Emma Frances Bloomfield

Assistant Professor in Communication Studies

Expertise: Science Communication, Religion and Politics, Religious and Scientific Controversies, Climate Change, Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design

Biography

Currently an assistant professor at UNLV, Emma Bloomfield focuses on rhetoric, politics, and publics with a minor focus in media communication and sociology. She studies how people talk and argue about science, religion, technology, and the body in public spaces, such as politics, news media, and online outlets.

Bloomfield has published about various scientific topics and how the public understands and responds to them, including topics such as evolution, science education, online personas, climate change, birth control, and religion in politics. As a communication scholar that focuses on rhetoric, she attends to the ways that people use symbols, such as language, to persuade, influence, and make connections with others — particularly in situations where this use of symbols leads to controversy, deliberation, and public concern.

Bloomfield is interested in the role of religion in politics, strategies for engaging the public in climate science, and how scientists can better communicate and talk to general audiences.

Education

PhD Communication, University of Southern California

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communication, public speaking, relationships, science & technology, social issues, sustainability

Emma Frances Bloomfield In The News

Help! There’s a climate denier at my dinner table.

Grist

November 27, 2019

The holidays just aren’t complete without a little drama for dessert. And what’s more dramatic than a planet in crisis?

The Pope Might Make Destroying the Earth a Sin. Will Catholics Listen?

November 26, 2019

It’s his form of environmental justice.

The pope might make destroying the earth a sin. Will Catholics listen?

Grist

November 22, 2019

Pope Francis is not your average pope. He’s weighed in on prison reform and women’s rights, and he wrote a whole encyclical on climate change in 2015. On Friday, at the 20th World Congress of the International Association of Penal Law, Francis waded into the climate change debate again with an unusual idea: perhaps environmental destruction should be classified as an official sin.

How to talk about climate change in an emotionally intelligent way

Fast Company

November 15, 2019

Simply look at the reaction environmental activist Greta Thunberg received after speaking at the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations (or really, when she does anything) and you’ll see how heated things can get when people talk about climate change.