EHC are increasing rapidly in their occurrence, intensity, and global spread. Humanity is facing climate change, biodiversity loss, the spread of infectious diseases, and many other such EHC on an unprecedented scale. The level and scope of public understanding play a crucial role in inciting human action in dealing with these worldwide EHC and mitigating their destructive consequences. The example of the recent COVID-19 crisis has, however, shown that the world at large faces many obstacles related to public understanding and communication of EHC. Current approaches to creating public understanding of such crises – stemming from disparate fields of study – are unable to cope with divisive prevalent narratives and representations of the complex multidisciplinary nature of these crises – as is the case, for instance, of media narratives surrounding the causes of global warming or the handling of pandemics.