This article was published in TSE science magazine, TSE Mag. It is part of the Spring 2024 issue, dedicated to “Climate Revolution”. Discover the full PDF here and email us for a printed copy or your feedback on the mag, there.
Despite the mounting evidence supplied by climate scientists, many people remain blithely dismissive of the scale of the crisis. Given the need for public awareness to spur governments into action, TSE’s Céline Nauges wants to understand what drives our climate beliefs and attitudes.
In a recent study, she uses survey data from 11 countries to show that wealth – for both households and nations – is linked to less concern about climate change. Her results suggest that wealth acts as a buffer against risk, reducing climate concern by increasing people’s sense of control. She measures this feeling of control with a “readiness index” of countries’ ability to adapt to climate change; and, for households, the extent of energy-efficiency improvements.
Céline proposes that as richer countries and households are better equipped to respond to climate change, they provide a reassuring sense of protection. This highlights a major obstacle to climate action: How can we inspire those with the power to act, when they may also be the least motivated?
CLIMATE CONCERNS
Another study explores climate attitudes and adaptation behavior in rural Australia, using two surveys of the same farmers over a five-year period. Céline finds that farmers exposed to higher risk – with higher debt, larger irrigated areas, more permanent crops, higher temperatures and less rainfall – were more likely to see climate change as a risk.
Interestingly, Céline finds evidence that farmers’ attitudes towards climate change evolved over the five-year period and that these changes in attitudes may have been impacted by their actions on the farm. In taking action to reduce climate risks, such as changing the crop mix or reducing irrigated areas, some farmers reduced their initial climate concerns. Conversely, climate deniers were more likely to make riskier decisions, which eventually increased their climate concerns.
FURTHER READING
Sarah Ann Wheeler, Céline Nauges, Alec Zuo (2021) - How stable are Australian farmers’ climate change risk perceptions?
