Climate Change



Climate Change

Question 1

The study of public perceptions of climate change has evolved significantly in recent years (Immerwahr, 1999; Bord, Fisher and O'Connor, 1998, Brechin, 2003, Leiserowitz, 2006). The research findings are not always consistent. Climate change is a complex and uncertain, difficult to relate to everyday life for individuals. However, can be set some consistent trends in the different contexts studied (Lorenzoni and Pidgeon, 2006): i) there is a high concern for the problems environmental and climate change. However, climate change is considered less important than other personal and social problems ii) limited knowledge of the causes and solutions to climate change iii) perception negative and threatening climate change, but remains a risk psychologically, temporally and spatially distant iv) recognition of the risks of climate change while certain benefits, although some ambivalence about the potential for catastrophe v) existence of a desire to act against risks perceived climate change through measures defined and limited vi) ascription of responsibility to mitigate climate change mainly to government.

One element in matching the various international studies reviewed is that the general concern among citizens for change climate is high. Thus, surveys in recent years in various countries show that the degree of concern about climate change among citizens is high, although this concern is always smaller than the existing in reference to other problems. However, as Leiserowitz concluded more recently (2006), the public, in this American case, despite the high concern, perceived climate change as a challenge urgency, which may involve changes in its priorities and spending habits, but as a problem can be solved by other actors.

Understanding of individuals of climate change has been analyzed by several authors (Kempton, 1997; Bord et al, 1998). It has been argued that the understanding of climate change, the cultural models that people apply traditionally been applied to other environmental problems such as pollution or destruction of the ozone layer. The essential idea is that people consider climate change as a form of contamination or identified with the destruction of the ozone layer, which leads to wrong inferences on, for example, the possible effects of climate change on health. The link states, incorrectly, between climate change and reduced layer Ozone has been reported in several studies (Bord et al, 1998). Also, other authors (Stoll-Kleemann et al, 2001) have highlighted the difficulties of understanding that climate change generated in the general public due to the nature of the problem.

Question 2

Many environmental issues facing society, such as ecosystem collapse, demand considerable public investment to reverse. However, this investment will only arise if it is supported by the general community, and community support is only likely if the issues are widely understood (Miller 2004, Miller et al. 2006). The need for effective communication, public outreach, and education to increase support for collective action and behavior change is perhaps most pressing in the context of anthropogenic climate change (Moser and Dilling 2007). The role of the arts is often overlooked in extending scientific information and yet ...