Toomey, D. (2013, September 12). Finding a Better Message onThe Risks of Climate Change. Retrieved January 29, 2018, from http://e360.yale.edu/features/dan_kahan_interview_better_message_risks_climate_change
1. What you already
knew
I already knew that
there was a divide in the United States among people believing and taking
climate change seriously. What I initially thought it was due to was that many
people did not feel that it had a significant short-term impact and that they believed
there were more pressing matters. The science is there and very accessible to
everyone and everyone seems to know climate change is legitimate, but there is
a backlash. This backlash I thought was due to what people in power, who profit
from markets that influence climate change, say in the media and news that
leads others to believe them.
2. What you learned
Through this article,
I learned that a defining factor as to whether someone will accept climate
change or not is what cultural group someone belongs to. There are two cultural
groups defined here, which are “individualism” and “communitarianism.” Those
who belong to each of those groups have already preconceived notions on what is
good and bad in marketplaces that result in climate change. Individualistic
people are more concerned with themselves and their activities. If they are
told that certain aspects of their lifestyle, which add to their sense of wellbeing,
are damaging the environment, they are not going to listen to those sources.
Instead, they will listen to people of their cultural group and hear their
outlook. Communitarian type people will instead care about the wellbeing of
others and see themselves as one person in a group of many. They will instead
be more concerned about how things affect the collective instead of just themselves.
This results in those who are part of this group to be more supportive of
combating climate change. Those in each of those groups are often scared to speak
out against what the overarching group believes. This was seen in a case study
of Bob Inglis, a conservative congressman from South Carolina, who had great
political ratings among his conservative followers. Once he said that climate
change will impact and damage many people and should be considered a serious
topic, he was voted out of office and essentially abandoned by his cultural
group. There was also the idea that how climate change is framed impacts the amount
of polarization there is on the issue. In an experiment, when subjects were
given three different articles relating to climate change, the one on how to
deal with the problem in a way that does change our habits was the least
polarizing. This shows some promise in how to go about solving and presenting
climate change. So, to sum it up, it is not the science that is being debated.
It is where people are getting their source of science. There are no scientists
on TV discussing climate change; others who share the same cultural values as
themselves instead bring the science to viewers.
3. Relevance to this
class or topic we are covering
This is relevant to our
class overall because we were discussing in an earlier class why it is that climate
change is not accepted or thought of as an immediate threat by our country. This
idea was never brought up. It is an extremely important concept though because
it helps us understand where the divide is and why it is there. In class now,
we can have a better framework in coming up with ideas to which we can create a
framing that appeals to both cultural groups. We can study climate change and
it’s impacts all we want, but it will do little good unless it can be presented
in a way that has mass appeal.
4. Thoughts
This article is
extremely important in understanding one aspect of how climate change should be
framed to certain groups. While it is definitely not comprehensive, it gives an
overview that is generally easy to follow and straightforward. Understanding
the nuances of why people are reluctant to accept climate change is important
and any study will be useful in combating this global issue and debate.
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