6 research outputs found
Effects of personal carbon allowances on decision-making: evidence from an experimental simulation
No full textEffects of personal carbon allowances on decision-making: evidence from an experimental simulation
No full textBehavioural influences of personal carbon trading (PCT) beyond those anticipated by pure price effects have been a theoretically attractive, yet empirically elusive, feature of such schemes. Computer-based simulation is used to examine the effects of participants' decisions on their personal carbon allocations within a PCT context. Evidence is presented about participants' tendencies to make more energy-conserving decisions as a consequence of attending to a restrictive and diminishing carbon allowance—independent of other financial and carbon cost information provided—suggesting that a form of ‘carbon budgeting’ is occurring. Further measurements indicate that the extent of carbon reduction achieved within the simulated PCT framework varies according to pro-environmental attitudes. Evidence is also presented that the size of participants' footprints correlates inversely with support for PCT; and that proenvironmental attitudes correlate positively with support for PCT. The advantages and drawbacks of using simulations for examining behavioural responses to PCT are discussed
Public perception of cold weather events as evidence for and against climate change
No full textIt has been argued that public doubts about climate change have been exacerbated by cold weather events seen as a form of disconfirming evidence for anticipated ‘warming’. Although a link between perceptions of climate and weather is well-established, such assumptions have not been empirically tested. Here we show, using nationally representative data, that directly following a period of severe cold weather in the UK, three times as many people saw these events as pointing towards the reality of climate change, than as disconfirming it. This we argue was a consequence of these cold winters being incorporated into a conceptualisation of extreme or ‘unnatural’ weather resulting from climate change. We also show that the way in which people interpret cold weather is associated with levels of pre-existing scepticism about climate change, which is in turn related to more general worldviews. Drawing attention to ‘extreme’ weather as a consequence of climate change can be a useful communication device, however this is problematic in the case of seasonal cold
What is climate change scepticism? Examination of the concept using a mixed methods study of the UK public
No full textAbstractThe holding of doubts about climate change is often referred to as ‘scepticism’. However, there has been a lack of clarity in previous work as to what exactly this scepticism comprises. We integrate data obtained from discussion groups and a nationally representative survey, to interrogate and refine the concept of climate change scepticism with respect to the views of members of the public. We argue that two main types should be distinguished: epistemic scepticism, relating to doubts about the status of climate change as a scientific and physical phenomenon; and response scepticism, relating to doubts about the efficacy of action taken to address climate change. Whilst each type is independently associated by people themselves with climate change scepticism, we find that the latter is more strongly associated with a lack of concern about climate change. As such, additional effort should be directed towards addressing and engaging with people's doubts concerning attempts to address climate change
Stability and Change in British Public Discourses about Climate Change between 1997 and 2010
No full textPublic understanding of climate change has been a topic of environmental social sciences research since the early 1990s. To date, temporal change in climate change understanding has been approached almost exclusively using quantitative, survey-based methodologies, which indicate that people's responses on a limited number of measures have indeed altered in response to changing circumstances. However, quantitative longitudinal evidence can be criticised for presenting an overly simplistic view of people's beliefs and values. The current study is the first to explore changes in public understanding over an extended time period using in-depth qualitative methods. The study utilises a novel longitudinal methodology to explore changes in discourses across six separate datasets collected over the period 1997-2010, comprising a total of 208 public participants from across Great Britain. We find for the first time that discourses regarding the relevance of climate change to everyday life, and concerning rationales for personal action have exhibited subtle but important shifts over this period. By contrast, other aspects of public understanding have exhibited considerable stability over time, particularly with respect to ethical principles concerning stewardship of nature, justice and fairness. We conclude by distinguishing between three scales of change in public understanding of climate change: relatively short-lived movements in attitudes as revealed by survey data and influenced by transitory phenomena; slower shifts in public discourses that track changing cultural contexts; and enduring ways of understanding climate change that are tied to longer-term ethical foundations
Attribution matters: revisiting the link between extreme weather experience and climate change mitigation responses
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The literature suggests that extreme weather experiences have potential to increase climate change engagement
by influencing the way people perceive the proximity and implications of climate change. Yet, limited attention
has been directed at investigating how individual differences in the subjective interpretation of extreme weather
events as indications of climate change moderate the link between extreme weather experiences and climate
change attitudes. This article contends that subjective attribution of extreme weather events to climate change is
a necessary condition for extreme weather experiences to be translated into climate change mitigation responses,
and that subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change is influenced by the psychological and
social contexts in which individuals appraise their experiences with extreme weather. Using survey data gathered
in the aftermath of severe flooding across the UK in winter 2013/2014, personal experience of this flooding
event is shown to only directly predict perceived threat from climate change, and indirectly predict climate
change mitigation responses, among individuals who subjectively attributed the floods to climate change.
Additionally, subjective attribution of the floods to climate change is significantly predicted by pre-existing
climate change belief, political affiliation and perceived normative cues. Attempts to harness extreme weather
experiences as a route to engaging the public must be attentive to the heterogeneity of opinion on the attributability
of extreme weather events to climate change
