Maibach

Edward Wile Maibach

Distinguished University Professor

Climate change communication, public health communication, social marketing

Dr. Maibach is a distinguished University Professor and Director of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (Mason 4C).  He is a Principal Investigator of the Yale/George Mason Climate Change in the American Mind polling project, and a co-developer of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, an educational initiative that currently involves 52 national medical societies, and Climate Matters—a climate reporting resources program that supports TV weathercasters as local climate educators.

In 2018, Dr. Maibach was appointed a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2020, he was awarded the Beck Family Presidential Medal of Excellence in Research and Scholarship—Mason’s top research honor—as well as the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication (with Anthony Leiserowitz). In 2021, news agency Thompson Reuters identified him as one of the world’s 10 most influential scientists working on climate change. He was elected as a Member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2022, and as a Member of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in 2023.

Dr. Maibach earned his PhD in communication science at Stanford University (1990), his MPH at San Diego State University (1983), and his BA at University of California, San Diego (1980).

He previously has had the pleasure to serve as Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, and Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli, and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. 

 

Selected Publications

 

Badullovich, N., Tucker, D., Amoako, R., Ansah, P., Davis, B., Horoszko, U., Zahiyyah, H., Maibach, E. (in press) How Does Public Perception of Climate Protest Influence Support for Climate Action. npj Climate Action. 

Kotcher, J., Badullovich, N., Ahmed, M., De Alwis, D., Maibach, E. (in press) Role model stories can increase health professionals’ interest and perceived responsibility to engage in climate and sustainability actions. Journal of Climate Change and Health.

Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Myers, T., Kotcher, J., Reed, D. (2024) The “think-and-do tank” model: Action-oriented climate communication research. Environmental Communication. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2024.2304571

Kotcher, J., Luong, K., Gould, R., Charles, J., Maibach, E. (2023) Health professionals calling attention to opponents of climate action improves the effectiveness of climate and health messages. Lancet Planetary Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00217-6

Ortiz, L., Stiles, R., Whitaker, S., Maibach, E., Kinter, J., Henneman, L., Krall, J., Bubbosh, P., Cash, B. (2023) Public health benefits of zero-emission electric power generation in Virginia. Heliyon. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20198

Myers, T., Roser-Renouf, C., Maibach, E. (2023) Emotional Responses to Climate Change Information and Their Effects on Policy Support. Frontiers in Climate. Vol. 5: https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1135450

Maibach, E., Campbell, E., Uppalapati, S., Kotcher, J. (2023) Active learning and effective communication to optimize climate change action. Journal of Climate Change and Health. doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100207

Howard, C., MacNeil, A., Hughes, F., Alqodmani, L., Charlesworth, K., de Almeida, R., Harris, R., Jochum, B., Maibach, E., et al. (2023) Learning to treat the climate emergency together: Networked social tipping interventions by the health sector. Lancet Planetary Health. https://doi.org/10.1016?S2542-5196(23)00022-0.

Campbell, E., Kotcher, J. E., Myers, T., Munson, S., Borth, A. C., Rosenthal, S. A., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2023) The Potential Role of Descriptive and Dynamic Norms in Promoting Climate Change Advocacy. Oxford Open Climate Change, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfclm/kgad001

Campbell, E., Uppalapati, S., Kotcher, J., Maibach, E. (2023) Communication research to improve engagement with climate change and human health: A review. 
Frontiers in Public Health. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1086858

 

Courses Taught

  • Comm 700: Developing and Testing Social Science Theory
  • Comm 660: Climate Change & Sustainability Communication
  • Comm 670: Social Marketing
  • Comm 641: Advanced Communication Skills for STEM Professionals

Education

  • BA, Psychology, 1980, University of California, San Diego
  • MPH, Health Promotion, 1983, San Diego State University
  • PhD, Communication Science, 1990, Stanford University

Recent Presentations

 

 

In the Media

  1. Cook, J., van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A. & Maibach, E. (2017) Why the 97% climate consensus is important.  The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/oct/02/why-the-97-climate-consensus-is-important
  2. Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. & Marlon, J. (2017) By 5 to 1, voters say the U.S. should stick with the Paris Agreement.  Grist. http://grist.org/article/by-5-to-1-voters-say-the-u-s-should-stick-with-the-paris-agreement/
  3. Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A. & Marlon, J. (2017) Should the US stay in the Paris Agreement? A majority of Democrats and Republicans think so.  The Conversation.  https://theconversation.com/should-the-us-stay-in-the-paris-agreement-a-majority-of-democrats-and-republicans-think-so-77455
  4. van der Linden, S., Maibach, E. & Leiserowitz, A. (2016) Climate change’s unseen consensus.  U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2016-02-18/teachers-need-to-communicate-the-scientific-consensus-on-climate-change
  5. Maibach, E. (2015). Voters to GOP: “I’m not a scientist” just won’t cut it on climate change.  Los Angles Times.  http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-maibach-gop-climate-change-position-20151016-story.html

Dissertations Supervised

Eryn Campbell, Health Professionals as Advocates for Climate and Health Solutions: The Influence of Social Norms on Health Professional Engagement in And Public Support for Climate Advocacy (2023)

Kristin M. F. Timm, Sources and Frames in a Contested Framing Space: An Analysis of the U.S. Media Coverage of The Fourth National Climate Assessment (2021)

Justin Rolfe-Redding, Communicating Hope about Societal Issues: The Case of Climate Change (2019)

Lindsey Beall, The Examination of Message Strategies Used by Environmental Organizations to Communicate with Members (2019)

John Kotcher, Reducing Resistance to Communication about Climate Change Using an Applied Self-affirmation Intervention (2016)

Neil Stenhouse, Powerful Feelings: Extending the Extended Parallel Processing Model to Collective Action on Climate Change (2015)

Jagadish Thaker, Climate Change in the Indian Mind: Role of Collective Efficacy in Cimate Change Adaptation (2012)