A study from the University of Otago recently discovered factors impacting levels of concern of Americans over climate change, offering discussion on how such factors could affect alleviation initiatives.
An important thread of studies investigated people's ability to visualize the future. Study findings presented that while 74 percent of respondents were worried about climate change, only 29 percent were found to be discussing lower carbon options when they were asked to describe how travel would be by the year 2050.
Phys.org reported that according to the study's lead author Jean Fletcher, their finding "suggests actively envisioning a sustainable future" was less dominant compared to concern about climate change.
Therefore, while most of the study respondents were concerned, Fletcher, who completed the research as part of her PhD in Otago's Center for Science Communication, said, a "disconnect with expectation of what the future might hold."
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Mitigation Initiatives Discussed in the Study
Discussed in the study is how mitigation initiatives like greater application of low carbon systems could be widely accepted and take place sooner if anticipations of low carbon future were more dominant.
Fletcher explained, for instance, if people are expecting vehicles will, "rather than might, switch from petrol to electric," the acceptance of electric car purchasing is likely to increase sooner.
The research described as well how the future's abstract nature might encourage procrastination as humans wait for more information before they make any decision.
Fletcher emphasized that this has essential consequences for climate change. She added, the carbon emissions' cumulative nature means, the longer people wait to reduce emissions, the more, the stronger reduction of emission "needs to be."
Link Between Climate Change Concern and Technological Optimism
Otago's Center for Science Communication's study supervisor, Professor Nancy Longnecker, said that the research finding showing a link between climate change concern and technological optimism proposes that people are hoping for technological solutions instead of opting for "personal lifestyle changes.
Longnecker noted that individual initiative, collective move, and policy are all essential elements in the global response to climate change.
She said, for policymakers, "knowing drivers behind the thinking of people" can help address measures to alleviate in ways that result in action, rather than of people either seeing the problem way too far away to be concerned about, quite difficult to solve, or being other people's accountability.
Early Study
A 2020 report by The Mercury News said, the proportion of the American populace found to be alarmed by climate change "tripled over the past five years" and at that time, at an "all-time high."
Nearly six in 10 Americans were found to be either "alarmed or concerned by global warming," marking what the study authors considered as a major switch in perception of the public of the issue.
In addition, as of 2014, the percentage of Americans who were classified a "dismissive" of the issue was approximately similar to the Americans who were "alarmed" at roughly 11 to 12 percent.
However, in the years since, the percentage of "dismissive" Americans who believed global warming is not occurring or caused by humans dropped to only 10 percent.
Over time, the early study indicated, the "alarmed group," those who were almost worried about climate change and supported measures to lower heat-trapping carbon pollution, rose to 31 percent of those studied, and at the time of this study, outnumbered the dismissive group by over 3-to-1 ratio.
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