The Distribution of Climate Change Public Opinion in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Mildenberger, Matto; Howe, Peter; Lachapelle, Erick; Stokes, Leah; Marlon, Jennifer; Gravelle, Timothy

2016-01-01

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change's causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels.

Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Elke U.; Stern, Paul C.

2011-01-01

This article considers scientific and public understandings of climate change and addresses the following question: Why is it that while scientific evidence has accumulated to document global climate change and scientific opinion has solidified about its existence and causes, U.S. public opinion has not and has instead become more polarized? Our…

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Stephanie E.; Biesbroek, Robbert; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Ford, James D.; Parker, Stephen; Fleury, Manon D.

2016-01-01

Climate change is a major challenge facing public health. National governments play a key role in public health adaptation to climate change, but there are competing views on what responsibilities and obligations this will—or should—include in different nations. This study aims to: (1) examine how national-level public health adaptation is occurring in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries; (2) examine the roles national governments are taking in public health adaptation; and (3) critically appraise three key governance dimensions of national-level health adaptation—cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning—and identify practical examples suited to different contexts. We systematically reviewed publicly available public health adaptation to climate change documents and webpages by national governments in ten OECD countries using systematic web searches, assessment of self-reporting, and content analysis. Our findings suggest national governments are primarily addressing infectious disease and heat-related risks posed by climate change, typically emphasizing capacity building or information-based groundwork initiatives. We find national governments are taking a variety of approaches to public health adaptation to climate change that do not follow expected convergence and divergence by governance structure. We discuss practical options for incorporating cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning into a variety of contexts and identify leaders national governments can look to to inform their public health adaptation planning. Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement and subsequent increased momentum for adaptation, research tracking adaptation is needed to define what health adaptation looks like in practice, reveal insights that can be taken up across states and sectors, and ensure policy orientated learning. PMID:27618074

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Stephanie E; Biesbroek, Robbert; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Ford, James D; Parker, Stephen; Fleury, Manon D

2016-09-07

Climate change is a major challenge facing public health. National governments play a key role in public health adaptation to climate change, but there are competing views on what responsibilities and obligations this will-or should-include in different nations. This study aims to: (1) examine how national-level public health adaptation is occurring in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries; (2) examine the roles national governments are taking in public health adaptation; and (3) critically appraise three key governance dimensions of national-level health adaptation-cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning-and identify practical examples suited to different contexts. We systematically reviewed publicly available public health adaptation to climate change documents and webpages by national governments in ten OECD countries using systematic web searches, assessment of self-reporting, and content analysis. Our findings suggest national governments are primarily addressing infectious disease and heat-related risks posed by climate change, typically emphasizing capacity building or information-based groundwork initiatives. We find national governments are taking a variety of approaches to public health adaptation to climate change that do not follow expected convergence and divergence by governance structure. We discuss practical options for incorporating cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning into a variety of contexts and identify leaders national governments can look to to inform their public health adaptation planning. Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement and subsequent increased momentum for adaptation, research tracking adaptation is needed to define what health adaptation looks like in practice, reveal insights that can be taken up across states and sectors, and ensure policy orientated learning.

Shaping the Public Dialogue on Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, W.; Anderson, J. C.

2012-12-01

In order to broaden the public dialogue about climate change, climate scientists need to leverage the potential of informal science education and recent advances in social and cognitive science. In the US, more than 1,500 informal science venues (science centers, museums, aquariums, zoos, nature centers, national parks, etc.) are visited annually by 61% of the population. Extensive research shows that these visitors are receptive to learning about climate change and trust these institutions as reliable sources. Given that we spend less than 5% of our lifetime in a classroom, and only a fraction of that is focused on science, informal science venues will continue to play a critical role in shaping public understanding of environmental issues in the years ahead. Public understanding of climate change continues to lag far behind the scientific consensus not merely because the public lacks information, but because there is in fact too much complex and contradictory information available. Fortunately, we can now (1) build on careful empirical cognitive and social science research to understand what people already value, believe, and understand; and then (2) design and test strategies for translating complex science so that people can examine evidence, make well-informed inferences, and embrace science-based solutions. The New England Aquarium is leading a national effort to enable informal science education institutions to effectively communicate the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. This NSF-funded partnership, the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI), involves the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, FrameWorks Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and National Aquarium, with evaluation conducted by the New Knowledge Organization, Pennsylvania State University, and Ohio State University. We believe that skilled interpreters can serve as "communication strategists" by

Adaptation to climate change in the Ontario public health sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paterson Jaclyn A

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Climate change is among the major challenges for health this century, and adaptation to manage adverse health outcomes will be unavoidable. The risks in Ontario – Canada’s most populous province – include increasing temperatures, more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and alterations to precipitation regimes. Socio-economic-demographic patterns could magnify the implications climate change has for Ontario, including the presence of rapidly growing vulnerable populations, exacerbation of warming trends by heat-islands in large urban areas, and connectedness to global transportation networks. This study examines climate change adaptation in the public health sector in Ontario using information from interviews with government officials. Methods Fifty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted, four with provincial and federal health officials and 49 with actors in public health and health relevant sectors at the municipal level. We identify adaptation efforts, barriers and opportunities for current and future intervention. Results Results indicate recognition that climate change will affect the health of Ontarians. Health officials are concerned about how a changing climate could exacerbate existing health issues or create new health burdens, specifically extreme heat (71%, severe weather (68% and poor air-quality (57%. Adaptation is currently taking the form of mainstreaming climate change into existing public health programs. While adaptive progress has relied on local leadership, federal support, political will, and inter-agency efforts, a lack of resources constrains the sustainability of long-term adaptation programs and the acquisition of data necessary to support effective policies. Conclusions This study provides a snapshot of climate change adaptation and needs in the public health sector in Ontario. Public health departments will need to capitalize on opportunities to integrate climate change into

Adaptation to climate change in the Ontario public health sector

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Climate change is among the major challenges for health this century, and adaptation to manage adverse health outcomes will be unavoidable. The risks in Ontario – Canada’s most populous province – include increasing temperatures, more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and alterations to precipitation regimes. Socio-economic-demographic patterns could magnify the implications climate change has for Ontario, including the presence of rapidly growing vulnerable populations, exacerbation of warming trends by heat-islands in large urban areas, and connectedness to global transportation networks. This study examines climate change adaptation in the public health sector in Ontario using information from interviews with government officials. Methods Fifty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted, four with provincial and federal health officials and 49 with actors in public health and health relevant sectors at the municipal level. We identify adaptation efforts, barriers and opportunities for current and future intervention. Results Results indicate recognition that climate change will affect the health of Ontarians. Health officials are concerned about how a changing climate could exacerbate existing health issues or create new health burdens, specifically extreme heat (71%), severe weather (68%) and poor air-quality (57%). Adaptation is currently taking the form of mainstreaming climate change into existing public health programs. While adaptive progress has relied on local leadership, federal support, political will, and inter-agency efforts, a lack of resources constrains the sustainability of long-term adaptation programs and the acquisition of data necessary to support effective policies. Conclusions This study provides a snapshot of climate change adaptation and needs in the public health sector in Ontario. Public health departments will need to capitalize on opportunities to integrate climate change into policies and programs

Climate Change and Public Health Policy: Translating the Science

OpenAIRE

Braks, Marieta; van Ginkel, Rijk; Wint, William; Sedda, Luigi; Sprong, Hein

2013-01-01

Public health authorities are required to prepare for future threats and need predictions of the likely impact of climate change on public health risks. They may get overwhelmed by the volume of heterogeneous information in scientific articles and risk relying purely on the public opinion articles which focus mainly on global warming trends, and leave out many other relevant factors. In the current paper, we discuss various scientific approaches investigating climate change and its possible i...

Climate Change, Public Health, and Policy: A California Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganesh, Chandrakala; Smith, Jason A

2018-04-01

Anthropogenic activity will bring immediate changes and disruptions to the global climate with accompanying health implications. Although policymakers and public health advocates are beginning to acknowledge the health implications of climate change, current policy approaches are lagging behind. We proposed that 4 key policy principles are critical to successful policymaking in this arena: mainstreaming, linking mitigation and adaptation policy, applying population perspectives, and coordination. We explored California's progress in addressing the public health challenges of climate change in the San Joaquin Valley as an example. We discussed issues of mental health and climate change, and used the San Joaquin Valley of California as an example to explore policy approaches to health issues and climate change. The California experience is instructive for other jurisdictions.

Climate Change, Public Health, and Policy: A California Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jason A.

2018-01-01

Anthropogenic activity will bring immediate changes and disruptions to the global climate with accompanying health implications. Although policymakers and public health advocates are beginning to acknowledge the health implications of climate change, current policy approaches are lagging behind. We proposed that 4 key policy principles are critical to successful policymaking in this arena: mainstreaming, linking mitigation and adaptation policy, applying population perspectives, and coordination. We explored California’s progress in addressing the public health challenges of climate change in the San Joaquin Valley as an example. We discussed issues of mental health and climate change, and used the San Joaquin Valley of California as an example to explore policy approaches to health issues and climate change. The California experience is instructive for other jurisdictions. PMID:29072936

Preparing for climate change: a perspective from local public health officers in California.

Science.gov (United States)

Bedsworth, Louise

2009-04-01

The most recent scientific findings show that even with significant emission reductions, some amount of climate change is likely inevitable. The magnitude of the climate changes will depend on future emissions and climate sensitivity. These changes will have local impacts, and a significant share of coping with these changes will fall on local governmental agencies. Public health is no exception, because local public health agencies are crucial providers of disease prevention, health care, and emergency preparedness services. This article presents the results of a survey of California's local pubic health officers conducted between August and October 2007. The survey gauged health officers' concerns about the public health impacts of climate change, programs in place that could help to mitigate these health effects, and information and resource needs for better coping with a changing climate. The results of this survey show that most public health officers feel that climate change poses a serious threat to public health but that they do not feel well equipped in terms of either resources or information to cope with that threat. Nonetheless, public health agencies currently implement a number of programs that will help these agencies handle some of the challenges posed by a changing climate. Overall, the results suggest that local public health agencies in California are likely in a better position than they perceive to address the threats associated with climate change but that there is a larger role for them to play in climate policy.

Greening Australia's public health system: the role of public hospitals in responding to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Primozic, Lauren

2010-05-01

Climate change is one of the most important social, economic, ecological and ethical issues of the 21st century. The effects of climate change on human health are now widely accepted as a genuine threat and the Australian Government has initiated policy and legislative responses. In addition, in the 2009-2010 budget the Australian Government has committed A$64 billion to public health and hospital reform. But will this Commonwealth funding support--and should it support--the government's high-profile climate change policy? Does Commonwealth funding translate to an obligation to support Commonwealth policies? This article explores the role of public hospitals as champions and role models of the Australian Government's climate change policy and how this might be done without detracting from the primary purpose of public hospital funding: improving patient care.

Climate Change and Public Health Surveillance: Toward a Comprehensive Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Moulton, Anthony Drummond; Schramm, Paul John

Climate change poses a host of serious threats to human health that robust public health surveillance systems can help address. It is unknown, however, whether existing surveillance systems in the United States have adequate capacity to serve that role, nor what actions may be needed to develop adequate capacity. Our goals were to review efforts to assess and strengthen the capacity of public health surveillance systems to support health-related adaptation to climate change in the United States and to determine whether additional efforts are warranted. Building on frameworks issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we specified 4 core components of public health surveillance capacity relevant to climate change health threats. Using standard methods, we next identified and analyzed multiple assessments of the existing, relevant capacity of public health surveillance systems as well as attempts to improve that capacity. We also received information from selected national public health associations. Multiple federal, state, and local public health agencies, professional associations, and researchers have made valuable, initial efforts to assess and strengthen surveillance capacity. These efforts, however, have been made by entities working independently and without the benefit of a shared conceptual framework or strategy. Their principal focus has been on identifying suitable indicators and data sources largely to the exclusion of other core components of surveillance capacity. A more comprehensive and strategic approach is needed to build the public health surveillance capacity required to protect the health of Americans in a world of rapidly evolving climate change. Public health practitioners and policy makers at all levels can use the findings and issues reviewed in this article as they lead design and execution of a coordinated, multisector strategic plan to create and sustain that capacity.

Climate Change and Public Health Surveillance: Toward a Comprehensive Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Moulton, Anthony Drummond; Schramm, Paul John

2017-01-01

Context Climate change poses a host of serious threats to human health that robust public health surveillance systems can help address. It is unknown, however, whether existing surveillance systems in the United States have adequate capacity to serve that role, nor what actions may be needed to develop adequate capacity. Objective Our goals were to review efforts to assess and strengthen the capacity of public health surveillance systems to support health-related adaptation to climate change in the United States and to determine whether additional efforts are warranted. Methods Building on frameworks issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we specified 4 core components of public health surveillance capacity relevant to climate change health threats. Using standard methods, we next identified and analyzed multiple assessments of the existing, relevant capacity of public health surveillance systems as well as attempts to improve that capacity. We also received information from selected national public health associations. Findings Multiple federal, state, and local public health agencies, professional associations, and researchers have made valuable, initial efforts to assess and strengthen surveillance capacity. These efforts, however, have been made by entities working independently and without the benefit of a shared conceptual framework or strategy. Their principal focus has been on identifying suitable indicators and data sources largely to the exclusion of other core components of surveillance capacity. Conclusions A more comprehensive and strategic approach is needed to build the public health surveillance capacity required to protect the health of Americans in a world of rapidly evolving climate change. Public health practitioners and policy makers at all levels can use the findings and issues reviewed in this article as they lead design and execution of a coordinated, multisector strategic

Public transportation's role in responding to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

This paper details the role public transportation has in responding to the challenge of climate change. It collects and analyzes data from across the country on public transportation fuel use, vehicles deployed, rides taken, and other key metrics, dr...

The public perception of climate change in Taiwan and its paradigm shift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, Kuei Tien

2013-01-01

This study attempts to explore the risk perceptions of climate change in Taiwan. It probes into the public's views toward governments' risk communication regarding climate change, citizens' participation in decision-making, and their trust in the capacity of governments toward risk governance, as well as their attitude towards corporate social responsibility. For analysis, we developed ten types of perceptions under three dimensions: namely the severity of climate change (Type 1), the development of sustainable society (Types 2, 3, 4 and 5), and the risk governance and communication (Types 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) to discuss whether the Taiwanese public's perception of climate change was prepared for a socially reflective paradigm shift. Regarding the three dimensions in the questionnaire design, although this study individually measured the public's risk perception, there was a high correlation between the variance analysis results among the three dimensions. This could systematically explain the potential change of the governance paradigm in Taiwanese society concerning structural transformation. - Highlights: • The public had critical view on the policy decision-making of climate change. • There is low public trust in the government's capacity to resist climate change. • The public requested more risk communication, transparency and participation. • The pursuit of an alternative sustainable economic society is highly expected. • People supported renewable energy by higher prices for carbon reduction

An evidence-based public health approach to climate change adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Jeremy J; Eidson, Millicent; Tlumak, Jennifer E; Raab, Kristin K; Luber, George

2014-11-01

Public health is committed to evidence-based practice, yet there has been minimal discussion of how to apply an evidence-based practice framework to climate change adaptation. Our goal was to review the literature on evidence-based public health (EBPH), to determine whether it can be applied to climate change adaptation, and to consider how emphasizing evidence-based practice may influence research and practice decisions related to public health adaptation to climate change. We conducted a substantive review of EBPH, identified a consensus EBPH framework, and modified it to support an EBPH approach to climate change adaptation. We applied the framework to an example and considered implications for stakeholders. A modified EBPH framework can accommodate the wide range of exposures, outcomes, and modes of inquiry associated with climate change adaptation and the variety of settings in which adaptation activities will be pursued. Several factors currently limit application of the framework, including a lack of higher-level evidence of intervention efficacy and a lack of guidelines for reporting climate change health impact projections. To enhance the evidence base, there must be increased attention to designing, evaluating, and reporting adaptation interventions; standardized health impact projection reporting; and increased attention to knowledge translation. This approach has implications for funders, researchers, journal editors, practitioners, and policy makers. The current approach to EBPH can, with modifications, support climate change adaptation activities, but there is little evidence regarding interventions and knowledge translation, and guidelines for projecting health impacts are lacking. Realizing the goal of an evidence-based approach will require systematic, coordinated efforts among various stakeholders.

Adapting to climate change : the public policy response - public infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

2009-06-01

This paper assesses the threats and needs that multidimensional climate change imposes for : public infrastructure, reviews the existing adaptive capacity that could be applied to respond : to these threats and needs, and presents options for enhanci...

Reframing climate change as a public health issue: an exploratory study of public reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Maibach, Edward W; Nisbet, Matthew; Baldwin, Paula; Akerlof, Karen; Diao, Guoqing

2010-06-01

Climate change is taking a toll on human health, and some leaders in the public health community have urged their colleagues to give voice to its health implications. Previous research has shown that Americans are only dimly aware of the health implications of climate change, yet the literature on issue framing suggests that providing a novel frame--such as human health--may be potentially useful in enhancing public engagement. We conducted an exploratory study in the United States of people's reactions to a public health-framed short essay on climate change. U.S. adult respondents (n = 70), stratified by six previously identified audience segments, read the essay and were asked to highlight in green or pink any portions of the essay they found "especially clear and helpful" or alternatively "especially confusing or unhelpful." Two dependent measures were created: a composite sentence-specific score based on reactions to all 18 sentences in the essay; and respondents' general reactions to the essay that were coded for valence (positive, neutral, or negative). We tested the hypothesis that five of the six audience segments would respond positively to the essay on both dependent measures. There was clear evidence that two of the five segments responded positively to the public health essay, and mixed evidence that two other responded positively. There was limited evidence that the fifth segment responded positively. Post-hoc analysis showed that five of the six segments responded more positively to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions than to information about the health risks of climate change. Presentations about climate change that encourage people to consider its human health relevance appear likely to provide many Americans with a useful and engaging new frame of reference. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation-related policy actions appears to be particularly compelling. We

Public Health-Related Impacts of Climate Change inCalifornia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Drechsler, D.M.; Motallebi, N.; Kleeman, M.; Cayan, D.; Hayhoe,K.; Kalkstein, L.S.; Miller, N.L.; Jin, J.; VanCuren, R.A.

2005-12-01

In June 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-3-05 that set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for California, and directed the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency to report to the governor and the State legislature by January 2006 and biannually thereafter on the impacts to California of global warming, including impacts to water supply, public health, agriculture, the coastline, and forestry, and to prepare and report on mitigation and adaptation plans to combat these impacts. This report is a part of the report to the governor and legislature, and focuses on public health impacts that have been associated with climate change. Considerable evidence suggests that average ambient temperature is increasing worldwide, that temperatures will continue to increase into the future, and that global warming will result in changes to many aspects of climate, including temperature, humidity, and precipitation (McMichael and Githeko, 2001). It is expected that California will experience changes in both temperature and precipitation under current trends. Many of the changes in climate projected for California could have ramifications for public health (McMichael and Githeko, 2001), and this document summarizes the impacts judged most likely to occur in California, based on a review of available peer-reviewed scientific literature and new modeling and statistical analyses. The impacts identified as most significant to public health in California include mortality and morbidity related to temperature, air pollution, vector and water-borne diseases, and wildfires. There is considerable complexity underlying the health of a population with many contributing factors including biological, ecological, social, political, and geographical. In addition, the relationship between climate change and changes in public health is difficult to predict for the most part, although more detailed information is available on temperature

Public Views on Climate Change. European and USA Perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lorenzoni, I.; Pidgeon, N.F.

2006-01-01

If uncontrolled, human influences on the climate system may generate changes that will endanger various aspects of life on Earth. The precise implications of the scientific claims about climate change, and the extent to which they pose dangers to various populations, are becoming intensely debated at many levels in relation to policy. How 'danger' is interpreted will ultimately affect which actions are taken. In this paper, we examine how climate change is conceptualised by publics in Europe and in the USA. Although there is widespread concern about climate change, it is of secondary importance in comparison to other issues in people's daily lives. Most individuals relate to climate change through personal experience, knowledge, the balance of benefits and costs, and trust in other societal actors. We analyse these factors through findings from various surveys and studies, which highlight both the distinctiveness and some shared perspectives at a generalised level. We reflect upon these in relation to trust and responsibility for climate change action, and risk communication, supporting the call for discourses about climate change to also be situated in people's locality, as a means of increasing its saliency

Reframing climate change as a public health issue: an exploratory study of public reactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baldwin Paula

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Climate change is taking a toll on human health, and some leaders in the public health community have urged their colleagues to give voice to its health implications. Previous research has shown that Americans are only dimly aware of the health implications of climate change, yet the literature on issue framing suggests that providing a novel frame - such as human health - may be potentially useful in enhancing public engagement. We conducted an exploratory study in the United States of people's reactions to a public health-framed short essay on climate change. Methods U.S. adult respondents (n = 70, stratified by six previously identified audience segments, read the essay and were asked to highlight in green or pink any portions of the essay they found "especially clear and helpful" or alternatively "especially confusing or unhelpful." Two dependent measures were created: a composite sentence-specific score based on reactions to all 18 sentences in the essay; and respondents' general reactions to the essay that were coded for valence (positive, neutral, or negative. We tested the hypothesis that five of the six audience segments would respond positively to the essay on both dependent measures. Results There was clear evidence that two of the five segments responded positively to the public health essay, and mixed evidence that two other responded positively. There was limited evidence that the fifth segment responded positively. Post-hoc analysis showed that five of the six segments responded more positively to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions than to information about the health risks of climate change. Conclusions Presentations about climate change that encourage people to consider its human health relevance appear likely to provide many Americans with a useful and engaging new frame of reference. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation

Public Communication Model for Practical Countermeasure on Climate Change Risk: On the Subject of Establishing Public Sphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, SeongKyung

2010-09-15

Risk problems occurred by climate change distinguishes itself from other problems in its nature and influence. It is reasonable for ordinary citizens are unable to realize the climate change problems, and great gap exists between potential disaster and perception of the public as a result. These problems must be solved via democratic procedures and processes. Raising probability concerning governance of climate change risks is possible by balance and harmony of political will, apposite policy, and public supports by participation. This research proposes for establishment of realistic public sphere which is a precondition for countermeasure.

The American Public Health Association's 2017 Year of Climate Change and Health: Time for Action.

Science.gov (United States)

DeJarnett, Natasha; Robb, Katherine; Castellanos, Ivana; Dettman, Louise; Patel, Surili S

2017-10-26

Climate change is today's greatest public health threat. 1 As the nation's leading voice in public health, the American Public Health Association (APHA) has demonstrated an enduring commitment to climate change as a health issue. As far back as the mid-1920s, AJPH reported on the health impacts of climate change. 2-4 Shaping the development of future organizational efforts, APHA members created the organization's first policy statement on climate change in 1995 (updated in 2007 and 2015). APHA continued to bring attention to climate change and public health, making it the theme of National Public Health Week 2008. Since then, evidence of climate change's causes and effects has mounted, but politicization of the issue and low prioritization by the public has made progress toward mitigation and adaptation slow. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 26, 2017: e1-e2. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.304168).

Public perception of climate change in the cold regions of Russia: an example of Yakutia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. A. Anisimov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The rate of climate change in the Russian cold regions is nearly twice larger than the global‑mean rate. Besides climate risks, such changes lead to new possibilities, which require scientifically based regional adaptation strategies. Climate could be viewed as an inexhaustible public resource that creates opportuni‑ ties for sustainable development. Long‑term trends show that climate as a resource is becoming more read‑ ily available in the cold regions, notwithstanding the general perception that globally climate change is one of the challenges of the 21st century. Adaptation strategies are required for balancing the risks and potential benefits resulting from the changing climate. Success of such strategies depends on the public perception of climate change. This study compares the observational data on climate and environmental changes with the results of the public survey conducted in Yakutia in the period 2012–2017. The survey involved nearly 2000 respondents in several cities and 2 villages (Ust‑Maja, Saskhulakh representing different economical, socio‑ logical, permafrost, vegetation, and climatic conditions. Results indicated that public perception of the climatic and environmental changes is not univocal, and depends on many factors. Low probability extreme events, such as unusual weather patterns or abrupt land‑ scape changes may have greater effect than the long‑term climate trends. Currently less than half of the pop‑ ulation in Yakutia consider climate change as an established fact, and are ready to take actions in this regard. Meanwhile, Yakutia is a region where observational records demonstrate the most pronounced changes in climatic regime compared to other Russian regions. The contrast between the actual changes and public per‑ ception of such changes has important implication for developing adaptation strategies. To be effective, such strategies should combine knowledge coming from instrumental‑ and

Public Health Climate Change Adaptation Planning Using Stakeholder Feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Eidson, Millicent; Clancy, Kathleen A; Birkhead, Guthrie S

2016-01-01

Public health climate change adaptation planning is an urgent priority requiring stakeholder feedback. The 10 Essential Public Health Services can be applied to adaptation activities. To develop a state health department climate and health adaptation plan as informed by stakeholder feedback. With Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) implemented a 2010-2013 climate and health planning process, including 7 surveys on perceptions and adaptation priorities. New York State Department of Health program managers participated in initial (n = 41, denominator unknown) and follow-up (72.2%) needs assessments. Surveillance system information was collected from 98.1% of surveillance system managers. For adaptation prioritization surveys, participants included 75.4% of NYSDOH leaders; 60.3% of local health departments (LHDs); and 53.7% of other stakeholders representing environmental, governmental, health, community, policy, academic, and business organizations. Interviews were also completed with 38.9% of other stakeholders. In 2011 surveys, 34.1% of state health program directors believed that climate change would impact their program priorities. However, 84.6% of state health surveillance system managers provided ideas for using databases for climate and health monitoring/surveillance. In 2012 surveys, 46.5% of state health leaders agreed they had sufficient information about climate and health compared to 17.1% of LHDs (P = .0046) and 40.9% of other stakeholders (nonsignificant difference). Significantly fewer (P climate and health into planning compared to state health leaders (55.8%) and other stakeholders (68.2%). Stakeholder groups agreed on the 4 highest priority adaptation categories including core public health activities such as surveillance, coordination/collaboration, education, and policy development. Feedback from diverse stakeholders was utilized by NYSDOH to develop its Climate and Health

Public engagement in climate change - Disjunctions, tensions and blind spots in the UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoeppner, C

2009-01-01

There is much talk about engaging the public in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the UK and elsewhere. Governments rush to demand greater engagement of the public in tackling climate change and delivering sustainable futures. The importance that public engagement has gained as part of the UK climate agenda begs the questions of what is actually behind this call and what are the implications. This paper analyses the rationale for public engagement as enshrined in major policy documents. This rationale is clearly instrumental in that citizens are expected to engage by adopting the 'right attitude', by performing prescribed behaviours, and by consenting to proposed measures. Using recent cases of climate change mitigation and adaptation practice the paper discusses the implications of such an approach to public engagement. The paper concludes that until the manifold disjunctions between climate related policy agendas and their rationales for engagement are explicitly addressed citizen engagement will be serving incumbent interests rather than contributing to socially sustainable and democratic decision-making

Communication and marketing as climate change-intervention assets a public health perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Maibach, Edward W; Roser-Renouf, Connie; Leiserowitz, Anthony

2008-11-01

The understanding that global climate change represents a profound threat to the health and well-being of human and nonhuman species worldwide is growing. This article examines the potential of communication and marketing interventions to influence population behavior in ways consistent with climate change prevention and adaptation objectives. Specifically, using a framework based on an ecologic model of public health, the paper examines: (1) the potential of communication and marketing interventions to influence population behaviors of concern, including support for appropriate public policies; (2) potential target audiences for such programs; and (3) the attributes of effective climate change messages. Communication and marketing interventions appear to have considerable potential to promote important population behavior change objectives, but there is an urgent need for additional translational research to effectively harvest this potential to combat climate change.

Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Climate change in the circumpolar region is causing dramatic environmental change that increases the vulnerability of the built environment. We quantified the economic impacts of climate change on Alaska’s public infrastructure under relatively high and low climate forcing scenar...

How can a climate change perspective be integrated into public health surveillance?

Science.gov (United States)

Pascal, M; Viso, A C; Medina, S; Delmas, M C; Beaudeau, P

2012-08-01

Climate change may be considered as a key factor for environmental change, exposure to health risks and pathogens, consequently impairing the state of health among populations. Efficient health surveillance systems are required to support adaptation to climate change. However, despite a growing awareness, the public health surveillance sector has had very little involvement in the drafting of adaptation plans. This paper proposes a method to raise awareness about climate change in the public health community, to identify possible health risks and to assess the needs for reinforced health surveillance systems. A working group was set up comprising surveillance experts in the following fields: environmental health; chronic diseases and; infectious diseases. Their goal was to define common objectives, to propose a framework for risk analysis, and to apply it to relevant health risks in France. The framework created helped to organize available information on climate-sensitive health risks, making a distinction between three main determinants as follows: (1) environment; (2) individual and social behaviours; and (3) demography and health status. The process is illustrated using two examples: heatwaves and airborne allergens. Health surveillance systems can be used to trigger early warning systems, to create databases which improve scientific knowledge about the health impacts of climate change, to identify and prioritize needs for intervention and adaptation measures, and to evaluate these measures. Adaptation requires public health professionals to consider climate change as a concrete input parameter in their studies and to create partnerships with professionals from other disciplines. Copyright © 2012 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public perceptions about climate change mitigation in British Columbia's forest sector

Science.gov (United States)

Hagerman, Shannon; Kozak, Robert; Hoberg, George

2018-01-01

The role of forest management in mitigating climate change is a central concern for the Canadian province of British Columbia. The successful implementation of forest management activities to achieve climate change mitigation in British Columbia will be strongly influenced by public support or opposition. While we now have increasingly clear ideas of the management opportunities associated with forest mitigation and some insight into public support for climate change mitigation in the context of sustainable forest management, very little is known with respect to the levels and basis of public support for potential forest management strategies to mitigate climate change. This paper, by describing the results of a web-based survey, documents levels of public support for the implementation of eight forest carbon mitigation strategies in British Columbia’s forest sector, and examines and quantifies the influence of the factors that shape this support. Overall, respondents ascribed a high level of importance to forest carbon mitigation and supported all of the eight proposed strategies, indicating that the British Columbia public is inclined to consider alternative practices in managing forests and wood products to mitigate climate change. That said, we found differences in levels of support for the mitigation strategies. In general, we found greater levels of support for a rehabilitation strategy (e.g. reforestation of unproductive forest land), and to a lesser extent for conservation strategies (e.g. old growth conservation, reduced harvest) over enhanced forest management strategies (e.g. improved harvesting and silvicultural techniques). We also highlighted multiple variables within the British Columbia population that appear to play a role in predicting levels of support for conservation and/or enhanced forest management strategies, including environmental values, risk perception, trust in groups of actors, prioritized objectives of forest management and socio

Preventing disasters: public health vulnerability reduction as a sustainable adaptation to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Keim, Mark E

2011-06-01

Global warming could increase the number and severity of extreme weather events. These events are often known to result in public health disasters, but we can lessen the effects of these disasters. By addressing the factors that cause changes in climate, we can mitigate the effects of climate change. By addressing the factors that make society vulnerable to the effects of climate, we can adapt to climate change. To adapt to climate change, a comprehensive approach to disaster risk reduction has been proposed. By reducing human vulnerability to disasters, we can lessen--and at times even prevent--their impact. Human vulnerability is a complex phenomenon that comprises social, economic, health, and cultural factors. Because public health is uniquely placed at the community level, it has the opportunity to lessen human vulnerability to climate-related disasters. At the national and international level, a supportive policy environment can enable local adaptation to disaster events. The purpose of this article is to introduce the basic concept of disaster risk reduction so that it can be applied to preventing and mitigating the negative effects of climate change and to examine the role of community-focused public health as a means for lessening human vulnerability and, as a result, the overall risk of climate-related disasters.

Climate change and health: new challenges for epidemiology and public health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pascal, Mathilde; Beaudeau, Pascal; Laaidi, Karine; Pirard, Philippe; Vautard, Robert

2015-01-01

Climate change contributes to a rapid and deep modification of the environment. In the same time, other factors such as population increase, ageing or urbanization increase the vulnerability to various environmental and health risks. Chains of complex interactions are impacting populations' health and well-being. Developing prevention measures is an asset to reduce the health impacts of present climate change (through adaptation measures) and to limit the intensity of future impacts (through mitigation measures). Mitigation will result in major changes in several sectors, for instance housing, transports or agriculture. Taking into account the potential health impacts is important to avoid choices impairing human health, and to maximize health co-benefits. In this paper we propose a reflection on how present and future climate change in France challenges epidemiology and public health in the next few years. While many questions remain unanswered, there is a consensus on the importance of the links between climate change and human health, that can be summarized into three points: 1) climate change already impacts human health, 2) adaptation and mitigation are needed to reduce those impacts, 3) adaptation and mitigation can rely on immediate measures that would be beneficial for health and for climate. An integrated and interdisciplinary approach is essential to tackle the complexity of the issue, of its implications for public health, for research, surveillance and intervention. (authors)

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Canadian Jurisdictions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie E. Austin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Climate change poses numerous risks to the health of Canadians. Extreme weather events, poor air quality, and food insecurity in northern regions are likely to increase along with the increasing incidence and range of infectious diseases. In this study we identify and characterize Canadian federal, provincial, territorial and municipal adaptation to these health risks based on publically available information. Federal health adaptation initiatives emphasize capacity building and gathering information to address general health, infectious disease and heat-related risks. Provincial and territorial adaptation is varied. Quebec is a leader in climate change adaptation, having a notably higher number of adaptation initiatives reported, addressing almost all risks posed by climate change in the province, and having implemented various adaptation types. Meanwhile, all other Canadian provinces and territories are in the early stages of health adaptation. Based on publically available information, reported adaptation also varies greatly by municipality. The six sampled Canadian regional health authorities (or equivalent are not reporting any adaptation initiatives. We also find little relationship between the number of initiatives reported in the six sampled municipalities and their provinces, suggesting that municipalities are adapting (or not adapting autonomously.

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Canadian Jurisdictions

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Stephanie E.; Ford, James D.; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Araos, Malcolm; Parker, Stephen; Fleury, Manon D.

2015-01-01

Climate change poses numerous risks to the health of Canadians. Extreme weather events, poor air quality, and food insecurity in northern regions are likely to increase along with the increasing incidence and range of infectious diseases. In this study we identify and characterize Canadian federal, provincial, territorial and municipal adaptation to these health risks based on publically available information. Federal health adaptation initiatives emphasize capacity building and gathering information to address general health, infectious disease and heat-related risks. Provincial and territorial adaptation is varied. Quebec is a leader in climate change adaptation, having a notably higher number of adaptation initiatives reported, addressing almost all risks posed by climate change in the province, and having implemented various adaptation types. Meanwhile, all other Canadian provinces and territories are in the early stages of health adaptation. Based on publically available information, reported adaptation also varies greatly by municipality. The six sampled Canadian regional health authorities (or equivalent) are not reporting any adaptation initiatives. We also find little relationship between the number of initiatives reported in the six sampled municipalities and their provinces, suggesting that municipalities are adapting (or not adapting) autonomously. PMID:25588156

The Effect of Information Provision on Public Consensus about Climate Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Deryugina, Tatyana; Shurchkov, Olga

2016-01-01

Despite over 20 years of research and scientific consensus on the topic, climate change continues to be a politically polarizing issue. We conducted a survey experiment to test whether providing the public with information on the exact extent of scientific agreement about the occurrence and causes of climate change affects respondents' own beliefs and bridges the divide between conservatives and liberals. First, we show that the public significantly underestimated the extent of the scientific consensus. We then find that those given concrete information about scientists' views were more likely to report believing that climate change was already underway and that it was caused by humans. However, their beliefs about the necessity of making policy decisions and their willingness to donate money to combat climate change were not affected. Information provision affected liberals, moderates, and conservatives similarly, implying that the gap in beliefs between liberals and conservatives is not likely to be bridged by information treatments similar to the one we study. Finally, we conducted a 6-month follow-up with respondents to see if the treatment effect persisted; the results were statistically inconclusive.

Policy Directions Addressing the Public Health Impact of Climate Change in South Korea: The Climate-change Health Adaptation and Mitigation Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Yong Seung; Ha, Jongsik

2012-01-01

Climate change, caused by global warming, is increasingly recognized as a major threat to mankind's survival. Climate change concurrently has both direct and modifying influences on environmental, social, and public health systems undermining human health as a whole. Environmental health policy-makers need to make use of political and technological alternatives to address these ramifying effects. The objective of this paper is to review public health policy in Korea, as well as internationally, particularly as it relates to climate change health adaptation and mitigation programs (such as C-CHAMP of Korea), in order to assess and elicit directions for a robust environmental health policy that is adaptive to the health impacts of climate change. In Korea, comprehensive measures to prevent or mitigate overall health effects are limited, and the diffusion of responsibility among various government departments makes consistency in policy execution very difficult. This paper proposes integration, synergy, and utilization as the three core principles of policy direction for the assessment and adaptation to the health impacts of climate change. For specific action plans, we suggest policy making based on scientifically integrated health impact assessments and the prioritization of environmental factors in climate change; the development of practical and technological tools that support policy decisions by making their political implementation more efficient; and customized policy development that deals with the vulnerability of local communities.

Policy Directions Addressing the Public Health Impact of Climate Change in South Korea: The Climate-change Health Adaptation and Mitigation Program

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Yong Seung

2012-01-01

Climate change, caused by global warming, is increasingly recognized as a major threat to mankind's survival. Climate change concurrently has both direct and modifying influences on environmental, social, and public health systems undermining human health as a whole. Environmental health policy-makers need to make use of political and technological alternatives to address these ramifying effects. The objective of this paper is to review public health policy in Korea, as well as internationally, particularly as it relates to climate change health adaptation and mitigation programs (such as C-CHAMP of Korea), in order to assess and elicit directions for a robust environmental health policy that is adaptive to the health impacts of climate change. In Korea, comprehensive measures to prevent or mitigate overall health effects are limited, and the diffusion of responsibility among various government departments makes consistency in policy execution very difficult. This paper proposes integration, synergy, and utilization as the three core principles of policy direction for the assessment and adaptation to the health impacts of climate change. For specific action plans, we suggest policy making based on scientifically integrated health impact assessments and the prioritization of environmental factors in climate change; the development of practical and technological tools that support policy decisions by making their political implementation more efficient; and customized policy development that deals with the vulnerability of local communities. PMID:23256088

Improving Public Engagement With Climate Change: Five "Best Practice" Insights From Psychological Science.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Linden, Sander; Maibach, Edward; Leiserowitz, Anthony

2015-11-01

Despite being one of the most important societal challenges of the 21st century, public engagement with climate change currently remains low in the United States. Mounting evidence from across the behavioral sciences has found that most people regard climate change as a nonurgent and psychologically distant risk-spatially, temporally, and socially-which has led to deferred public decision making about mitigation and adaptation responses. In this article, we advance five simple but important "best practice" insights from psychological science that can help governments improve public policymaking about climate change. Particularly, instead of a future, distant, global, nonpersonal, and analytical risk that is often framed as an overt loss for society, we argue that policymakers should (a) emphasize climate change as a present, local, and personal risk; (b) facilitate more affective and experiential engagement; (c) leverage relevant social group norms; (d) frame policy solutions in terms of what can be gained from immediate action; and (e) appeal to intrinsically valued long-term environmental goals and outcomes. With practical examples we illustrate how these key psychological principles can be applied to support societal engagement and climate change policymaking. © The Author(s) 2015.

Climate Change Education on Public Health Consequences and Impacts to the Human System - An Interdisciplinary Approach to Promoting Climate Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Matiella Novak, M.; Paxton, L. J.

2012-12-01

In this talk we will discuss our approach to translating an abstract, difficult to internalize idea ("climate change") into knowledge that speaks to people directly in terms of their own lives. Recent research suggests that communicating climate change in the context of public health impacts, and even national security risks, is a more effective method of reaching communities that are currently disengaged or nonresponsive to climate change science than the approaches currently being used. Understanding that these new perspectives might reach a broader audience, the Global Assimilation of Information for Action (GAIA) project has proposed implementing a suite of education activities that focus on the public health consequences that will arise and/or becoming exacerbated by climate change. Reaching the disparate communities that must be brought together to create a workable approach is challenging. GAIA has developed a novel framework for sharing information and developing communities of interest that cross boundaries in what is otherwise a highly disciplinary approach to climate change studies. Members of the GAIA community include climate change, environmental and public health experts, as well as relevant stakeholders, policy makers and decision makers. By leveraging the existing expertise within the GAIA community, an opportunity exists to present climate change education (CCE) in a way that emphasizes how climate change will affect public health, and utilizes an approach that has been shown to engage a broader and more diverse audience. Focusing CCE on public health effects is a new and potentially transformative method since it makes the results more tangible and less "random". When CCE is focused on what will happen to the Earth's climate and associated meteorological hazards one might be tempted to view this as something that can be coped with thus enabling the individualist entrepreneur point of view. Weather disasters always seem to happen to someone else

"It's a question of prestige": Climate change as public policy in Turkey

OpenAIRE

Erdi Lelandais , Gülçin

2015-01-01

International audience; Climate change has been a preoccupation of public bodies in Turkey since the country signed the UNFCC in 2004. Before then, periodic environmental policies were enacted, but under the remit of each Cabinet ministry and without handing over central control of the Ministry of the Environment. Furthermore, no action-oriented policies on climate change were developed. The issue came to public prominence relatively recently in Turkey, but interest in the issues at state is ...

The Effect of Information Provision on Public Consensus about Climate Change.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana Deryugina

Full Text Available Despite over 20 years of research and scientific consensus on the topic, climate change continues to be a politically polarizing issue. We conducted a survey experiment to test whether providing the public with information on the exact extent of scientific agreement about the occurrence and causes of climate change affects respondents' own beliefs and bridges the divide between conservatives and liberals. First, we show that the public significantly underestimated the extent of the scientific consensus. We then find that those given concrete information about scientists' views were more likely to report believing that climate change was already underway and that it was caused by humans. However, their beliefs about the necessity of making policy decisions and their willingness to donate money to combat climate change were not affected. Information provision affected liberals, moderates, and conservatives similarly, implying that the gap in beliefs between liberals and conservatives is not likely to be bridged by information treatments similar to the one we study. Finally, we conducted a 6-month follow-up with respondents to see if the treatment effect persisted; the results were statistically inconclusive.

Hand in hand: public endorsement of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian Brügger

Full Text Available This research investigated how an individual's endorsements of mitigation and adaptation relate to each other, and how well each of these can be accounted for by relevant social psychological factors. Based on survey data from two European convenience samples (N = 616 / 309 we found that public endorsements of mitigation and adaptation are strongly associated: Someone who is willing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation is also willing to prepare for climate change impacts (adaptation. Moreover, people endorsed the two response strategies for similar reasons: People who believe that climate change is real and dangerous, who have positive attitudes about protecting the environment and the climate, and who perceive climate change as a risk, are willing to respond to climate change. Furthermore, distinguishing between (spatially proximal and distant risk perceptions suggested that the idea of portraying climate change as a proximal (i.e., local threat might indeed be effective in promoting personal actions. However, to gain endorsement of broader societal initiatives such as policy support, it seems advisable to turn to the distant risks of climate change. The notion that "localising" climate change might not be the panacea for engaging people in this domain is discussed in regard to previous theory and research.

Hand in hand: public endorsement of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Brügger, Adrian; Morton, Thomas A; Dessai, Suraje

2015-01-01

This research investigated how an individual's endorsements of mitigation and adaptation relate to each other, and how well each of these can be accounted for by relevant social psychological factors. Based on survey data from two European convenience samples (N = 616 / 309) we found that public endorsements of mitigation and adaptation are strongly associated: Someone who is willing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) is also willing to prepare for climate change impacts (adaptation). Moreover, people endorsed the two response strategies for similar reasons: People who believe that climate change is real and dangerous, who have positive attitudes about protecting the environment and the climate, and who perceive climate change as a risk, are willing to respond to climate change. Furthermore, distinguishing between (spatially) proximal and distant risk perceptions suggested that the idea of portraying climate change as a proximal (i.e., local) threat might indeed be effective in promoting personal actions. However, to gain endorsement of broader societal initiatives such as policy support, it seems advisable to turn to the distant risks of climate change. The notion that "localising" climate change might not be the panacea for engaging people in this domain is discussed in regard to previous theory and research.

[Evolution of the climate change concept and its impact in the public health of Peru].

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Zavaleta, Carlos A

2016-03-01

The term "climate change" is not a new concept but its impact on public health is under constant review. We know that climate has already changed and will continue to change for centuries with the rise in average global temperature, and the associated rise in sea level. This fact makes mitigation efforts relevant only in the very long term and for generations of humans whose parents have not yet been born. When we talk about public health in the context of climate change, we are talking about adaptation. In the present, countries that are currently the most affected by climate change are precisely countries like Peru, without a significant carbon footprint at the global level but that are highly sensitive to the effects of climate. Without reliable climate projections, the health impact of climate change can be uncertain and complicated. Nevertheless, at the local level, every district can identify its vulnerabilities and define priorities to protect the health of its population. There are, and it can also be developed, environmental health indicators that can help monitor how well we are adapting and how prepared we are for changes in the climate. Adaptation to climate change implies improving living conditions, enhancing epidemiological surveillance systems and extending access to healthcare. The fight against the effects of climate change in public health is a fight against poverty and inequality, and that is nothing new in Peru.

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Large Cities: A Global Baseline.

Science.gov (United States)

Araos, Malcolm; Austin, Stephanie E; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Ford, James D

2016-01-01

Climate change will have significant impacts on human health, and urban populations are expected to be highly sensitive. The health risks from climate change in cities are compounded by rapid urbanization, high population density, and climate-sensitive built environments. Local governments are positioned to protect populations from climate health risks, but it is unclear whether municipalities are producing climate-adaptive policies. In this article, we develop and apply systematic methods to assess the state of public health adaptation in 401 urban areas globally with more than 1 million people, creating the first global baseline for urban public health adaptation. We find that only 10% of the sampled urban areas report any public health adaptation initiatives. The initiatives identified most frequently address risks posed by extreme weather events and involve direct changes in management or behavior rather than capacity building, research, or long-term investments in infrastructure. Based on our characterization of the current urban health adaptation landscape, we identify several gaps: limited evidence of reporting of institutional adaptation at the municipal level in urban areas in the Global South; lack of information-based adaptation initiatives; limited focus on initiatives addressing infectious disease risks; and absence of monitoring, reporting, and evaluation. © The Author(s) 2015.

What's in a name? Commonalities and differences in public understanding of "climate change" and "global warming"

OpenAIRE

Whitmarsh, Lorraine E.

2009-01-01

This paper reports on findings from a survey of public understanding of climate change and global warming amongst residents in the south of England. Whereas much previous research has relied on survey checklists to measure public understanding of climate change, this study employed a more qualitative approach to reveal participants' unprompted conceptions of climate change and global warming. Overall, the findings show a tendency for the public to dissociate themselves from the causes, impact...

The public's belief in climate change and its human cause are increasing over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Milfont, Taciano L; Wilson, Marc S; Sibley, Chris G

2017-01-01

Polls examining public opinion on the subject of climate change are now commonplace, and one-off public opinion polls provide a snapshot of citizen's opinions that can inform policy and communication strategies. However, cross-sectional polls do not track opinions over time, thus making it impossible to ascertain whether key climate change beliefs held by the same group of individuals are changing or not. Here we examine the extent to which individual's level of agreement with two key beliefs ("climate change is real" and "climate change is caused by humans") remain stable or increase/decrease over a six-year period in New Zealand using latent growth curve modelling (n = 10,436). Data were drawn from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a probabilistic national panel study, and indicated that levels of agreement to both beliefs have steadily increased over the 2009-2015 period. Given that climate change beliefs and concerns are key predictors of climate change action, our findings suggest that a combination of targeted endeavors, as well as serendipitous events, may successfully convey the emergency of the issue.

Public private partnerships for climate change mitigation – An Indian case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tharun Dolla

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Cities are one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change poses serious threat to urban infrastructure, quality of life, and entire urban systems. Cities need to adopt an integrated approach for improvement of city services in order to adapt to climate change and reduce their greenhouse emissions. However, the magnitude of investment required to bridge the widening infrastructure service provision demand-supply gap along with the additional investment to mitigate climate change demands the need to look for innovative financing solutions. Private investments through public private partnership (PPP route offer an innovative mechanism for meet both the goals of infrastructure development and climate change mitigation. Private parties in PPP, however, focuses on the project economics only though they have the potential to provide innovative technical, financial and managerial solutions. The paper aims to answer the question how to integrate climate change mitigation objective in procurement process of PPP projects. The study has focused only on PPP projects in Municipal Solid Waste Management sector. The integration of climate change mitigation objective has been through design of a modified procurement protocol which promote private sector to devise project structure that fulfil both the objectives of climate change mitigation and provision of quality infrastructure services.

Ethics and public perception of climate change: exploring the Christian voices in the US public debate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wardekker, J.A.; Petersen, A.C.; van der Sluijs, J.P.

2009-01-01

Climate change raises many questions with strong moral and ethical dimensions that are important to address in climate-policy formation and international negotiations. Particularly in the United States, the public discussion of these dimensions is strongly influenced by religious groups and leaders.

Flooded bus barns and buckled rails: public transportation and climate change adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-01

The objective of this project is to provide transit professionals with information and analysis relevant to adapting U.S. public transportation assets and services to climate change impacts. Climate impacts such as heat waves and flooding will hinder...

Exploring the Multifaceted Topic of Climate Change in Our Changing Climate and Living With Our Changing Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Brey, J. A.; Kauffman, C.; Geer, I. W.; Mills, E. W.; Nugnes, K. A.; Stimach, A. E.

2015-12-01

As the effects of climate change become more profound, climate literacy becomes increasingly important. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) responds to this need through the publication of Our Changing Climate and Living With Our Changing Climate. Both publications incorporate the latest scientific understandings of Earth's climate system from reports such as IPCC AR5 and the USGCRP's Third National Climate Assessment. Topic In Depth sections appear throughout each chapter and lead to more extensive, multidisciplinary information related to various topics. Additionally, each chapter closes with a For Further Exploration essay, which addresses specific topics that complement a chapter concept. Web Resources, which encourage additional exploration of chapter content, and Scientific Literature, from which chapter content was derived can also be found at the conclusion of each chapter. Our Changing Climate covers a breadth of topics, including the scientific principles that govern Earth's climate system and basic statistics and geospatial tools used to investigate the system. Released in fall 2015, Living With Our Changing Climate takes a more narrow approach and investigates human and ecosystem vulnerabilities to climate change, the role of energy choices in affecting climate, actions humans can take through adaption, mitigation, and policy to lessen vulnerabilities, and psychological and financial reasons behind climate change denial. While Living With Our Changing Climate is intended for programs looking to add a climate element into their curriculum, Our Changing Climate is part of the AMS Climate Studies course. In a 2015 survey of California University of Pennsylvania undergraduate students using Our Changing Climate, 82% found it comfortable to read and utilized its interactive components and resources. Both ebooks illuminate the multidisciplinary aspect of climate change, providing the opportunity for a more sustainable future.

Potential Impacts of Future Climate Change on Regional Air Quality and Public Health over China

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, C.; Zhang, Q.; Zhang, Y.; He, K.

2017-12-01

Future climate change would affect public health through changing air quality. Climate extremes and poor weather conditions are likely to occur at a higher frequency in China under a changing climate, but the air pollution-related health impacts due to future climate change remain unclear. Here the potential impacts of future climate change on regional air quality and public health over China is projected using a coupling of climate, air quality and epidemiological models. We present the first assessment of China's future air quality in a changing climate under the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) scenario using the dynamical downscaling technique. In RCP4.5 scenario, we estimate that climate change from 2006-2010 to 2046-2050 is likely to adversely affect air quality covering more than 86% of population and 55% of land area in China, causing an average increase of 3% in O3 and PM2.5 concentrations, which are found to be associated with the warmer climate and the more stable atmosphere. Our estimate of air pollution-related mortality due to climate change in 2050 is 26,000 people per year in China. Of which, the PM2.5-related mortality is 18,700 people per year, and the O3-related mortality is 7,300 people per year. The climate-induced air pollution and health impacts vary spatially. The climate impacts are even more pronounced on the urban areas where is densely populated and polluted. 90% of the health loss is concentrated in 20% of land areas in China. We use a simple statistical analysis method to quantify the contributions of climate extremes and find more intense climate extremes play an important role in climate-induced air pollution-related health impacts. Our results indicate that global climate change will likely alter the level of pollutant management required to meet future air quality targets as well as the efforts to protect public health in China.

Health Implications of Climate Change: a Review of the Literature About the Perception of the Public and Health Professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hathaway, Julia; Maibach, Edward W

2018-03-01

Through a systematic search of English language peer-reviewed studies, we assess how health professionals and the public, worldwide, perceive the health implications of climate change. Among health professionals, perception that climate change is harming health appears to be high, although self-assessed knowledge is low, and perceived need to learn more is high. Among the public, few North Americans can list any health impacts of climate change, or who is at risk, but appear to view climate change as harmful to health. Among vulnerable publics in Asia and Africa, awareness of increasing health harms due to specific changing climatic conditions is high. Americans across the political and climate change opinion spectra appear receptive to information about the health aspects of climate change, although findings are mixed. Health professionals feel the need to learn more, and the public appears open to learning more, about the health consequences of climate change.

Assessing perceived health risks of climate change : Canadian public opinion 2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-03-01

This paper discussed a survey conducted to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of Canadians in relation to climatic change. A total of 1600 telephone surveys were conducted with a broad range of age groups. The study showed that climate change is considered by many Canadians to pose a significant threat at both local and global levels. Evidence of climate change has been noted in many communities. However, relatively few Canadians understand how climate change may impact human health. While many Canadians associated climatic change with air pollution hazards and ozone depletion, most Canadians were not aware of the potential negative health impacts related to changes in disease vectors, extreme weather events, and coastal flooding. The strongest awareness and concern about health impacts were expressed by Canadians concerned about global warming. Individuals with chronic health conditions were more likely to be attuned to the potential health impacts of climatic change. Seniors viewed climate change as a longer term problem. Only 10 per cent of Canadians viewed global warming as a major health risk. Sixty-nine per cent of Canadians believed that global warming was happening, while 63 per cent attributed climate change to human activity. Nearly half of all respondents believed that an extreme weather disaster would affect their community during the course of their lifetime. The report suggested that marketing or communications campaigns should build public awareness of the health risks associated with direct or proximal environmental risks. Information about health risks should be specific, and communications should be tailored to age cohorts. Television and print media should be used to build awareness of the health risks of climate change. Provincial concerns related to climatic change were also outlined. tabs., figs

Wisconsin Partnerships to Educate and Engage Public Audiences on Climate Change Topics

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, M. E.; Ackerman, S.; Rowley, P.; Crowley Conn, K.

2011-12-01

The complexity and scale of climate change-related challenges requires more than one strategy to share meaningful information with public audiences. This presentation will discuss a few initiatives to engage the public originating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. First, a local partnership between the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (ALNC), an informal learning center with a new climate change "classroom" which recently acquired a Science on a Sphere (SOS) exhibit. Second, an informal education project funded by the NOAA Office of Education coordinated by CIMSS in partnership with the national SOS Network with the goal of helping museum docents share meaningful interpretation of real-time weather and climate data. CIMSS staff has been conducting weather and climate discussions on a Magic Planet display for several years. This "mini-SOS" is powered by a solar panel on the roof, modeling the essential Sun-Earth connection and the first principle of climate literacy. However, the convenient proximity of CIMSS and ALNC provides a perfect opportunity to test "SOS-scale" talking points posted on a weekly docent blog to the benefit of the entire SOS Network. Two other Wisconsin projects of note include the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, a partnership between the University and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and a pilot project between CIMSS and NOAA's National Weather Service to engage storm spotters in climate mitigation and stewardship. Ideally, the synergistic benefits and lessons learned from these collaborations can inform similar efforts in order to galvanize meaningful responses to climate change.

Fight Swack, Adapt to Climate Change or How to Use Humor to Engage the Public in Climate Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, R.; Elinich, K.; Johnson, R.; Fink, J.; Crawford, J.

2014-12-01

We are carefully considering how a humor-based campaign can help us communicate important climate change messages. Using pilot campaign strategies, we have engaged local residents in focus groups and interviews to understand how effective the approach can be. Growing educational research suggests learning about climate change can lead to feelings of depression, fear and inaction. Climate change seems too big of a task to take on. But with sweaty back (or "swack" as it's known in some circles), there's a public enemy that can be defeated. As only one piece of an innovative model for informal climate change education, the Climate and Urban Systems Partnership repositions the war on climate change by declaring a war on swack instead. This way, we can talk about climate change in a way it has never been talked about before that will certainly get people's attention. It also answers the common question of, "Yeah, but how does it affect me?" We're educating about responses to climate change because heat waves, floods, and excessive back sweat all kinda suck a lot.

Developing public awareness for climate change: Support from international research programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnes, F.J.; Clements, W.E.

1998-12-31

Developing regional and local public awareness and interest in global climate change has been mandated as an important step for increasing the ability for setting policy and managing the response to climate change. Research programs frequently have resources that could help reach regional or national goals for increasing the capacity for responding to climate change. To obtain these resources and target recipients appropriately, research investigators need clear statements of national and regional strategies or priorities as a guide. One such program, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, has a requirement to develop local or regional education enrichment programs at their observational sites in the central US, the tropical western Pacific (TWP), and on the north slope of alaska. ARM's scientific goals will result in a flow of technical data and as well as technical expertise that can assist with regional needs to increase the technical resources needed to address climate change issues. Details of the ARM education program in the Pacific will be presented.

An investigation of the ways in which public health nutrition policy and practices can address climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Sulda, Heidi; Coveney, John; Bentley, Michael

2010-03-01

To develop a framework to guide action in the public health nutrition workforce to develop policies and practices addressing factors contributing to climate change. Action/consultative research. Interviews - South Australia, questionnaire - Australia. Interviews - key informants (n 6) were from various government, academic and non-government positions, invited through email. Questionnaire - participants were members of the public health nutrition workforce (n 186), recruited to the study through emails from public health nutrition contacts for each State in Australia (with the exception of South Australia). Support by participants for climate change as a valid role for dietitians and nutritionists was high (78 %). However, climate change was ranked low against other public health nutrition priorities. Support of participants to conduct programmes to address climate change from professional and work organisations was low. The final framework developed included elements of advocacy/lobbying, policy, professional recognition/support, organisational support, knowledge/skills, partnerships and programmes. This research demonstrates a need for public health nutrition to address climate change, which requires support by organisations, policy, improved knowledge and increased professional development opportunities.

Regional Climate Change and Development of Public Health Decision Aids

Science.gov (United States)

Hegedus, A. M.; Darmenova, K.; Grant, F.; Kiley, H.; Higgins, G. J.; Apling, D.

2011-12-01

According to the World Heath Organization (WHO) climate change is a significant and emerging threat to public health, and changes the way we must look at protecting vulnerable populations. Worldwide, the occurrence of some diseases and other threats to human health depend predominantly on local climate patterns. Rising average temperatures, in combination with changing rainfall patterns and humidity levels, alter the lifecycle and regional distribution of certain disease-carrying vectors, such as mosquitoes, ticks and rodents. In addition, higher surface temperatures will bring heat waves and heat stress to urban regions worldwide and will likely increase heat-related health risks. A growing body of scientific evidence also suggests an increase in extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and hurricanes that can be destructive to human health and well-being. Therefore, climate adaptation and health decision aids are urgently needed by city planners and health officials to determine high risk areas, evaluate vulnerable populations and develop public health infrastructure and surveillance systems. To address current deficiencies in local planning and decision making with respect to regional climate change and its effect on human health, our research is focused on performing a dynamical downscaling with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to develop decision aids that translate the regional climate data into actionable information for users. WRF model is initialized with the Max Planck Institute European Center/Hamburg Model version 5 (ECHAM5) General Circulation Model simulations forced with the Special Report on Emissions (SRES) A1B emissions scenario. Our methodology involves development of climatological indices of extreme weather, quantifying the risk of occurrence of water/rodent/vector-borne diseases as well as developing various heat stress related decision aids. Our results indicate that the downscale simulations provide the necessary

Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corner, Adam; Venables, Dan [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Spence, Alexa [School of Psychology/Horizon Digital Economy Research, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom); Poortinga, Wouter [Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University (United Kingdom); School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Demski, Christina [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Pidgeon, Nick, E-mail: pidgeonn@cardiff.ac.uk [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom)

2011-09-15

Public attitudes towards nuclear power in the UK have historically been deeply divided, but as concern about climate change and energy security has exerted an increasing influence on British energy policy, nuclear power has been reframed as a low-carbon technology. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of people may 'reluctantly accept' nuclear power as a means of addressing the greater threat of climate change. Drawing on the results of a national British survey (n=1822), the current study found that attitudes towards nuclear remain divided, with only a minority expressing unconditional acceptance. In general, people who expressed greater concern about climate change and energy security and possessed higher environmental values were less likely to favour nuclear power. However, when nuclear power was given an explicit 'reluctant acceptance' framing - allowing people to express their dislike for nuclear power alongside their conditional support - concerns about climate change and energy security became positive predictors of support for nuclear power. These findings suggest that concern about climate change and energy security will only increase acceptance of nuclear power under limited circumstances-specifically once other (preferred) options have been exhausted. - Highlights: > We report data from 2005 to 2010 of British attitudes towards nuclear power and climate change. > Changes in attitudes over the time period were relatively modest. > British population remained relatively divided on nuclear power in 2010. > Concern about climate change was negatively related to evaluations of nuclear power. > Different framings of the issue alter the balance of support for nuclear power.

Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corner, Adam; Venables, Dan; Spence, Alexa; Poortinga, Wouter; Demski, Christina; Pidgeon, Nick

2011-01-01

Public attitudes towards nuclear power in the UK have historically been deeply divided, but as concern about climate change and energy security has exerted an increasing influence on British energy policy, nuclear power has been reframed as a low-carbon technology. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of people may 'reluctantly accept' nuclear power as a means of addressing the greater threat of climate change. Drawing on the results of a national British survey (n=1822), the current study found that attitudes towards nuclear remain divided, with only a minority expressing unconditional acceptance. In general, people who expressed greater concern about climate change and energy security and possessed higher environmental values were less likely to favour nuclear power. However, when nuclear power was given an explicit 'reluctant acceptance' framing - allowing people to express their dislike for nuclear power alongside their conditional support - concerns about climate change and energy security became positive predictors of support for nuclear power. These findings suggest that concern about climate change and energy security will only increase acceptance of nuclear power under limited circumstances-specifically once other (preferred) options have been exhausted. - Highlights: → We report data from 2005 to 2010 of British attitudes towards nuclear power and climate change. → Changes in attitudes over the time period were relatively modest. → British population remained relatively divided on nuclear power in 2010. → Concern about climate change was negatively related to evaluations of nuclear power. → Different framings of the issue alter the balance of support for nuclear power.

Public Perception of Climate Change and Mitigation Technologies; Percepcion Publica del Cambio Climatico y las Tecnologias de Mitigacion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sola, R; Sala, R; Oltra, C

2007-09-27

Public perception and understanding of climate change and mitigation policies may have a significant influence on the development of political programs as well as on individual behavioral intentions to address climate change. The study of public attitudes and beliefs about climate change and energy policy may be useful in the design of suitable communication strategies and in the efficient implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Based on a survey to the Spanish population, we analyze different issues such as the level of concern towards climate change, the existing knowledge about the contribution of different energy technologies to global warming, the attitudes toward energy technologies and the beliefs about potential adaptation strategies. Comparisons with other countries based on similar public opinion surveys are established to obtain a broader view of policy preferences and attitudes regarding climate change. (Author) 5 refs.

Changing climate, changing frames

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vink, Martinus J.; Boezeman, Daan; Dewulf, Art; Termeer, Catrien J.A.M.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► We show development of flood policy frames in context of climate change attention. ► Rising attention on climate change influences traditional flood policy framing. ► The new framing employs global-scale scientific climate change knowledge. ► With declining attention, framing disregards climate change, using local knowledge. ► We conclude that frames function as sensemaking devices selectively using knowledge. -- Abstract: Water management and particularly flood defence have a long history of collective action in low-lying countries like the Netherlands. The uncertain but potentially severe impacts of the recent climate change issue (e.g. sea level rise, extreme river discharges, salinisation) amplify the wicked and controversial character of flood safety policy issues. Policy proposals in this area generally involve drastic infrastructural works and long-term investments. They face the difficult challenge of framing problems and solutions in a publicly acceptable manner in ever changing circumstances. In this paper, we analyse and compare (1) how three key policy proposals publicly frame the flood safety issue, (2) the knowledge referred to in the framing and (3) how these frames are rhetorically connected or disconnected as statements in a long-term conversation. We find that (1) framings of policy proposals differ in the way they depict the importance of climate change, the relevant timeframe and the appropriate governance mode; (2) knowledge is selectively mobilised to underpin the different frames and (3) the frames about these proposals position themselves against the background of the previous proposals through rhetorical connections and disconnections. Finally, we discuss how this analysis hints at the importance of processes of powering and puzzling that lead to particular framings towards the public at different historical junctures

Climate Change: From Science to Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wheeler, Nicola; Watts, Nick

2018-03-01

Climate change poses a significant threat to human health. Understanding how climate science can be translated into public health practice is an essential first step in enabling robust adaptation and improving resiliency to climate change. Recent research highlights the importance of iterative approaches to public health adaptation to climate change, enabling uncertainties of health impacts and barriers to adaptation to be accounted for. There are still significant barriers to adaptation, which are context-specific and thus present unique challenges to public health practice. The implementation of flexible adaptation approaches, using frameworks targeted for public health, is key to ensuring robust adaptation to climate change in public health practice. The BRACE framework provides an excellent approach for health adaptation to climate change. Combining this with the insights provided and by the adaptation pathways approach allows for more deliberate accounting of long-term uncertainties. The mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into public health practice and planning is important in facilitating this approach and overcoming the significant barriers to effective adaptation. Yet, the immediate and future limits to adaptation provide clear justification for urgent and accelerated efforts to mitigate climate change.

Feframing Climate Change for Environmental Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Weems, Caitlin; Subramaniam, Prithwi Raj

2017-04-01

Repeated warnings by the scientific community on the dire consequences of climate change through global warming to the ecology and sustenance of our planet have not been give appropriate attention by the U.S. public. Research has shown that climate change is responsible for catastrophic weather occurrences--such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and heat waves--resulting in environmental and public health issues. The purpose of this report is to examine factors influencing public views on climate change. Theoretical and political perspectives are examined to unpack opinions held by the public in the U.S. on climate change. The Health Belief Model is used as an example to showcase the efficacy of an individual behavior change program in providing the synergy to understand climate change at the microlevel. The concept of reframing is discussed as a strategy to alter how the public views climate change.

Bioethics and Public Health Collaborate to Reveal Impacts of Climate Change on Caribbean Life

Science.gov (United States)

Macpherson, C.; Akpinar-Elci, M.

2011-12-01

Interdisciplinary dialog and collaboration aimed at protecting health against climate change is impeded by the small number of scientists and health professionals skilled in interdisciplinary work, and by the view held by many that "climate change won't affect me personally". These challenges may be surmounted by discussions about the lived experience of climate change and how this threatens things we value. Dialog between bioethics and public health generated an innovative collaboration using the focus group method. The main limitation of focus groups is the small number of participants however the data obtained is generalizable to wider groups and is used regularly in business to enhance marketing strategies. Caribbean academicians from varied disciplines discussed how climate change affects them and life in the Caribbean. Caribbean states are particularly vulnerable to climate change because their large coastal areas are directly exposed to rising sea levels and their development relies heavily on foreign aid. The Caribbean comprises about half of the 39 members of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), and small island states comprise about 5% of global population [1]. Participants described socioeconomic and environmental changes in the Caribbean that they attribute to climate change. These include extreme weather, unusual rain and drought, drying rivers, beach erosion, declining fish catches, and others. The session exposed impacts on individuals, businesses, agriculture, and disaster preparedness. This data helps to reframe climate change as a personal reality rather than a vague future concern. It is relevant to the design, implementation, and sustainability of climate policies in the Caribbean and perhaps other small island states. The method and interdisciplinary approach can be used in other settings to elicit dialog about experiences and values across sectors, and to inform policies. Those who have experienced extreme weather are more concerned

Argumentation Key to Communicating Climate Change to the Public

Science.gov (United States)

Bleicher, R. E.; Lambert, J. L.

2012-12-01

Argumentation plays an important role in how we communicate climate change science to the public and is a key component integrated throughout the Next Generation Science Standards. A scientific argument can be described as a disagreement between explanations with data being used to justify each position. Argumentation is social process where two or more individuals construct and critique arguments (Kuhn & Udell, 2003; Nussbaum, 1997). Sampson, Grooms, and Walker's (2011) developed a framework for understanding the components of a scientific argument. The three components start with a claim (a conjecture, conclusion, explanation, or an answer to a research question). This claim must fit the evidence (observations that show trends over time, relationships between variables or difference between groups). The evidence must be justified with reasoning (explains how the evidence supports the explanation and whey it should count as support). In a scientific argument, or debate, the controversy focuses on how data were collected, what data can or should be included, and what inferences can be made based on a set of evidence. Toulmin's model (1969) also includes rebutting or presenting an alternative explanation supported by counter evidence and reasoning of why the alternative is not the appropriate explanation for the question of the problem. The process of scientific argumentation should involve the construction and critique of scientific arguments, one that involves the consideration of alternative hypotheses (Lawson, 2003). Scientific literacy depends as much on the ability to refute and recognize poor scientific arguments as much as it does on the ability to present an effective argument based on good scientific data (Osborne, 2010). Argument is, therefore, a core feature of science. When students learn to construct a sound scientific argument, they demonstrate critical thinking and a mastery of the science being taught. To present a convincing argument in support of

Climate change and skin disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Lundgren, Ashley D

2018-04-01

Despite commanding essentially universal scientific consensus, climate change remains a divisive and poorly understood topic in the United States. Familiarity with this subject is not just for climate scientists. The impact of climate change on human morbidity and mortality may be considerable; thus, physicians also should be knowledgeable in this realm. Climate change science can seem opaque and inferential, creating fertile ground for political polemics and undoubtedly contributing to confusion among the general public. This puts physicians in a pivotal position to facilitate a practical understanding of climate change in the public sphere by discussing changes in disease patterns and their possible relationship to a changing climate. This article provides a background on climate change for dermatologists and highlights how climate change may impact the management of skin disease across the United States.

Climate change governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knieling, Joerg [HafenCity Univ. Hamburg (Germany). Urban Planning and Regional Development; Leal Filho, Walter (eds.) [HAW Hamburg (Germany). Research and Transfer Centre Applications of Life Science

2013-07-01

Climate change is a cause for concern both globally and locally. In order for it to be tackled holistically, its governance is an important topic needing scientific and practical consideration. Climate change governance is an emerging area, and one which is closely related to state and public administrative systems and the behaviour of private actors, including the business sector, as well as the civil society and non-governmental organisations. Questions of climate change governance deal both with mitigation and adaptation whilst at the same time trying to devise effective ways of managing the consequences of these measures across the different sectors. Many books have been produced on general matters related to climate change, such as climate modelling, temperature variations, sea level rise, but, to date, very few publications have addressed the political, economic and social elements of climate change and their links with governance. This book will address this gap. Furthermore, a particular feature of this book is that it not only presents different perspectives on climate change governance, but it also introduces theoretical approaches and brings these together with practical examples which show how main principles may be implemented in practice.

What Butterfly Effect? The Contextual Differences in Public Perceptions of the Health Risk Posed by Climate Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James W. Stoutenborough

2015-08-01

Full Text Available One of the most difficult aspects of persuading the public to support climate change policy is the lack of recognition that climate change will likely have a direct impact on an individual’s life. Anecdotal evidence and arguments within the media suggest that those who are skeptical of climate change are more likely to believe that the negative externalities associated with climate change will be experienced by others, and, therefore, are not a concern to that individual. This project examines public perceptions of the health risk posed by climate change. Using a large national public opinion survey of adults in the United States, respondents were asked to evaluate the health risk for themselves, their community, the United States, and the world. The results suggest that individuals evaluate the risk for each of these contexts differently. Statistical analyses are estimated to identify the determinants of each risk perception to identify their respective differences. The implications of these findings on support for climate change policy are discussed.

Public attitudes to climate change and carbon mitigation—Implications for energy-associated behaviours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borgstede, Chris von; Andersson, Maria; Johnsson, Filip

2013-01-01

This work explores public opinions regarding climate change and mitigation options and examines how psychological factors, such as attitudes, norms, and willingness to pay, determine self-reported energy-efficient behaviour. The aim is to create knowledge for the design and implementation of policy measures. The results of an opinion poll conducted in 2005 and 2010 are compared. The number of respondents favouring new technologies as a way to reduce emissions was substantially lower in 2010 than in 2005, whereas there was an increase in the number of people who acknowledged that lifestyle changes are necessary to counteract climate changes. This indicates an increased awareness among the public of the need for lifestyle changes, which could facilitate implementation of policies promoting environmental behaviour. Renewable energy and energy saving measures were ranked as the top two measures for mitigating climate change in both polls. In determining which energy behaviours of the public are determined by psychological factors, an analysis of the 2010 survey revealed that respondents with pro-environmental attitudes towards global warming favour significantly increased use of renewable energy technologies and greater engagement in energy-efficient behaviours. - Highlights: ► Public opinion place priority to environmental issues and beliefs to change current lifestyle. ► A decline in favoring new technologies as a way to reduce emissions in 2010 compare to 2005 poll. ► Environmental attitudes relate to favor of renewable energy technologies. ► Environmental attitudes relate to households energy efficient behaviour

Applying "Climate" system to teaching basic climatology and raising public awareness of climate change issues

Science.gov (United States)

Gordova, Yulia; Okladnikov, Igor; Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny

2016-04-01

theory and practice. Along with its usage in graduate and postgraduate education, "Climate" is used as a framework for a developed basic information course on climate change for common public. In this course basic concepts and problems of modern climate change and its possible consequences are described for non-specialists. The course will also include links to relevant information resources on topical issues of Earth Sciences and a number of case studies, which are carried out for a selected region to consolidate the received knowledge.

Trusted Sources: The Role Scientific Societies Can Play in Improving Public Opinions on Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

McEntee, C.; Cairns, A.; Buhrman, J.

2012-12-01

Public acceptance of the scientific consensus regarding climate change has eroded and misinformation designed to confuse the public is rapidly proliferating. Those issues, combined with an increase of politically motivated attacks on climate scientists and their research, have led to a place where ideology can trump scientific consensus as the foundation for developing policy solutions. The scientific community has been, thus far, unprepared to respond effectively to these developments. However, as a scientific society whose members engage in climate science research, and one whose organizational mission and vision are centered on the concepts of science for the benefit of humanity and ensuring a sustainable future, the American Geophysical Union can, and should, play an important role in reversing this trend. To that end, in 2011, AGU convened a Leadership Summit on Climate Science Communication, in which presidents, executive directors, and senior public policy staff from 17 scientific organizations engaged with experts in the social sciences regarding effective communication of climate science and with practitioners from agriculture, energy, and the military. The discussions focused on three key issues: the environment of climate science communication; public understanding of climate change; and the perspectives of consumers of climate science-based information who work with specific audiences. Participants diagnosed previous challenges and failings, enumerated the key constituencies that need to be effectively engaged, and identified the critical role played by cultural cognition—the influence of group values, particularly around equality and authority, individualism, and community; and the perceptions of risk. Since that meeting, AGU has consistently worked to identify and explore ways that it, and its members, and improve the effectiveness of their communication with the public about climate change. This presentation will focus on the insights AGU has

Can "Ozzie" the Ostrich Prepare the Public for Better Learning about Climate Change?

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, R. F.; Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Lockwood, L.

2016-02-01

Climate change is one of the most pressing societal issues today, and educators are struggling with how to inform people of all ages and backgrounds about the reality and relevance of climate change. ScienceToGo.org has designed 12 posters that were placed on the Boston subways over the course of 15 months. Surveys of T-riders suggest that Ozzie the Ostrich is highly recognizable, is non-threatening, and is connecting Boston with climate change impacts and solutions. We hypothesize that our advertising campaign not only raises awareness about climate change in Boston and engages the public in thinking and talking about climate change, but also prepares them for learning more about climate change in the future. By exposing students to the 12 posters, we think that fears associated with climate change are lessened, and that students are more willing to explore a variety of media (newspaper articles, internet postings, peer-reviewed journal articles, data, and graphs) compared to students that are not exposed to the posters. Students will complete an initial survey, be exposed (or not exposed) to Ozzie posters, asked to explore a variety of media related to climate change, then surveyed again. Finally, focus groups will be conducted to gain insights on how students interact about climate change with or without exposure to Ozzie. We are interested in learning if exposure to brief, engaging, and humorous advertising messages will change the way students learn about climate change. This presentation will present initial results of this study.

The Public Health Impacts of Climate Change in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Kendrovski

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Projected climatic changes for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the period 2025–2100 will be most intense in the warmest period of the year with more frequent and more intense heat-waves, droughts and flood events compared with the period 1961–1990. The country has examined their vulnerabilities to climate change and many public health impacts have been projected. A variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in the assessment: literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, time series and regression analysis, damage and adaptation cost estimation, and scenario-based assessment. Policies and interventions to minimize the risks and development of long-term adaptation strategies have been explored. The generation of a robust evidence base and the development of stakeholder engagement have been used to support the development of an adaptation strategy and to promote adaptive capacity by improving the resilience of public health systems to climate change. Climate change adaptation has been established as a priority within existing national policy instruments. The lessons learnt from the process are applicable to countries considering how best to improve adaptive capacity and resilience of health systems to climate variability and its associated impacts.

The public health impacts of climate change in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kendrovski, Vladimir; Spasenovska, Margarita; Menne, Bettina

2014-06-05

Projected climatic changes for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the period 2025-2100 will be most intense in the warmest period of the year with more frequent and more intense heat-waves, droughts and flood events compared with the period 1961-1990. The country has examined their vulnerabilities to climate change and many public health impacts have been projected. A variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in the assessment: literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, time series and regression analysis, damage and adaptation cost estimation, and scenario-based assessment. Policies and interventions to minimize the risks and development of long-term adaptation strategies have been explored. The generation of a robust evidence base and the development of stakeholder engagement have been used to support the development of an adaptation strategy and to promote adaptive capacity by improving the resilience of public health systems to climate change. Climate change adaptation has been established as a priority within existing national policy instruments. The lessons learnt from the process are applicable to countries considering how best to improve adaptive capacity and resilience of health systems to climate variability and its associated impacts.

Climate@Home: Crowdsourcing Climate Change Research

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, C.; Yang, C.; Li, J.; Sun, M.; Bambacus, M.

2011-12-01

Climate change deeply impacts human wellbeing. Significant amounts of resources have been invested in building super-computers that are capable of running advanced climate models, which help scientists understand climate change mechanisms, and predict its trend. Although climate change influences all human beings, the general public is largely excluded from the research. On the other hand, scientists are eagerly seeking communication mediums for effectively enlightening the public on climate change and its consequences. The Climate@Home project is devoted to connect the two ends with an innovative solution: crowdsourcing climate computing to the general public by harvesting volunteered computing resources from the participants. A distributed web-based computing platform will be built to support climate computing, and the general public can 'plug-in' their personal computers to participate in the research. People contribute the spare computing power of their computers to run a computer model, which is used by scientists to predict climate change. Traditionally, only super-computers could handle such a large computing processing load. By orchestrating massive amounts of personal computers to perform atomized data processing tasks, investments on new super-computers, energy consumed by super-computers, and carbon release from super-computers are reduced. Meanwhile, the platform forms a social network of climate researchers and the general public, which may be leveraged to raise climate awareness among the participants. A portal is to be built as the gateway to the climate@home project. Three types of roles and the corresponding functionalities are designed and supported. The end users include the citizen participants, climate scientists, and project managers. Citizen participants connect their computing resources to the platform by downloading and installing a computing engine on their personal computers. Computer climate models are defined at the server side. Climate

The Palestinian Authority and 'Climate Change' as an Emergent Public Problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fustec, Klervi

2014-01-01

'Climate change' is an oft avowed environmental priority among cooperation and development actors. The Palestinian Territories, for their part, are one of the largest recipients of international aid. To the degree that the UNPD has played a role in promoting the question of 'climate change', the dependence of the Palestinian Authority on international aid has contributed to framing this emergent public problem; its construction is anchored in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Palestinian state's demand for recognition at the international level. In the international arenas dedicated to 'climate change', what's more, the Palestinian Authority discusses this question in terms of political and climatic injustice. Two questions thus merit study: what effect does the construction of the climate problem have on the Palestinian Authority and, conversely, what effect does the Palestinian Authority have on the construction of the climate problem?

Changes in the Perceived Risk of Climate Change: Evidence from Sudden Climatic Events

Science.gov (United States)

Anttila-Hughes, J. K.

2009-12-01

In the course of the past two decades the threat of anthropogenic climate change has moved from a scientific concern of relative obscurity to become one of the largest environmental and public goods problems in history. During this period public understanding of the risk of climate change has shifted from negligible to quite large. In this paper I propose a means of quantifying this change by examining how sudden events supporting the theory of anthropogenic climate change have affected carbon intensive companies' stock prices. Using CAPM event study methodology for companies in several carbon-intensive industries, I find strong evidence that markets have been reacting to changes in the scientific evidence for climate change for some time. Specifically, the change in magnitude of response over time seems to indicate that investors believed climate change was a potentially serious risk to corporate profits as early as the mid 1990s. Moreover, market reaction dependence on event type indicates that investors are differentiating between different advances in the scientific knowledge. Announcements by NASA GISS that the previous year was a “record hot year” for the globe are associated with negative excess returns, while news of ice shelf collapses are associated with strong positive excess returns. These results imply that investors are aware of how different aspects of climate change will affect carbon intensive companies, specifically in terms of the link between warming in general and polar ice cover. This implies that policy choices based on observable public opinion have lagged actual private concern over climate change's potential threat.

Using Web GIS "Climate" for Adaptation to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Gordova, Yulia; Martynova, Yulia; Shulgina, Tamara

2015-04-01

A work is devoted to the application of an information-computational Web GIS "Climate" developed by joint team of the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS and Tomsk State University to raise awareness about current and future climate change as a basis for further adaptation. Web-GIS "Climate» (http://climate.scert.ru/) based on modern concepts of Web 2.0 provides opportunities to study regional climate change and its consequences by providing access to climate and weather models, a large set of geophysical data and means of processing and visualization. Also, the system is used for the joint development of software applications by distributed research teams, research based on these applications and undergraduate and graduate students training. In addition, the system capabilities allow creating information resources to raise public awareness about climate change, its causes and consequences, which is a necessary step for the subsequent adaptation to these changes. Basic information course on climate change is placed in the public domain and is aimed at local population. Basic concepts and problems of modern climate change and its possible consequences are set out and illustrated in accessible language. Particular attention is paid to regional climate changes. In addition to the information part, the course also includes a selection of links to popular science network resources on current issues in Earth Sciences and a number of practical tasks to consolidate the material. These tasks are performed for a particular territory. Within the tasks users need to analyze the prepared within the "Climate" map layers and answer questions of direct interest to the public: "How did the minimum value of winter temperatures change in your area?", "What are the dynamics of maximum summer temperatures?", etc. Carrying out the analysis of the dynamics of climate change contributes to a better understanding of climate processes and further adaptation

Climate change matters.

Science.gov (United States)

Macpherson, Cheryl Cox

2014-04-01

One manifestation of climate change is the increasingly severe extreme weather that causes injury, illness and death through heat stress, air pollution, infectious disease and other means. Leading health organisations around the world are responding to the related water and food shortages and volatility of energy and agriculture prices that threaten health and health economics. Environmental and climate ethics highlight the associated challenges to human rights and distributive justice but rarely address health or encompass bioethical methods or analyses. Public health ethics and its broader umbrella, bioethics, remain relatively silent on climate change. Meanwhile global population growth creates more people who aspire to Western lifestyles and unrestrained socioeconomic growth. Fulfilling these aspirations generates more emissions; worsens climate change; and undermines virtues and values that engender appreciation of, and protections for, natural resources. Greater understanding of how virtues and values are evolving in different contexts, and the associated consequences, might nudge the individual and collective priorities that inform public policy toward embracing stewardship and responsibility for environmental resources necessary to health. Instead of neglecting climate change and related policy, public health ethics and bioethics should explore these issues; bring transparency to the tradeoffs that permit emissions to continue at current rates; and offer deeper understanding about what is at stake and what it means to live a good life in today's world.

Natural versus anthropogenic climate change: Swedish farmers' joint construction of climate perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Asplund, Therese

2016-07-01

While previous research into understandings of climate change has usually examined general public perceptions, this study offers an audience-specific departure point. This article analyses how Swedish farmers perceive climate change and how they jointly shape their understandings. The agricultural sector is of special interest because it both contributes to and is directly affected by climate change. Through focus group discussions with Swedish farmers, this study finds that (1) farmers relate to and understand climate change through their own experiences, (2) climate change is understood either as a natural process subject to little or no human influence or as anthropogenic and (3) various communication tools contribute to the formation of natural and anthropogenic climate change frames. The article ends by discussing frame resonance and frame clash in public understanding of climate change and by comparing potential similarities and differences in how various segments of the public make sense of climate change. © The Author(s) 2014.

Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX): A Public-Private Partnership for Climate Change Research

Science.gov (United States)

Nemani, R. R.; Lee, T. J.; Michaelis, A.; Ganguly, S.; Votava, P.

2014-12-01

NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a data, computing and knowledge collaborative that houses satellite, climate and ancillary data where a community of researchers can come together to share modeling and analysis codes, scientific results, knowledge and expertise on a centralized platform with access to large supercomputing resources. As a part of broadening the community beyond NASA-funded researchers, NASA through an agreement with Amazon Inc. made available to the public a large collection of Climate and Earth Sciences satellite data. The data, available through the Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX) platform hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud, consists of large amounts of global land surface imaging, vegetation conditions, climate observations and climate projections. In addition to the data, users of OpenNEX platform can also watch lectures from leading experts, learn basic access and use of the available data sets. In order to advance White House initiatives such as Open Data, Big Data and Climate Data and the Climate Action Plan, NASA over the past six months conducted the OpenNEX Challenge. The two-part challenge was designed to engage the public in creating innovative ways to use NASA data and address climate change impacts on economic growth, health and livelihood. Our intention was that the challenges allow citizen scientists to realize the value of NASA data assets and offers NASA new ideas on how to share and use that data. The first "ideation" challenge, closed on July 31st attracted over 450 participants consisting of climate scientists, hobbyists, citizen scientists, IT experts and App developers. Winning ideas from the first challenge will be incorporated into the second "builder" challenge currently targeted to launch mid-August and close by mid-November. The winner(s) will be formally announced at AGU in December of 2014. We will share our experiences and lessons learned over the past year from OpenNEX, a public-private partnership for

The social construct of climate and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stehr, N.

1994-01-01

Different time scales of climate change and their differential perception in society are discussed. A historical examination of natural climate changes during the past millennium suggests that short-term changes, especially crucial changes, trigger a significant response in and by society. Short-term changes correspond to the 'time horizon of everyday life', that is, to a time scale from days and weeks to a few years. The anticipated anthropogenic climate changes, however, are expected to occur on a longer time scale. They require a response by society not on the basis of primary experience but on the basis of scientifically constructed scenarios and ways in which such information is represented in the modern media for example. Socio-economic impact research relies on concepts that are based on the premise of perfectly informed actors for the development of optimal adaptation strategies. In contrast to such a conception, we develop the concept of a 'social construct of climate' as decisive for the public perception of scientific knowledge about climate and for public policy on climate change. The concept is illustrated using a number of examples. (orig.)

Yukon Government climate change action plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-02-01

This Climate Change Action Plan described the measures that are being taken by the Yukon Government to adapt to, understand, and reduce contributions to climate change. The action plan is the result of input received from more than 100 individuals and organizations and provides clear direction for a strategy that will minimize the negative impacts of climate change and provide economic, social and other environmental benefits through climate change mitigation. The Yukon government has already taken many actions that respond to climate change, such as: developing the Yukon Cold Climate Innovation Centre; supporting the Northern Climate Exchange for public education and outreach; funding community recycling depots and other groups that reduce waste generation, promote public awareness and divert solid waste; and working with provincial and territorial counterparts to enhance national building standards. The main objectives of the climate change actions are to enhance knowledge and understanding of climate change; adapt to climate change; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and lead Yukon action in response to climate change. tabs., figs.

Discussing Climate Change with the Public: Presenting the Science is Necessary but Insufficient

Science.gov (United States)

Vincelli, P.; Humble, J.

2012-12-01

Social science literature shows that the topic of climate change is imbued with cultural meaning for most Americans, such that sound scientific information alone is likely to be unpersuasive to people already doubtful about climate change. A current educational program on climate change emphasizes the following: *Less reliance on geophysical data *Positive messages as frequently as possible *Making the subject personal and concrete *Focusing on scientific aspects of climate change while refraining from promotion of particular policy solutions *Seeking ways to speak to core identities of diverse audiences *Assuring that communication efforts on this highly divisive topic are based on sensitivity to, and respect for, the diversity of worldviews present in citizens *To the extent possible, emphasizing optimism as well as our personal and collective capability to solve the problem of climate change. While this may seem self-evident, we also remind ourselves of the importance of avoiding criticism, blame, demonization, or arrogance in building a more inclusive community of public leaders on climate literacy.; Citing the recognition of climate-change science by trusted organizations is probably more convincing than showing reams of geophysical data. In particular, citing the Department of Defense may speak to the values of many who remain skeptical. ; This image is intended to speak to people that deeply value passing on a way of life to their descendants. Although nationalism can be carried to an extreme, this imagery can convey the notion that protecting our world from climate change is actually patriotic, something few Americans may realize.

ONERC Observatoire National sur les Effets du Rechauffement Climatique (National Observatory of Climate warming effects). Report to the Prime Minister and to Parliament. Climate changes and public health risks in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

After having recalled the climate change context and the activities of the ONERC (the French National Observatory of Climate Warming Effects) since its previous report, this report gathers several contributions by as many scientists. They propose analysis, comments and discussions on various topics: human diseases which might be influenced by climate change in France (heat waves and allergies, emergence of animal and human diseases, potential impacts of climate change on vector-borne diseases, infectious diseases in overseas territories, public health consequences), surveillance and health alert systems (infectious disease national surveillance and monitoring network, emergency response, satellite imagery, public health and risk management, lessons learned from the chikungunya pandemic), public health and risk management (overview of international works on the relationship between climate change and public health, public health consequences of climate change)

What Butterfly Effect? The Contextual Differences in Public Perceptions of the Health Risk Posed by Climate Change

OpenAIRE

Stoutenborough, James; Kirkpatrick, Kellee; Field, M.; Vedlitz, Arnold

2015-01-01

One of the most difficult aspects of persuading the public to support climate change policy is the lack of recognition that climate change will likely have a direct impact on an individual’s life. Anecdotal evidence and arguments within the media suggest that those who are skeptical of climate change are more likely to believe that the negative externalities associated with climate change will be experienced by others, and, therefore, are not a concern to that individual. This project examine...

The burgeoning field of transdisciplinary adaptation research in Quebec (1998–: a climate change-related public health narrative

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gosselin P

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Pierre Gosselin1–3, Diane Bélanger1,3,4, Véronique Lapaige1,5,6, Yolaine Labbé11Quebec National Public Health Institute, Quebec, 2Laval University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Quebec, 3National Institute of Scientific Research, Water-Earth-Environment Centre, Quebec, 4Research Centre of the Quebec University Hospital Centre, Quebec, 5University of Montreal, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Montreal, 6Fernand-Seguin Research Centre, Montreal, QC, CanadaAbstract: This paper presents a public health narrative on Quebec’s new climatic conditions and human health, and describes the transdisciplinary nature of the climate change adaptation research currently being adopted in Quebec, characterized by the three phases of problem identification, problem investigation, and problem transformation. A transdisciplinary approach is essential for dealing with complex ill-defined problems concerning human–environment interactions (for example, climate change, for allowing joint research, collective leadership, complex collaborations, and significant exchanges among scientists, decision makers, and knowledge users. Such an approach is widely supported in theory but has proved to be extremely difficult to implement in practice, and those who attempt it have met with heavy resistance, succeeding when they find the occasional opportunity within institutional or social contexts. In this paper we narrate the ongoing struggle involved in tackling the negative effects of climate change in multi-actor contexts at local and regional levels, a struggle that began in a quiet way in 1998. The paper will describe how public health adaptation research is supporting transdisciplinary action and implementation while also preparing for the future, and how this interaction to tackle a life-world problem (adaptation of the Quebec public health sector to climate change in multi-actors contexts has progressively been

Climate Change and Public Information in the Spanish Central Government. Its Management, Legal and Foresight in Emergencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ángel Ibáñez

2013-05-01

Full Text Available In spite of the increasing amount of data that inform us of the possible causes that have contributed to climate change, the solution to the problem has not been identified or achieved yet. In the beginning it looked like a scientific and technical problem as climate change is attributed to the production and accumulation of greenhouse gases. However, time has shown that this issue is totally linked to public perception and public opinion. The effect of mass media upon the public has a great influence. Experts on climate change are criticizing those who are skeptical of the causes. According to these experts, the response from the international community has decreased by the denial of global warming. The mis-management of public information by governments is one of the causes of the aforementioned decreased response. The regulations about public information have also contributed to this. This article tries to give an opinion about the way in which the Public Administration uses and broadcasts the information and the restrictions and legal limitations it faces.

Research on climate effects. Effects of climate changes. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, W.; Stein, G.

1991-01-01

Global changes affecting the earth are at the forefront of public interest, possibly caused by climate alterations amongst other things. The public expects appropriate measures from politics to successfully adapt to unavoidable climate changes. As well as an investigation into the causes of climatic changes and the corollaries between the different scientific phenomena, the effects on the economy and society must also be examined. The Federal Minister for Research and Technology aims to make a valuable German contribution to international Global Change Research with the focal point ''Effects of Climate Changes on the Ecological and Civil System''. The aim of the workshop was to give an outline of current scientific knowledge, sketch out research requirements and give recommendations on the focal point with regard to the BMFT. (orig.) [de

Climate Change and Health on the U.S. Gulf Coast: Public Health Adaptation is Needed to Address Future Risks.

Science.gov (United States)

Petkova, Elisaveta P; Ebi, Kristie L; Culp, Derrin; Redlener, Irwin

2015-08-11

The impacts of climate change on human health have been documented globally and in the United States. Numerous studies project greater morbidity and mortality as a result of extreme weather events and other climate-sensitive hazards. Public health impacts on the U.S. Gulf Coast may be severe as the region is expected to experience increases in extreme temperatures, sea level rise, and possibly fewer but more intense hurricanes. Through myriad pathways, climate change is likely to make the Gulf Coast less hospitable and more dangerous for its residents, and may prompt substantial migration from and into the region. Public health impacts may be further exacerbated by the concentration of people and infrastructure, as well as the region's coastal geography. Vulnerable populations, including the very young, elderly, and socioeconomically disadvantaged may face particularly high threats to their health and well-being. This paper provides an overview of potential public health impacts of climate variability and change on the Gulf Coast, with a focus on the region's unique vulnerabilities, and outlines recommendations for improving the region's ability to minimize the impacts of climate-sensitive hazards. Public health adaptation aimed at improving individual, public health system, and infrastructure resilience is urgently needed to meet the challenges climate change may pose to the Gulf Coast in the coming decades.

Climate Change and Health on the U.S. Gulf Coast: Public Health Adaptation is Needed to Address Future Risks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisaveta P. Petkova

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The impacts of climate change on human health have been documented globally and in the United States. Numerous studies project greater morbidity and mortality as a result of extreme weather events and other climate-sensitive hazards. Public health impacts on the U.S. Gulf Coast may be severe as the region is expected to experience increases in extreme temperatures, sea level rise, and possibly fewer but more intense hurricanes. Through myriad pathways, climate change is likely to make the Gulf Coast less hospitable and more dangerous for its residents, and may prompt substantial migration from and into the region. Public health impacts may be further exacerbated by the concentration of people and infrastructure, as well as the region’s coastal geography. Vulnerable populations, including the very young, elderly, and socioeconomically disadvantaged may face particularly high threats to their health and well-being. This paper provides an overview of potential public health impacts of climate variability and change on the Gulf Coast, with a focus on the region’s unique vulnerabilities, and outlines recommendations for improving the region’s ability to minimize the impacts of climate-sensitive hazards. Public health adaptation aimed at improving individual, public health system, and infrastructure resilience is urgently needed to meet the challenges climate change may pose to the Gulf Coast in the coming decades.

Public perceptions of climate change as a human health risk: surveys of the United States, Canada and Malta.

Science.gov (United States)

Akerlof, Karen; Debono, Roberto; Berry, Peter; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Roser-Renouf, Connie; Clarke, Kaila-Lea; Rogaeva, Anastasia; Nisbet, Matthew C; Weathers, Melinda R; Maibach, Edward W

2010-06-01

We used data from nationally representative surveys conducted in the United States, Canada and Malta between 2008 and 2009 to answer three questions: Does the public believe that climate change poses human health risks, and if so, are they seen as current or future risks? Whose health does the public think will be harmed? In what specific ways does the public believe climate change will harm human health? When asked directly about the potential impacts of climate change on health and well-being, a majority of people in all three nations said that it poses significant risks; moreover, about one third of Americans, one half of Canadians, and two-thirds of Maltese said that people are already being harmed. About a third or more of people in the United States and Canada saw themselves (United States, 32%; Canada, 67%), their family (United States, 35%; Canada, 46%), and people in their community (United States, 39%; Canada, 76%) as being vulnerable to at least moderate harm from climate change. About one third of Maltese (31%) said they were most concerned about the risk to themselves and their families. Many Canadians said that the elderly (45%) and children (33%) are at heightened risk of harm, while Americans were more likely to see people in developing countries as being at risk than people in their own nation. When prompted, large numbers of Canadians and Maltese said that climate change can cause respiratory problems (78-91%), heat-related problems (75-84%), cancer (61-90%), and infectious diseases (49-62%). Canadians also named sunburn (79%) and injuries from extreme weather events (73%), and Maltese cited allergies (84%). However, climate change appears to lack salience as a health issue in all three countries: relatively few people answered open-ended questions in a manner that indicated clear top-of-mind associations between climate change and human health risks. We recommend mounting public health communication initiatives that increase the salience of the

Public Perceptions of Climate Change as a Human Health Risk: Surveys of the United States, Canada and Malta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Akerlof

2010-06-01

Full Text Available We used data from nationally representative surveys conducted in the United States, Canada and Malta between 2008 and 2009 to answer three questions: Does the public believe that climate change poses human health risks, and if so, are they seen as current or future risks? Whose health does the public think will be harmed? In what specific ways does the public believe climate change will harm human health? When asked directly about the potential impacts of climate change on health and well-being, a majority of people in all three nations said that it poses significant risks; moreover, about one third of Americans, one half of Canadians, and two-thirds of Maltese said that people are already being harmed. About a third or more of people in the United States and Canada saw themselves (United States, 32%; Canada, 67%, their family (United States, 35%; Canada, 46%, and people in their community (United States, 39%; Canada, 76% as being vulnerable to at least moderate harm from climate change. About one third of Maltese (31% said they were most concerned about the risk to themselves and their families. Many Canadians said that the elderly (45% and children (33% are at heightened risk of harm, while Americans were more likely to see people in developing countries as being at risk than people in their own nation. When prompted, large numbers of Canadians and Maltese said that climate change can cause respiratory problems (78–91%, heat-related problems (75–84%, cancer (61–90%, and infectious diseases (49–62%. Canadians also named sunburn (79% and injuries from extreme weather events (73%, and Maltese cited allergies (84%. However, climate change appears to lack salience as a health issue in all three countries: relatively few people answered open-ended questions in a manner that indicated clear top-of-mind associations between climate change and human health risks. We recommend mounting public health communication initiatives that increase the

Climate Change 2014: Technical Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Field, Chrisopher B.; Barros, Vicente; Mach, Katherine; Mastrandrea, Michael; van Aalst, Maarten; Adger, Niel; Arent, Douglas J; Barnett, Jonathan; Betts, Richard; Bilir, Eren; Birkmann, Joern; Carmin, Joann; Chadee, Dave; Challinor, Andrew; Chaterjee, Monalisa; Cramer, Wolfgang; Davidson, Debra; Estrada, Yuka; Gatusso, Jean-Pierre; Hijioka, Yasuakai; Yohe, Gary; Hiza, Margaret; Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove; Huang, He-Qing; Insarov, Gregory; Jones, Roger; Kovats, Sari; Lankao, Patricia Romero; Larsen, Joan Nymand; Losada, Iñigo; Marengo, José; McLean, Roger; Mearns, Linda; Mechler, Reinhard; Morton, John; Niang, Isabelle; Oki, Taikan; Olwoch, Jane Mukarugwiza; Opondo, Maggie; Poloczanska, Elvira; Pörtner, Hans -O.; Reisinger, Andy; Revi, Aromar; Schmidt, Daniela; Shaw, Rebecca; Solecki, William; Stone, Dáithí; Stone, John; Strzepek, Ken; Suarez, Avelino G.; Tschakert, Petra; Valentini, Riccardo; Vicuna, Sebastian; Villamizar, Alicia; Vincent, Katharine; Warren, Rachel; White, Leslie; Wilbanks, Thomas; Wong, Poh Poh

2014-01-01

Human interference with the climate system is occurring (WGI AR5 SPM Section D.3; WGI AR5 Sections 2.2, 6.3, 10.3 to 10.6, 10.9). Climate change poses risks for human and natural systems. The assessment of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) evaluates how patterns of risks and potential benefits are shifting due to climate change. It considers how impacts and risks related to climate change can be reduced and managed through adaptation and mitigation. The report assesses needs, options, opportunities, constraints, resilience, limits, and other aspects associated with adaptation. It recognizes that risks of climate change will vary across regions and populations, through space and time, dependent on myriad factors including the extent of adaptation and mitigation. For the past 2 decades, IPCC’s Working Group II has developed assessments of climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. The WGII AR5 builds from the WGII contribution to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (WGII AR4), published in 2007, and the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX), published in 2012. It follows the Working Group I contribution to the AR5. The WGII AR5 is presented in two parts (Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects, and Part B: Regional Aspects), reflecting the expanded literature basis and multidisciplinary approach, increased focus on societal impacts and responses, and continued regionally comprehensive coverage. [1.1 to 1.3] The number of scientific publications available for assessing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability more than doubled between 2005 and 2010, with especially rapid increases in publications related to adaptation, allowing for a more robust assessment that supports policymaking (high confidence). The diversity of the topics and regions covered has similarly expanded, as has

International aspects of climate change: The intergovernmental panel on climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brydges, T.; Fenech, A.

1990-01-01

The impact of various international conferences concerning global climate change on international opinions and attitudes is discussed. A number of conferences over the past two decades have drawn attention to the large socio-economic consequences of climate change. There has been increasing attention given to the likely affect of anthropogenically derived greenhouse gases on the global climate. Some early uncertainty over the likely long term changes in global temperature have been replaced by a scientific consensus that global temperatures are increasing and will continue to do so into the next century. Public awareness of the possibility of climate change and severe socio-economic consequences has been increasing and was given a major impetus by the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. An estimate of the possible time to solution of the climate change issue is given as 1988-2005, a span of 17 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has focused work into three working groups examining science, impacts and response strategies. 28 refs., 3 figs., 6 tabs

Climate change, conflict and health.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowles, Devin C; Butler, Colin D; Morisetti, Neil

2015-10-01

Future climate change is predicted to diminish essential natural resource availability in many regions and perhaps globally. The resulting scarcity of water, food and livelihoods could lead to increasingly desperate populations that challenge governments, enhancing the risk of intra- and interstate conflict. Defence establishments and some political scientists view climate change as a potential threat to peace. While the medical literature increasingly recognises climate change as a fundamental health risk, the dimension of climate change-associated conflict has so far received little attention, despite its profound health implications. Many analysts link climate change with a heightened risk of conflict via causal pathways which involve diminishing or changing resource availability. Plausible consequences include: increased frequency of civil conflict in developing countries; terrorism, asymmetric warfare, state failure; and major regional conflicts. The medical understanding of these threats is inadequate, given the scale of health implications. The medical and public health communities have often been reluctant to interpret conflict as a health issue. However, at times, medical workers have proven powerful and effective peace advocates, most notably with regard to nuclear disarmament. The public is more motivated to mitigate climate change when it is framed as a health issue. Improved medical understanding of the association between climate change and conflict could strengthen mitigation efforts and increase cooperation to cope with the climate change that is now inevitable. © The Royal Society of Medicine.

National Institutions and Global Public Goods: Are Democracies More Cooperative in Climate Change Policy?

OpenAIRE

Bättig, Michèle B.; Bernauer, Thomas

2017-01-01

This article examines whether democracies contribute more to the provision of global public goods. It thus contributes to the debate on the effects of domestic institutions on international cooperation. The focus is on human-induced climate change, in Stern's words "the biggest market failure the world has ever seen.” Using new data on climate change cooperation we study a cross-section of 185 countries in 1990-2004. The results show that the effect of democracy on levels of political commitm...

Climate change and vector-borne diseases of public health significance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogden, Nicholas H

2017-10-16

There has been much debate as to whether or not climate change will have, or has had, any significant effect on risk from vector-borne diseases. The debate on the former has focused on the degree to which occurrence and levels of risk of vector-borne diseases are determined by climate-dependent or independent factors, while the debate on the latter has focused on whether changes in disease incidence are due to climate at all, and/or are attributable to recent climate change. Here I review possible effects of climate change on vector-borne diseases, methods used to predict these effects and the evidence to date of changes in vector-borne disease risks that can be attributed to recent climate change. Predictions have both over- and underestimated the effects of climate change. Mostly under-estimations of effects are due to a focus only on direct effects of climate on disease ecology while more distal effects on society's capacity to control and prevent vector-borne disease are ignored. There is increasing evidence for possible impacts of recent climate change on some vector-borne diseases but for the most part, observed data series are too short (or non-existent), and impacts of climate-independent factors too great, to confidently attribute changing risk to climate change. © Crown copyright 2017.

iSeeChange: Crowdsourced Climate Change Reporting

Science.gov (United States)

Drapkin, J. K.

2012-12-01

Directly engaging local communities about their climate change experiences has never been more important. As weather and climate become more unpredictable, these experiences provide a baseline for community decisions, developing adaptation strategies, and planning for the future. Typically, climate change is documented in a top-down fashion: a scientist has a question, makes observations, and publishes a study; in the best case scenario, a journalist reports on the results; if there's time, a local anecdote is sought to put the results in a familiar context. iSeeChange, a public media project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports local environmental change in reverse and turns community questions and conversations with scientists into reported stories that promote opportunities to learn about climate change's affects on the environment and daily life. iSeeChange engages residents of the North Fork Valley region of western Colorado in a multiplatform conversation with scientists about how they perceive their environment is changing through the course of a year - season to season. By bringing together public radio, a mobile reporting and cellular engagement strategy, and a custom crowdsourcing multimedia platform, iSeeChange provides a central access point to collect observations (texts, photographs, voice recordings, and video), organize conversations and interviews with scientists, and report stories online and on air. In this way, iSeeChange is building a dynamic crowdsourced reservoir of information that can increase awareness of environmental problems and potentially disseminate useful information about climate change and successful adaptation strategies. Ultimately, by understanding the community's information needs in a localized question-driven context, the iSeeChange platform presents opportunities for the science community to better understand the value of information and develop better ways to tailor information for communities to use

Papers of the CWRA climate change symposium : understanding climate change impacts on Manitoba's water resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

This symposium provided an opportunity for discussions on climate change issues with particular reference to the impacts on Manitoba's water resources. The presentations addressed issues of importance to governments, scientists, academics, managers, consultants and the general public. Topics of discussion ranged from climate change impacts on water quality, wetlands, hydropower, fisheries and drought, to adaptation to climate change. Recent advances in global and regional climate modelling were highlighted along with paleo-environmental indicators of climate change. The objective was to provide a better understanding of the science of climate change. The conference featured 16 presentations of which 1 was indexed separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

From public to private climate change adaptation finance : Adapting finance or financing adaptation?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pauw, W.P.

2017-01-01

Private financing is the latest mark of the privatisation of global governance. The implementation of international agreements in the fields of environment, climate change and development has always been supported by public finance from developed countries. This tradition is broken by a

A Model for Pre-Service Teachers' Climate Change Awareness and Willingness to Act for Pro-Climate Change Friendly Behavior: Adaptation of Awareness to Climate Change Questionnaire

Science.gov (United States)

Dal, Burçkin; Alper, Umut; Özdem-Yilmaz, Yasemin; Öztürk, Nilay; Sönmez, Duygu

2015-01-01

Public awareness of the negative effects of climate change is vital since it leads to collective action for prevention and adaptation. However, investigations on to what extent people are aware of the climate change issue are rare in the literature. The present study reported the adaptation process of awareness to climate change questionnaire into…

A climate of doubts. The weight of uncertainty about climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alex, Bastien

2014-05-01

The author proposes a review of four publications about climate change published in 2012 and 2013. He more particularly focuses on how these publications express how climate change is perceived by the different components of our modern societies, how these perceptions have an influence on the answer to challenges related to this phenomenon, what global warming tells us about mankind ability to (re)act to this major challenge. He notices that any doubt about the reality of climate change is exploited and maintains some confusion, favours the propagation and persistence of popular misbelief such as: population of developing countries will be more impacted by effects of climate change, only rich people can afford interest in environment protection and climate preservation. He outlines that a doubting community will not act, and notices that technological advances, for example geo-engineering or climate engineering, tend to deliberately manipulate the environment to counteract the climate change due to human activity

Selected Translated Abstracts of Chinese-Language Climate Change Publications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cushman, R.M.; Burtis, M.D.

1999-05-01

This report contains English-translated abstracts of important Chinese-language literature concerning global climate change for the years 1995-1998. This body of literature includes the topics of adaptation, ancient climate change, climate variation, the East Asia monsoon, historical climate change, impacts, modeling, and radiation and trace-gas emissions. In addition to the biological citations and abstracts translated into English, this report presents the original citations and abstracts in Chinese. Author and title indexes are included to assist the reader in locating abstracts of particular interest.

Weather anomalies affect Climate Change microblogging intensity

Science.gov (United States)

Molodtsova, T.; Kirilenko, A.

2012-12-01

There is a huge gap between the scientific consensus and public understanding of climate change. Climate change has become a political issue and a "hot" topic in mass media that only adds the complexity to forming the public opinion. Scientists operate in scientific terms, not necessarily understandable by general public, while it is common for people to perceive the latest weather anomaly as an evidence of climate change. In 1998 Hansen et al. introduced a concept of an objectively measured subjective climate change indicator, which can relate public feeling that the climate is changing to the observed meteorological parameters. We tested this concept in a simple example of a temperature-based index, which we related to microblogging activity. Microblogging is a new form of communication in which the users describe their current status in short Internet messages. Twitter (http://twitter.com), is currently the most popular microblogging platform. There are multiple reasons, why this data is particularly valuable to the researches interested in social dynamics: microblogging is widely used to publicize one's opinion with the public; has broad, diverse audience, represented by users from many countries speaking different languages; finally, Twitter contains an enormous number of data, e.g., there were 1,284,579 messages related to climate change from 585,168 users in the January-May data collection. We collected the textual data entries, containing words "climate change" or "global warming" from the 1st of January, 2012. The data was retrieved from the Internet every 20 minutes using a specially developed Python code. Using geolocational information, blog entries originating from the New York urbanized area were selected. These entries, used as a source of public opinion on climate change, were related to the surface temperature, obtained from La Guardia airport meteorological station. We defined the "significant change" in the temperature index as deviation of the

Public perceptions of climate change and energy futures before and after the Fukushima accident: A comparison between Britain and Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poortinga, Wouter; Aoyagi, Midori; Pidgeon, Nick F.

2013-01-01

The threats posed by climate change call for strong action from the international community to limit carbon emissions. Before the Fukushima accident that followed the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011, both Britain and Japan were considering an ambitious expansion of nuclear power as part of their strategy to reduce carbon emissions. However, the accident may have thrown nuclear power as a publicly accep’ energy technology into doubt. This study uses several nationally representative surveys from before and after the Fukushima accident to examine how it may have changed public perceptions of climate change and energy futures in Britain and Japan. The study found that already before the accident the Japanese public were less supportive of nuclear power than the British. While British attitudes have remained remarkably stable over time, the Japanese public appear to have completely lost trust in nuclear safety and regulation, and have become less acceptive of nuclear power even if it would contribute to climate change mitigation or energy security. In Japan the public are now less likely to think that any specific energy source will contribute to a reliable and secure supply of energy. The implications for energy policy are discussed. - highlights: • We report data from 2005 to 2011 of British and Japanese attitudes towards nuclear power and climate change. • The Japanese are less supportive of nuclear power as a solution to climate change than the British. • Public support for and trust in nuclear power has collapsed in Japan after Fukushima. • British public attitudes to nuclear power are remarkably robust in the wake of Fukushima

Risk communication: climate change as a human-health threat, a survey of public perceptions in Malta.

Science.gov (United States)

DeBono, Roberto; Vincenti, Karen; Calleja, Neville

2012-02-01

Scientific evidence shows that climate change is very likely the product of human behaviour and lifestyle. The effects of climate change on human health are diverse in nature and range from direct effects due to extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods and storms, to indirect effects such as those caused by water and food shortages. A telephone survey was conducted between January and February 2009, on a stratified representative random sample of the Maltese population over the age of 18 years (N = 310,819). Five hundred and forty-three individuals successfully participated in the survey giving a response rate of 92.7%. The respondent sample was very similar to the target population by gender (P = 0.977), age (P = 0.767) and district (P = 0.812). The results of the study demonstrate a very strong relationship between the perception of climate change as a threat to health and well-being, support for climate change mitigation policy and a willingness to implement measures to address climate change. The findings of this study show that the perception that climate change may claim lives, cause disease, reduce the standard of living and worsen water shortages, may be the strongest driver behind support for climate change mitigation policy and a willingness to act. It is recommended that, in order to gain more public support, climate change campaigns and risk communication strategies should frame climate change as a threat to human health and general well-being.

Adapting to climate change on Western public lands: addressing the ecological effects of domestic, wild, and feral ungulates.

Science.gov (United States)

Beschta, Robert L; Donahue, Debra L; DellaSala, Dominick A; Rhodes, Jonathan J; Karr, James R; O'Brien, Mary H; Fleischner, Thomas L; Deacon Williams, Cindy

2013-02-01

Climate change affects public land ecosystems and services throughout the American West and these effects are projected to intensify. Even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, adaptation strategies for public lands are needed to reduce anthropogenic stressors of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and to help native species and ecosystems survive in an altered environment. Historical and contemporary livestock production-the most widespread and long-running commercial use of public lands-can alter vegetation, soils, hydrology, and wildlife species composition and abundances in ways that exacerbate the effects of climate change on these resources. Excess abundance of native ungulates (e.g., deer or elk) and feral horses and burros add to these impacts. Although many of these consequences have been studied for decades, the ongoing and impending effects of ungulates in a changing climate require new management strategies for limiting their threats to the long-term supply of ecosystem services on public lands. Removing or reducing livestock across large areas of public land would alleviate a widely recognized and long-term stressor and make these lands less susceptible to the effects of climate change. Where livestock use continues, or where significant densities of wild or feral ungulates occur, management should carefully document the ecological, social, and economic consequences (both costs and benefits) to better ensure management that minimizes ungulate impacts to plant and animal communities, soils, and water resources. Reestablishing apex predators in large, contiguous areas of public land may help mitigate any adverse ecological effects of wild ungulates.

Navigating Negative Conversations in Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Mandia, S. A.; Abraham, J. P.; Dash, J. W.; Ashley, M. C.

2012-12-01

Politically charged public discussions of climate change often lead to polarization as a direct result of many societal, economic, religious and other factors which form opinions. For instance, the general public views climate change as a political discussion rather than a scientific matter. Additionally, many media sources such as websites and mainstream venues and persons have served to promote the "controversy". Scientists who engage in a public discourse of climate change often encounter politically charged environments and audiences. Traditional presentations of the science without attention paid to political, social, or economic matters are likely to worsen the existing divide. An international organization, the Climate Science Rapid Response Team (CSRRT) suggests a strategy that can be used to navigate potentially troublesome situations with divided audiences. This approach can be used during live lecture presentations, and radio, print, or television interviews. The strategy involves identifying alternative motivations for taking action on climate change. The alternative motivations are tailored to the audience and can range from national defense, economic prosperity, religious motivation, patriotism, energy independence, or hunting/fishing reasons. Similar messaging modification can be used to faithfully and accurately convey the importance of taking action on climate change but present the motivations in a way that will be received by the audience.

Geoengineering, climate change scepticism and the 'moral hazard' argument: an experimental study of UK public perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Corner, Adam; Pidgeon, Nick

2014-12-28

Many commentators have expressed concerns that researching and/or developing geoengineering technologies may undermine support for existing climate policies-the so-called moral hazard argument. This argument plays a central role in policy debates about geoengineering. However, there has not yet been a systematic investigation of how members of the public view the moral hazard argument, or whether it impacts on people's beliefs about geoengineering and climate change. In this paper, we describe an online experiment with a representative sample of the UK public, in which participants read one of two arguments (either endorsing or rejecting the idea that geoengineering poses a moral hazard). The argument endorsing the idea of geoengineering as a moral hazard was perceived as more convincing overall. However, people with more sceptical views and those who endorsed 'self-enhancing' values were more likely to agree that the prospect of geoengineering would reduce their motivation to make changes in their own behaviour in response to climate change. The findings suggest that geoengineering is likely to pose a moral hazard for some people more than others, and the implications for engaging the public are discussed.

Ecological public health and climate change policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, George P

2010-01-01

The fact that health and disease are products of a complex interaction of factors has long been recognized in public health circles. More recently, the term 'ecological public health' has been used to characterize an era underpinned by the paradigm that, when it comes to health and well-being, 'everything matters'. The challenge for policy makers is one of navigating this complexity to deliver better health and greater equality in health. Recent work in Scotland has been concerned to develop a strategic approach to environment and health. This seeks to embrace complexity within that agenda and recognize a more subtle relationship between health and place but remain practical and relevant to a more traditional hazard-focused environmental health approach. The Good Places, Better Health initiative is underpinned by a new problem-framing approach using a conceptual model developed for that purpose. This requires consideration of a wider social, behavioural etc, context. The approach is also used to configure the core systems of the strategy which gather relevant intelligence, subject it to a process of evaluation and direct its outputs to a broad policy constituency extending beyond health and environment. This paper highlights that an approach, conceived and developed to deliver better health and greater equality in health through action on physical environment, also speaks to a wider public health agenda. Specifically it offers a way to help bridge a gap between paradigm and policy in public health. The author considers that with development, a systems-based approach with close attention to problem-framing/situational modelling may prove useful in orchestrating what is a necessarily complex policy response to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Public attention to science and political news and support for climate change mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, P. Sol; Nisbet, Erik C.; Myers, Teresa A.

2015-06-01

We examine how attention to science and political news may influence public knowledge, perceived harm, and support for climate mitigation policies. Previous research examining these relationships has not fully accounted for how political ideology shapes the mental processes through which the public interprets media discourses about climate change. We incorporate political ideology and the concept of motivated cognition into our analysis to compare and contrast two prominent models of opinion formation, the scientific literacy model, which posits that disseminating scientific information will move public opinion towards the scientific consensus, and the motivated reasoning model, which posits that individuals will interpret information in a biased manner. Our analysis finds support for both models of opinion formation with key differences across ideological groups. Attention to science news was associated with greater perceptions of harm and knowledge for conservatives, but only additional knowledge for liberals. Supporting the literacy model, greater knowledge was associated with more support for climate mitigation for liberals. In contrast, consistent with motivated reasoning, more knowledgeable conservatives were less supportive of mitigation policy. In addition, attention to political news had a negative association with perceived harm for conservatives but not for liberals.

Climate Change Adaptation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hudecz, Adriána

The European Union ROADEX Project 1998 – 2012 was a trans-national roads co-operation aimed at developing ways for interactive and innovative management of low traffic volume roads throughout the cold climate regions of the Northern Periphery Area of Europe. Its goals were to facilitate co......-operation and research into the common problems of the Northern Periphery. This report is an output of the ROADEX “Implementing Accessibility” project (2009-2012). It gives a summary of the results of research into adaptation measures to combat climate change effects on low volume roads in the Northern Periphery...... causes changes in other climatic variables such as rainfall, humidity and wind speed that impact on the functioning of infrastructure such road networks. This paper discusses the climate changes predicted by the world’s meteorological organisations and considers how these may impact on the public...

Teaching About Climate Change in Medical Education: An Opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

Maxwell, Janie; Blashki, Grant

2016-04-26

Climate change threatens many of the gains in development and health over the last century. However, it could also be a catalyst for a necessary societal transformation to a sustainable and healthy future. Doctors have a crucial role in climate change mitigation and health system adaptation to prepare for emergent health threats and a carbon-constrained future. This paper argues that climate change should be integrated into medical education for three reasons: first, to prepare students for clinical practice in a climate-changing world; secondly, to promote public health and eco-health literacy; and finally, to deepen existing learning and strengthen graduate attributes. This paper builds on existing literature and the authors' experience to outline potential learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment tasks. In the wake of recent progress at the United Nations climate change conference, COP-21, it is hoped that this paper will assist universities to integrate teaching about climate change into medical education. Significance for public healthThere is a strong case for teaching about climate change in medical education. Anthropogenic climate change is accepted by scientists, governments and health authorities internationally. Given the dire implications for human health, climate change is of fundamental relevance to future doctors. Integrating climate change into medical education offers an opportunity for future doctors to develop skills and insights essential for clinical practice and a public health role in a climate-changing world. This echoes a broader call for improved public health literacy among medical graduates. This paper provides medical schools with a rationale and an outline for teaching on climate change.

Climate Generation: Advancing Climate Action through Education, Public Engagement and Youth Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Poppleton, K. L. I.

2017-12-01

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy empowers youth, educators, decision-makers and the public to foster climate literacy and action with the goal of building a more equitable and resilient future. We have over eleven years of experience delivering high-quality K-12 education, public engagement and youth leadership programming, reaching over 75,000 people, 35,000 students and 17,000 educators since 2006. By engaging educators, youth, and the public, we believe that communities can be better positioned to build a resilient and equitable future. For this reason we strive to engage with all these sectors through innovative programming and policy initiatives. Communities are resilient when individuals are connected to each other, resources, and decision-makers. Sharing personal narratives, and highlighting locally relevant solutions are all tools that Climate Generation employs to engage the public. We do this through community wide convenings, as well as sector specific events including at breweries, art fairs, and businesses. Education is also an integral piece for sustained action on climate change. We support educators with a science-based, interdisciplinary model of climate change education that engages all learners, and fosters climate literacy and action. We develop curriculum and offer professional development, encouraging teachers to develop today's students into action-competent citizens. Finally, Climate Generation recognizes the importance of empowering high school youth as a key strategy in transitioning to a just and sustainable future for all. We believe in the inherent genius of youth and know from experience that mentorship fosters powerful youth leadership at the community level, inspiring peers, family members, and local decision-makers to take critical action on climate change solutions. In order to accelerate and implement action on climate change we must take a multi-faceted approach: we are building public will for strong climate action at

Time Scavengers: a Website for the Public to Learn about Climate Change and Evolution Through the Experiences of Scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Fraass, A. J.; Lam, A. R.; Bauer, J.; Bryant, R.; Golder, K.; Hartshorn, K. R.; Hils, J. M.; Limbeck, M.; Sheffield, S. L.

2017-12-01

Climate change and evolution are subjects that are consistently in the public sphere, though as public acceptance and desire to act on these subjects has increased, misinformation has as well. Thus, it is critical that scientists engage the public in discussions on these subjects. Several sites and blogs have attempted to explain these concepts; however, they often focus on one aspect of climate change or evolution, and blogs tend to follow the experiences of one scientist in a specific field. Due to these limitations, we have created a new website, TimeScavengers.blog. The site, maintained by postdocs, graduate students, and avocational scientists, is unique in that it includes static pages that thoroughly explain climate and evolution related topics and includes 5 blog pages that highlight the experiences of the site collaborators. Blog pages include: `Meet the Scientist', dedicated to introducing the public to scientists in many disciplines; `Science Bytes', focusing on research conducted by the site collaborators; `Education & Outreach', highlighting interactions between site collaborators and the public; and `Climate & Paleo News', explaining the relevance of important papers in climate research, paleoceanography, and paleontology and how they increase our understanding of climate change and evolution. The site also includes a `Teaching Resources' page with links to sites with activities related to the content on the website appropriate for K-12 classrooms. The overarching goal of the site is to bridge the gap between scientists and the public through engaging, informational pages and personal experiences in the field, lab, classroom, and community. Current data indicate that 78% of the public find the site through social media platforms and people ages 25-34 are dominantly interacting with the site. 21.7% of users' first interaction (first click once on the homepage) viewed the `Meet the Scientist' blog, 10.2% viewed the climate pages, and 8.4% visited the

Witnesses of climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-11-01

After having evoked the process of climate change, the effect of greenhouse gas emissions, the evolution of average temperatures in France since 1900, and indicated the various interactions and impacts of climate change regarding air quality, water resources, food supply, degradation and loss of biodiversity, deforestation, desertification, this publication, while quoting various testimonies (from a mountain refuge guardian, a wine maker, a guide in La Reunion, an IFREMER bio-statistician engineer, and a representative of health professionals), describes the various noticed impacts of climate change on the environment in mountain chains, on agriculture, on sea level rise, on overseas biodiversity, and on health

Adapting to the Changing Climate: An Assessment of Local Health Department Preparations for Climate Change-Related Health Threats, 2008-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Roser-Renouf, Connie; Maibach, Edward W; Li, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Climate change poses a major public health threat. A survey of U.S. local health department directors in 2008 found widespread recognition of the threat, but limited adaptive capacity, due to perceived lack of expertise and other resources. We assessed changes between 2008 and 2012 in local public health departments' preparedness for the public health threats of climate change, in light of increasing national polarization on the issue, and widespread funding cutbacks for public health. A geographically representative online survey of directors of local public health departments was conducted in 2011-2012 (N = 174; response rate = 50%), and compared to the 2008 telephone survey results (N = 133; response rate = 61%). Significant polarization had occurred: more respondents in 2012 were certain that the threat of local climate change impacts does/does not exist, and fewer were unsure. Roughly 10% said it is not a threat, compared to 1% in 2008. Adaptation capacity decreased in several areas: perceived departmental expertise in climate change risk assessment; departmental prioritization of adaptation; and the number of adaptation-related programs and services departments provided. In 2008, directors' perceptions of local impacts predicted the number of adaptation-related programs and services their departments offered, but in 2012, funding predicted programming and directors' impact perceptions did not. This suggests that budgets were constraining directors' ability to respond to local climate change-related health threats. Results also suggest that departmental expertise may mitigate funding constraints. Strategies for overcoming these obstacles to local public health departments' preparations for climate change are discussed.

The Stimuli-Actions-Effects-Responses (SAER)-framework for exploring perceived relationships between private and public climate change adaptation in agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitter, Hermine; Schönhart, Martin; Larcher, Manuela; Schmid, Erwin

2018-03-01

Empirical findings on actors' roles and responsibilities in the climate change adaptation process are rare even though cooperation between private and public actors is perceived important to foster adaptation in agriculture. We therefore developed the framework SAER (Stimuli-Actions-Effects-Responses) to investigate perceived relationships between private and public climate change adaptation in agriculture at regional scale. In particular, we explore agricultural experts' perceptions on (i) climatic and non-climatic factors stimulating private adaptation, (ii) farm adaption actions, (iii) potential on-farm and off-farm effects from adaptation, and (iv) the relationships between private and public adaptation. The SAER-framework is built on a comprehensive literature review and empirical findings from semi-structured interviews with agricultural experts from two case study regions in Austria. We find that private adaptation is perceived as incremental, systemic or transformational. It is typically stimulated by a mix of bio-physical and socio-economic on-farm and off-farm factors. Stimulating factors related to climate change are perceived of highest relevance for systemic and transformational adaptation whereas already implemented adaptation is mostly perceived to be incremental. Perceived effects of private adaptation are related to the environment, weather and climate, quality and quantity of agricultural products as well as human, social and economic resources. Our results also show that public adaptation can influence factors stimulating private adaptation as well as adaptation effects through the design and development of the legal, policy and organizational environment as well as the provision of educational, informational, financial, and technical infrastructure. Hence, facilitating existing and new collaborations between private and public actors may enable farmers to adapt effectively to climate change. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mid-term evaluation of the Climate Change Action Fund : Public education and outreach (PEO) Block

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-11-01

In February 1998, the Government of Canada established the Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF) to assist Canada in meeting its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The CCAF managed a budget of 150 million dollars over three years, and the Public Education and Outreach (PEO) Block was allocated 30 million dollars of that total for its operations. Its mandate was to increase public awareness and understanding on the topic of climate change, as well as providing the required information to effect reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change. An evaluation into this program was conducted, and it covered the period September 2000 to January 20, 2001. To date, 152 projects have been approved, which represents an investment of approximately 17.5 million dollars. Approximately 6 million dollars have been spent on the awareness component, while government communication activities used approximately 3.1 million dollars. Staff and project management fees in support of the program account for the remaining funds. This report addressed the performance to date in meeting the objectives, and also included recommendations for improved effectiveness. PEO files and records, a report entitled Interim review of the Climate Change Action Fund PEO Program, interviews with Departmental representatives, and interviews with external stakeholder groups formed the basis for the findings and recommendations. It was determined that future direction represents the most critical issue facing the PEO block. 1 tab

Public Health and Climate Change Adaptation at the Federal Level: One Agency’s Response to Executive Order 13514

Science.gov (United States)

Schramm, Paul J.; Luber, George

2014-01-01

Climate change will likely have adverse human health effects that require federal agency involvement in adaptation activities. In 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. The order required federal agencies to develop and implement climate change adaptation plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of a larger Department of Health and Human Services response to climate change, is developing such plans. We provide background on Executive Orders, outline tenets of climate change adaptation, discuss public health adaptation planning at both the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, and outline possible future CDC efforts. We also consider how these activities may be better integrated with other adaptation activities that manage emerging health threats posed by climate change. PMID:24432931

Climate Signals: An On-Line Digital Platform for Mapping Climate Change Impacts in Real Time

Science.gov (United States)

Cutting, H.

2016-12-01

Climate Signals is an on-line digital platform for cataloging and mapping the impacts of climate change. The CS platform specifies and details the chains of connections between greenhouse gas emissions and individual climate events. Currently in open-beta release, the platform is designed to to engage and serve the general public, news media, and policy-makers, particularly in real-time during extreme climate events. Climate Signals consists of a curated relational database of events and their links to climate change, a mapping engine, and a gallery of climate change monitors offering real-time data. For each event in the database, an infographic engine provides a custom attribution "tree" that illustrates the connections to climate change. In addition, links to key contextual resources are aggregated and curated for each event. All event records are fully annotated with detailed source citations and corresponding hyper links. The system of attribution used to link events to climate change in real-time is detailed here. This open-beta release is offered for public user testing and engagement. Launched in May 2016, the operation of this platform offers lessons for public engagement in climate change impacts.

Climate change: lived experience, policy and public action

OpenAIRE

Abbott, Dina; Wilson, Gordon

2014-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of lived experiences, as complementary knowledge to that provided by the sciences, for policy and intervention on climate change.\\ud Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper draws on several strands within the context of climate change: knowledge and power; human engagement; the meaning of “lived experience” (and its association with “local/indigenous knowledge”); its capture through interdisciplinary and transdiscipl...

Climate, Companies, and Public Policy: How Transparent Is the Private Sector in Reporting Climate Policy Influence?

Science.gov (United States)

Goldman, G. T.; Carlson, C.

2014-12-01

To enact effective policies to address climate change, decision makers need both scientific and political support. One major barrier to U.S. climate policy enactment has been the opposition of private sector actors to proposed policies and to climate science itself. Increasingly, the public and investors are holding companies accountable for their actions around climate change—including political activies, affiliations with trade groups, and involvement with climate science. However, this accountability is inhibited by the prominent role that trade associations have played in climate policy debates in recent years. The opaque nature of such groups is problematic, as it inhibits the public from understanding who is obstructing progress on addressing climate change, and in some cases, impedes the public's climate literacy. Voluntary climate reporting can yield some information on companies' climate engagement and demonstrates the need for greater transparency in corporate political activities around climate change. We analyze CDP climate reporting data from 1,824 companies to assess the degree to which corporate actors disclosed their political influence on climate policies through their trade associations. Results demonstrate the limitations of voluntary reporting and the extent to which companies utilize their trade associations to influence climate change policy debates without being held accountable for these positions. Notably, many companies failed to acknowledge their board seat on trade groups with significant climate policy engagement. Of those that did acknowledge their board membership, some claimed not to agree with their trade associations' positions on climate change. These results raise questions about who trade groups are representing when they challenge the science or obstruct policies to address climate change. Recommendations for overcoming this barrier to informed decision making to address climate change will be discussed.

Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat-And How to Counter It

Science.gov (United States)

McKinley, Galen A.

2008-10-01

The Earth's climate is changing due to human activities. Recent polls suggest that the U.S. public generally recognizes this fact, and the efforts that led the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former U.S. vice president Al Gore to win the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize have played no small role in bringing most of the public to realize what scientists have been discussing for years. Yet aside from distorted Hollywood movie accounts such as The Day After Tomorrow, the public knows little about the potential for abrupt change in the climate system. With support from climate science philanthropist Gary Comer, climate scientist Wally Broecker has teamed with science writer Robert Kunzig in this book to bring abrupt climate change into public view. They do this elegantly and convincingly, making the first 12 chapters quite enjoyable.

Selected Translated Abstracts of Chinese-Language Climate Change Publications; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cushman, R.M.; Burtis, M.D.

1999-01-01

This report contains English-translated abstracts of important Chinese-language literature concerning global climate change for the years 1995-1998. This body of literature includes the topics of adaptation, ancient climate change, climate variation, the East Asia monsoon, historical climate change, impacts, modeling, and radiation and trace-gas emissions. In addition to the biological citations and abstracts translated into English, this report presents the original citations and abstracts in Chinese. Author and title indexes are included to assist the reader in locating abstracts of particular interest

How Five Master Teachers Teach about Climate Chang

Science.gov (United States)

Bloch, L.

2015-12-01

The AGU Position Statement, "Human-Induced Climate Change Requires Urgent Action," calls on scientists to "[work] with stakeholders to identify relevant information, and [to convey] understanding clearly and accurately, both to decision makers and to the general public". Everyday, K-12 teachers communicate with an important segment of the general public, and they represent important stakeholders with unique needs. The terms 'global warming', 'greenhouse effect', and 'climate change' appear nowhere in the 1996 National Science Education Standards, but under the Next Generation Science Standards, millions of teachers- most of whom have little to no experience teaching about climate change- will be required to cover the topic. This presentation discusses research conducted with five veteran public school teachers, each of whom has been teaching about climate change for many years. The group comprises three high school teachers, a middle school teacher, and an elementary school teacher. The study examined: 1) What these teachers teach about climate change; 2) How they teach about climate change; 3) What resources they use in teaching and learning about climate change; and 4) How they think the scientific community can support teachers in their efforts to teach about climate change. The teachers varied in their teaching practices and in their conceptions of 'climate change', but they all said that the academic community can support climate change education by developing locally relevant educational resources. Scientists working with K-12 teachers can build on the work of these master teachers, and attendees can access detailed descriptions of all of the lessons and the associated learning materials.

Chemistry and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernier, Jean-Claude; Brasseur, Guy; Brechet, Yves; Candel, Sebastien; Cazenave, Anny; Courtillot, Vincent; Fontecave, Marc; Garnier, Emmanuel; Goebel, Philippe; Legrand, Jack; Legrand, Michel; Le Treut, Herve; Mauberger, Pascal; Dinh-Audouin, Minh-Thu; Olivier, Daniele; Rigny, Paul; Bigot, Bernard

2016-01-01

In its first part, this collective publication addresses the decennial and centuries-old variations of climate: perspectives and implications of climate change for the 21. century, questions remaining about the understanding of climate change from its sources to its modelling, extreme climate variations and societies during the last millennium. The contributions of the second part outline how chemistry is a tool to study climate change: ice chemistry as an archive of our past environment, observations and predictions on sea level rise, relationship between atmosphere chemistry and climate. The third set of contributions discusses the transformation of the energy system for a cleaner atmosphere and the management of the climate risk: the chemical processing of CO_2, actions of chemical companies to support the struggle against climate change, relationship between barrel price and renewable energies, relationship between grid complexity and green energy. The last part outlines the role chemistry can have to be able to do without fossil fuels: chemistry in front of challenges of transformation of the energy system, the use of micro-algae, the use of hydrogen as a vector of energy transition

Changing Climates @ Colorado State: 100 (Multidisciplinary) Views of Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, S.; Calderazzo, J.; Changing Climates, Cmmap Education; Diversity Team

2011-12-01

We would like to talk about a multidisciplinary education and outreach program we co-direct at Colorado State University, with support from an NSF-funded STC, CMMAP, the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes. We are working to raise public literacy about climate change by providing information that is high quality, up to date, thoroughly multidisciplinary, and easy for non-specialists to understand. Our primary audiences are college-level students, their teachers, and the general public. Our motto is Climate Change is Everybody's Business. To encourage and help our faculty infuse climate-change content into their courses, we have organized some 115 talks given by as many different speakers-speakers drawn from 28 academic departments, all 8 colleges at CSU, and numerous other entities from campus, the community, and farther afield. We began with a faculty-teaching-faculty series and then broadened our attentions to the whole campus and surrounding community. Some talks have been for narrowly focused audiences such as extension agents who work on energy, but most are for more eclectic groups of students, staff, faculty, and citizens. We count heads at most events, and our current total is roughly 6,000. We have created a website (http://changingclimates.colostate.edu) that includes videotapes of many of these talks, short videos we have created, and annotated sources that we judge to be accurate, interesting, clearly written, and aimed at non-specialists, including books, articles and essays, websites, and a few items specifically for college teachers (such as syllabi). Pages of the website focus on such topics as how the climate works / how it changes; what's happening / what might happen; natural ecosystems; agriculture; impacts on people; responses from ethics, art, literature; communication; daily life; policy; energy; and-pulling all the pieces together-the big picture. We have begun working on a new series of very short videos that can be

Public Perception of Climate Change: The Importance of Knowledge and Cultural Worldviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jing; Visschers, Vivianne H M; Siegrist, Michael

2015-12-01

The importance of knowledge for lay people's climate change concerns has been questioned in recent years, as it had been suggested that cultural values are stronger predictors of concern about climate change than knowledge. Studies that simultaneously measured knowledge related to climate change and cultural values have, however, been missing. We conducted a mail survey in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (N = 1,065). Results suggested that cultural worldviews and climate-related knowledge were significantly related with people's concern about climate change. Also, cultural worldviews and climate-relevant knowledge appeared important for people's willingness to change behaviors and to accept climate change policies. In addition, different types of knowledge were found to have different impacts on people's concern about climate change, their willingness to change behaviors, and their acceptance of policies about climate change. Specifically, causal knowledge significantly increased concern about climate change and willingness to support climate-friendly policies. We therefore concluded that risk communication should focus on causal knowledge, provided this knowledge does not threaten cultural values. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Climate change and vector-borne diseases: what are the implications for public health research and policy?

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell-Lendrum, Diarmid; Manga, Lucien; Bagayoko, Magaran; Sommerfeld, Johannes

2015-01-01

Vector-borne diseases continue to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and cause epidemics that disrupt health security and cause wider socioeconomic impacts around the world. All are sensitive in different ways to weather and climate conditions, so that the ongoing trends of increasing temperature and more variable weather threaten to undermine recent global progress against these diseases. Here, we review the current state of the global public health effort to address this challenge, and outline related initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Much of the debate to date has centred on attribution of past changes in disease rates to climate change, and the use of scenario-based models to project future changes in risk for specific diseases. While these can give useful indications, the unavoidable uncertainty in such analyses, and contingency on other socioeconomic and public health determinants in the past or future, limit their utility as decision-support tools. For operational health agencies, the most pressing need is the strengthening of current disease control efforts to bring down current disease rates and manage short-term climate risks, which will, in turn, increase resilience to long-term climate change. The WHO and partner agencies are working through a range of programmes to (i) ensure political support and financial investment in preventive and curative interventions to bring down current disease burdens; (ii) promote a comprehensive approach to climate risk management; (iii) support applied research, through definition of global and regional research agendas, and targeted research initiatives on priority diseases and population groups. PMID:25688013

Working with invalid boundary conditions: lessons from the field for communicating about climate change with public audiences

Science.gov (United States)

Gunther, A.

2015-12-01

There is an ongoing need to communicate with public audiences about climate science, current and projected impacts, the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the requirement to prepare for changes that are likely unavoidable. It is essential that scientists are engaged and active in this effort. Scientists can be more effective communicators about climate change to non-scientific audiences if we recognize that some of the normal "boundary conditions" under which we operate do not need to apply. From how we are trained to how we think about our audience, there are some specific skills and practices that allow us to be more effective communicators. The author will review concepts for making our communication more effective based upon his experience from over 60 presentations about climate change to public audiences. These include expressing how your knowledge makes you feel, anticipating (and accepting) questions unconstrained by physics, respecting beliefs and values while separating them from evidence, and using the history of climate science to provide a compelling narrative. Proper attention to presentation structure (particularly an opening statement), speaking techniques for audience engagement, and effective use of presentation software are also important.

Modeling the Impacts of Global Climate and Regional Land Use Change on Regional Climate, Air Quality and Public Health in the New York Metropolitan Region

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, J. E.; Knowlton, K. M.; Kinney, P. L.

2002-12-01

There is an imminent need to downscale the global climate models used by international consortiums like the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to predict the future regional impacts of climate change. To meet this need, a "place-based" climate model that makes specific regional projections about future environmental conditions local inhabitants could face is being created by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, in collaboration with other researchers and universities, for New York City and the 31 surrounding counties. This presentation describes the design and initial results of this modeling study, aimed at simulating the effects of global climate change and regional land use change on climate and air quality over the northeastern United States in order to project the associated public health impacts in the region. Heat waves and elevated concentrations of ozone and fine particles are significant current public health stressors in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Climate and Health Project is linking human dimension and natural sciences models to assess the potential for future public health impacts from heat stress and air quality, and yield improved tools for assessing climate change impacts. The model will be applied to the NY metropolitan east coast region. The following questions will be addressed: 1. What changes in the frequency and severity of extreme heat events are likely to occur over the next 80 years due to a range of possible scenarios of land use and land cover (LU/LC) and climate change in the region? 2. How might the frequency and severity of episodic concentrations of ozone (O3) and airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 æm in diameter (PM2.5) change over the next 80 years due to a range of possible scenarios of land use and climate change in the metropolitan region? 3. What is the range of possible human health impacts of these changes in the region? 4. How might projected future human

Assessing ExxonMobil's Climate Change Communications (1977-2014)

Science.gov (United States)

Supran, G.; Oreskes, N.

2017-12-01

Coal, oil, and gas companies have operated - and continue to operate - across myriad facets of the climate problem: scientific, political, and public. Efforts to engage the fossil fuel industry in addressing climate change should therefore be informed by this broad historical context. In this paper, we present an empirical document-by-document textual content analysis and comparison of 187 diverse climate change communications from ExxonMobil spanning 1977 to 2014, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications, internal company documents, and paid, editorial-style advertisements ("advertorials") in The New York Times. We examine whether these communications sent consistent messages about the state of climate science and its implications - specifically, we compare their positions on climate change as real, human-caused, serious, and solvable. In all four cases, we find that as documents become more publicly accessible, they increasingly communicate doubt. That is, ExxonMobil contributed to advancing climate science - by way of its scientists' academic publications - but promoted doubt about it in advertorials. Our findings shed light on one oil and gas company's multivalent strategic responses to climate change. They offer a cautionary tale against myopic engagement with the fossil fuel industry, demonstrating the importance of evaluating the full spectrum of a company's claims and activities.

Potential Impacts of Climate Change in Kenya

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogola, J.S.; Abira, M.A.; Awuor, V.O.

1997-01-01

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), climate change is attributed directly or indirectly to human activities that alter the composition of the global atmosphere. It is a phenomenon that is still inadequately understood by the general public. Planners, policy makers and even within institutions of learning, but one which is bound to affect our environment and development activities. There is therefore need for information dissemination, systematic research, policy formulation, and development of strategies for managing climate change. The book is divided into five parts, Part I presents basic information on climate change; Part II looks at climatic change and natural resources; Part III discusses implications of climate change; Part IV presents ethical issues related to climatic change; and Part V deals with responses to climate change

'Changing climate, changing health, changing stories' profile: using an EcoHealth approach to explore impacts of climate change on inuit health.

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, S L; Edge, V L; Cunsolo Willox, A

2012-03-01

Global climate change and its impact on public health exemplify the challenge of managing complexity and uncertainty in health research. The Canadian North is currently experiencing dramatic shifts in climate, resulting in environmental changes which impact Inuit livelihoods, cultural practices, and health. For researchers investigating potential climate change impacts on Inuit health, it has become clear that comprehensive and meaningful research outcomes depend on taking a systemic and transdisciplinary approach that engages local citizens in project design, data collection, and analysis. While it is increasingly recognised that using approaches that embrace complexity is a necessity in public health, mobilizing such approaches from theory into practice can be challenging. In 2009, the Rigolet Inuit Community Government in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada partnered with a transdisciplinary team of researchers, health practitioners, and community storytelling facilitators to create the Changing Climate, Changing Health, Changing Stories project, aimed at developing a multi-media participatory, community-run methodological strategy to gather locally appropriate and meaningful data to explore climate-health relationships. The goal of this profile paper is to describe how an EcoHealth approach guided by principles of transdisciplinarity, community participation, and social equity was used to plan and implement this climate-health research project. An overview of the project, including project development, research methods, project outcomes to date, and challenges encountered, is presented. Though introduced in this one case study, the processes, methods, and lessons learned are broadly applicable to researchers and communities interested in implementing EcoHealth approaches in community-based research.

Sciencetogo.Org: Using Humor to Engage a Public Audience with the Serious Issue of Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Chen, R. F.; Rabkin, D.; Wilson, R.

2014-12-01

A team of educators, scientists, and communication experts from multiple universities as well as a Science museum will report on the impact of ScienceToGo.org, which is an Out of Home Multi-Media (OHMM) exhibit targeting adults riding a major subway system. The campaign's goal is to design, implement, and study the efficacy of an OHMM model for free choice science learning about our changing climate. Subway riders represent a diverse and captive audience with most of them spending an average of one hour a day in the subway system. Through the use of specially designed OHMM such as train placards, platform posters, and virtual resources the campaign engages a potential audience of 500,000 riders/day with opportunities to learn climate change science informally. The primary goal of the ScienceToGo.org campaign is to engage, entertain, and educate the adult subway riding community in major U.S. city about climate change as a real, relevant, and solvable local challenge. A naturalistic quasi-experimental inquiry employing a mixed methodology approach best describes our research design with half of the subway system exposed to the project signage (experimental group) and the other half not being exposed to the project signage (control group). To identify possible outcomes, data was collected in the several forms: survey, analytic data associated with website, social media, web app, focus groups, and observations. This campaign is an example of how an individual's daily routine may be enhanced with an informal science learning opportunity. We see an urgent need to improve both the public's engagement with climate change science and to the profile of climate change science in formal education settings. The campaign makes deliberate use of humor and fun to engage a public and diverse audience with the serious issue of climate change. The research that will be presented will reveal some of the strengths and weaknesses of this strategy when communicating science to a diverse

Informing Public Perceptions About Climate Change: A 'Mental Models' Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi

2017-10-01

As the specter of climate change looms on the horizon, people will face complex decisions about whether to support climate change policies and how to cope with climate change impacts on their lives. Without some grasp of the relevant science, they may find it hard to make informed decisions. Climate experts therefore face the ethical need to effectively communicate to non-expert audiences. Unfortunately, climate experts may inadvertently violate the maxims of effective communication, which require sharing communications that are truthful, brief, relevant, clear, and tested for effectiveness. Here, we discuss the 'mental models' approach towards developing communications, which aims to help experts to meet the maxims of effective communications, and to better inform the judgments and decisions of non-expert audiences.

Can Knowledge Deficit Explain Societal Perception of Climate Change Risk?

Science.gov (United States)

Mitra, R.; McNeal, K.; Bondell, H.

2014-12-01

Climate change literacy efforts have had a rough journey in the past decade. Although scientists have become increasingly convinced about anthropological climate change, change in public opinion has been underwhelming. The unexplained gap between scientific consensus and public opinion has made this topic an important research area in the realm of public understanding of science. Recent research on climate change risk perception (CCRP) has advanced an intriguing hypothesis, namely, cultural cognition thesis (CCT), which posits that the public has adequate knowledge to understand climate change science but people tend to use this knowledge solely to promote their culturally motivated view-point of climate change. This talk provides evidence to demonstrate that despite culture playing a significant role in influencing CCRP, knowledge deficiency remains a persistent problem in our society and contributes to the aforementioned gap. However, such deficits can remain undiagnosed due to limitations of survey design.

Worrying about climate change: is it responsible to promote public debate?

OpenAIRE

Berry, Helen L.; Peel, Dominic

2015-01-01

Some fear that provoking widespread worry about climate change may harm mental health. The Regional Wellbeing Survey, a large study of health, well-being and life in rural and regional Australia, examined climate change worry and attitudes. Most respondents were worried about climate change and agreed that fossil fuel use causes global warming, but there was no evidence to suggest that worry about climate change is linked to mental health in the general population. Respectful, calm, considere...

Business Leadership in Global Climate Change Responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Esty, Daniel C; Bell, Michelle L

2018-04-01

In the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, 195 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in recognition of the scientific consensus on the consequences of climate change, including substantial public health burdens. In June 2017, however, US president Donald Trump announced that the United States would not implement the Paris Agreement. We highlight the business community's backing for climate change action in the United States. Just as the US federal government is backing away from its Paris commitments, many corporate executives are recognizing the need to address the greenhouse gas emissions of their companies and the business logic of strong environmental, social, and governance practices more generally. We conclude that climate change could emerge as an issue on which the business and public health communities might align and provide leadership.

Risk communication, public engagement, and climate change: a role for emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Roeser, Sabine

2012-06-01

This article discusses the potential role that emotions might play in enticing a lifestyle that diminishes climate change. Climate change is an important challenge for society. There is a growing consensus that climate change is due to our behavior, but few people are willing to significantly adapt their lifestyle. Empirical studies show that people lack a sense of urgency: they experience climate change as a problem that affects people in distant places and in a far future. Several scholars have claimed that emotions might be a necessary tool in communication about climate change. This article sketches a theoretical framework that supports this hypothesis, drawing on insights from the ethics of risk and the philosophy of emotions. It has been shown by various scholars that emotions are important determinants in risk perception. However, emotions are generally considered to be irrational states and are hence excluded from communication and political decision making about risky technologies and climate change, or they are used instrumentally to create support for a position. However, the literature on the ethics of risk shows that the dominant, technocratic approach to risk misses the normative-ethical dimension that is inherent to decisions about acceptable risk. Emotion research shows that emotions are necessary for practical and moral decision making. These insights can be applied to communication about climate change. Emotions are necessary for understanding the moral impact of the risks of climate change, and they also paradigmatically provide for motivation. Emotions might be the missing link in effective communication about climate change. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

Climate change and One Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Zinsstag, Jakob; Crump, Lisa; Schelling, Esther; Hattendorf, Jan; Maidane, Yahya Osman; Ali, Kadra Osman; Muhummed, Abdifatah; Umer, Abdurezak Adem; Aliyi, Ferzua; Nooh, Faisal; Abdikadir, Mohammed Ibrahim; Ali, Seid Mohammed; Hartinger, Stella; Mäusezahl, Daniel; de White, Monica Berger Gonzalez; Cordon-Rosales, Celia; Castillo, Danilo Alvarez; McCracken, John; Abakar, Fayiz; Cercamondi, Colin; Emmenegger, Sandro; Maier, Edith; Karanja, Simon; Bolon, Isabelle; de Castañeda, Rafael Ruiz; Bonfoh, Bassirou; Tschopp, Rea; Probst-Hensch, Nicole; Cissé, Guéladio

2018-06-01

The journal The Lancet recently published a countdown on health and climate change. Attention was focused solely on humans. However, animals, including wildlife, livestock and pets, may also be impacted by climate change. Complementary to the high relevance of awareness rising for protecting humans against climate change, here we present a One Health approach, which aims at the simultaneous protection of humans, animals and the environment from climate change impacts (climate change adaptation). We postulate that integrated approaches save human and animal lives and reduce costs when compared to public and animal health sectors working separately. A One Health approach to climate change adaptation may significantly contribute to food security with emphasis on animal source foods, extensive livestock systems, particularly ruminant livestock, environmental sanitation, and steps towards regional and global integrated syndromic surveillance and response systems. The cost of outbreaks of emerging vector-borne zoonotic pathogens may be much lower if they are detected early in the vector or in livestock rather than later in humans. Therefore, integrated community-based surveillance of zoonoses is a promising avenue to reduce health effects of climate change.

Kyoto or non-Kyoto - people or politics: results of recent public opinion surveys on energy and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ashworth, Peta; Gardner, John; Littleboy, Anna

2007-01-01

Full text: We present the results of a survey of an Australian public opinion survey in the area of climate change and energy technologies and compare the results with similar studies conducted in the other major non-Kyoto-adherent party, the United States, as well as to Kyoto-adherent countries including the UK, Japan, Sweden and Spain. We explore some of the differences and similarities in attitudes and understandings. In our survey, Australians place environment, health care and petrol prices as the most important issues facing their country, while in America it is terrorism, health care and the economy and in the UK it is asylum seekers, crime and health care. In many other areas, the differences are considerably smaller and there are some remarkable similarities. Whereas climate change is increasingly cited as the leading environmental issue in most countries surveyed, in Australia, climate change is second to water availability as the top environmental concern. The study examines where climate change and energy technologies fit within these broader national and environmental priorities and identifies the general public's preferred solutions. We find clear support in Australia and the other countries surveyed for renewable energy technologies, particularly solar energy and to a lesser extent wind and biomass energy. We also find considerable disagreement in all countries regarding the future of nuclear power as well as with regard to carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies (albeit the latter with much larger uncertainty). The paper also explores the current knowledge levels of the general public in a number of countries about carbon dioxide emissions and how much as individuals, they are prepared to pay to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We find that, in general, at a more detailed level in terms of both attitudes and understandings of energy and climate issues there is considerable agreement across disparate countries Gudged on their national

Conservation and adaptation to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooke, Cassandra

2008-12-01

The need to adapt to climate change has become increasingly apparent, and many believe the practice of biodiversity conservation will need to alter to face this challenge. Conservation organizations are eager to determine how they should adapt their practices to climate change. This involves asking the fundamental question of what adaptation to climate change means. Most studies on climate change and conservation, if they consider adaptation at all, assume it is equivalent to the ability of species to adapt naturally to climate change as stated in Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Adaptation, however, can refer to an array of activities that range from natural adaptation, at one end of the spectrum, to sustainability science in coupled human and natural systems at the other. Most conservation organizations deal with complex systems in which adaptation to climate change involves making decisions on priorities for biodiversity conservation in the face of dynamic risks and involving the public in these decisions. Discursive methods such as analytic deliberation are useful for integrating scientific knowledge with public perceptions and values, particularly when large uncertainties and risks are involved. The use of scenarios in conservation planning is a useful way to build shared understanding at the science-policy interface. Similarly, boundary organizations-organizations or institutions that bridge different scales or mediate the relationship between science and policy-could prove useful for managing the transdisciplinary nature of adaptation to climate change, providing communication and brokerage services and helping to build adaptive capacity. The fact that some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are active across the areas of science, policy, and practice makes them well placed to fulfill this role in integrated assessments of biodiversity conservation and adaptation to climate change.

Public Perception of Climate Risk: The Case of Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Voskaki, Asimina; Tsermenidis, Konstantinos

2015-04-01

Climate change is generally considered as one of the greatest challenges our world is facing. In the case of Greece climatic change seems to be associated with sea level rise, increase in temperature, variation in precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. As a result of climate pattern changes a series of consequences are expected in areas involving build environment, infrastructures, health and various sectors of the economy. Even though climate change is probably going to affect Greece in terms of human welfare and economic growth, public perception and attitude do not always identify it as the most important, amongst others, environmental area of concern, or compared to various socio-economic issues. Considering that topics related to climate change involve a certain degree of uncertainty public perception seems to be important when dealing with adaptation strategies to manage or prevent risks from climate change impact and therefore people's reaction to risks seem to be an issue of great importance in future policy planning and implementation. The key issue of this paper is to investigate and analyse public perception in Greece as regards to climate change risk. Through a questionnaire survey this research investigates people's understanding, specific knowledge, opinion, awareness, emotions, behavior with regards to climate change risks and their willingness to pay in order to minimize or prevent risk. In addition, it examines people's willingness to alter current lifestyle and adapt to a changing climate. The information derived from survey data concern the topics and the perceived importance of the causes of the climate change between certain groups of people; the analysis of the data is focused on the correlation between perceived risk and knowledge about the issues involved. Rather than applying a specific technique extensively, we choose to deploy a number of methodologies with which we are able to draw different aspects from the data. To this

Climate change and vector-borne diseases: what are the implications for public health research and policy?

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell-Lendrum, Diarmid; Manga, Lucien; Bagayoko, Magaran; Sommerfeld, Johannes

2015-04-05

Vector-borne diseases continue to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and cause epidemics that disrupt health security and cause wider socioeconomic impacts around the world. All are sensitive in different ways to weather and climate conditions, so that the ongoing trends of increasing temperature and more variable weather threaten to undermine recent global progress against these diseases. Here, we review the current state of the global public health effort to address this challenge, and outline related initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Much of the debate to date has centred on attribution of past changes in disease rates to climate change, and the use of scenario-based models to project future changes in risk for specific diseases. While these can give useful indications, the unavoidable uncertainty in such analyses, and contingency on other socioeconomic and public health determinants in the past or future, limit their utility as decision-support tools. For operational health agencies, the most pressing need is the strengthening of current disease control efforts to bring down current disease rates and manage short-term climate risks, which will, in turn, increase resilience to long-term climate change. The WHO and partner agencies are working through a range of programmes to (i) ensure political support and financial investment in preventive and curative interventions to bring down current disease burdens; (ii) promote a comprehensive approach to climate risk management; (iii) support applied research, through definition of global and regional research agendas, and targeted research initiatives on priority diseases and population groups. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

ClimatePad: Enabling public exploration of climate data

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, J. E.; Chapman, W. L.

2012-12-01

Informal learners interested in climate issues can find a wealth of information in the print and online media related to climate and climate change. Throughout these resources, the equal use of generic terms like 'global warming' and 'climate change' suggest a level of nuance in the science that is not easy to convey in this conventional media. Perhaps more than any other discipline, climate literacy has the most potential to be enhanced via the process of cognitive construction and reconstruction, rather than simple transmission of knowledge. Constructionism suggests that meaningful learning happens most effectively if the learner is actively engaged in constructing a product in the real world rather than absorbing information passively. Recent technological innovations have introduced mobile computing devices with sufficient power to do serious data analysis. The potential of these devices to augment climate literacy by turning citizens into scientists has yet to be exploited. We introduce ClimatePad, an iPad application that permits students and public to actively browse climate datasets, construct trends, plot time series, create composite differences and view animations of real-world climate data. Interactions with the ClimatePad permits varying the starting and ending dates of trends and differences. Climate analysis maps and animations can be customized with different color palettes, enticing the user to delve into and absorb the subtleties of the regional and temporal variations of the recent climate record. Finally, user-generated climate visualizations created with ClimatePad can be emailed to friends and shared via Facebook, entraining even more active learners.

Risk perceptions and public debates on climate change: a conceptualisation based on the theory of a functionally-differentiated society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Rhomberg

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Mass media and its mechanisms of production and selection play a crucial role in the definition of climate change risks. Different form of logic in the political, scientific and media systems are vital aspects in the public debate on this issue. A theoretical analysis of these aspects needs a framework in terms of social theory: Luhmann’s concept of a functionally-differentiated society and the mechanisms of structural couplings could help to understand the relations and interplay of these systems in the climate-debate. Based on this framework and various empirical studies, this paper suggests: different logics lead to different climate-definitions in science, politics and mass media. Climate change became interesting, but not until it was located in the political decision-making process. Climate issues become publicly interesting, when they are clear, contentious and can be linked to Elite-Persons. In contrast to scientific communication, news media make great efforts to be clear and definite in their communications.

Adaptability and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sprague, M.W.

1991-01-01

The potential social, economic and environmental impacts of climate change are reviewed, with emphasis on agricultural implications. Impact analyses must be done on the scale of watersheds or river basins. For agriculture, climate change effects on water resources are likely to be more important than temperature changes, and climatic variability is also equally important. Another set of critical climatic variables are the frequencies, magnitudes and timing of extreme events such as floods, droughts, etc. A carbon dioxide enriched atmosphere will increase water use efficiency and confer increased tolerance to drought, salinity and air pollution. Better understanding and accounting is required for the effects of increased carbon dioxide on all plant life, including crops. Adaptability of agriculture to change must be taken into account in predicting impacts of climate change, with technological innovation and infrastructure giving agriculture a dynamic nature. Limitations and adaptations must be considered when formulating public policy, to ensure that marginal costs do not exceed marginal benefits. Monoculture plantation forests may be the most efficient sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide, yet widespread reliance on them may harm biological diversity. Actions the U.S. is currently taking under a no-regrets policy are summarized

Progress, decline, and the public uptake of climate science.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudiak-Gould, Peter

2014-02-01

Previous research has sought to explain public perception of climate change science in terms of individuals' "prior commitment" to such ideological stances as just-world belief, system justification, and liberalism/conservatism. One type of prior commitment that has received little formal attention in the literature is narratives of the moral trajectory of society. A theory of climate science uptake based on beliefs in societal progress or decline is more easily portable to non-Western settings; in a case study of global warming attitudes in the Marshall Islands, trajectory narratives indeed account for public belief, concern, blame, and response more aptly than existing theories, and accord well with qualitative analysis of Marshallese climate change discourse. In Western settings, progress/decline narratives may explain much of the variation in climate change attitudes previously accounted for by other ideological variables, promising a more penetrating explanation for the divergence of climate change attitudes within and between societies.

Put a Frame on It: Contextualizing Climate Change for Museum Visitors

Science.gov (United States)

Canning, Katharine

Public opinion polls continue to show that Americans are divided---particularly along political and ideological lines---on whether climate change is real and warrants immediate action. Those in the natural and social sciences have recognized that effective communication is key to closing the gap that exists between scientific and public understanding on this issue. A body of social science research on climate change communication has emerged within the last decade. This field has identified strategies for climate change communicators and educators, emphasizing the importance of framing climate change issues in ways that help it resonate with a wider range of public concerns and values in order to develop a shared belief regarding the necessity of action. Museum exhibits and programs on climate change that were developed within the last five years are likely to have benefitted from this body of work. This qualitative research seeks to examine and analyze the various ways museums in the United States are communicating about climate change related issues to the public. Three case studies of museum exhibits on climate change issues were examined. The scope and purpose of climate change communication in museums, the specific messages that museums are choosing to communicate, and how those messages are being framed for public audiences were explored through these case studies. The findings suggest that museums are considering their audience when framing messages about climate change and have used work from the climate change communication field to inform message development. In particular, museums are making climate change issues more relevant by emphasizing social, economic, and human health concerns, and are considering strategies to counteract fear-fatigue and empower visitors to take action.

Responsible Climate Change Adaptation : Exploring, analysing and evaluating public and private responsibilities for urban adaptation to climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mees, Heleen

2014-01-01

Cities are vulnerable to climate change. To deal with climate change, city governments and private actors such as businesses and citizens need to adapt to its effects, such as sea level rise, storm surges, intense rainfall and heatwaves. However, adaptation planning and action is often hampered when

Natural versus anthropogenic climate change: Swedish farmers joint construction of climate perceptions

OpenAIRE

Asplund, Therese

2016-01-01

While previous research into understandings of climate change has usually examined general public perceptions, this study offers an audience-specific departure point. This article analyses how Swedish farmers perceive climate change and how they jointly shape their understandings. The agricultural sector is of special interest because it both contributes to and is directly affected by climate change. Through focus group discussions with Swedish farmers, this study finds that (1) farmers relat...

Strategies to strengthen public health inputs to water policy in response to climate change: an Australian perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Goater, Sarah; Cook, Angus; Hogan, Anthony; Mengersen, Kerrie; Hieatt, Arron; Weinstein, Philip

2011-03-01

Under current climate change projections, the capacity to provide safe drinking water to Australian communities will be challenged. Part of this challenge is the lack of an adaptive governance strategy that transcends jurisdictional boundaries to support integrated policy making, regulation, or infrastructural adaptation. Consequently, some water-related health hazards may not be adequately captured or forecast under existing water resource management policies to ensure safe water supplies. Given the high degree of spatial and temporal variability in climate conditions experienced by Australian communities, new strategies for national health planning and prioritization for safe water supplies are warranted. The challenges facing public health in Australia will be to develop flexible and robust governance strategies that strengthen public health input to existing water policy, regulation, and surveillance infrastructure through proactive risk planning, adopting new technologies, and intersectoral collaborations. The proposed approach could assist policy makers avert or minimize risk to communities arising from changes in climate and water provisions both in Australia and in the wider Asia Pacific region.

Canada's national report on climate change: Actions to meet commitments under the United Nations framework convention on climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries must adopt measures to mitigate climate change, adapt to its possible effects, increase public awareness and scientific understanding of climate change and possible responses, and work together in all of these areas. A review is provided of action being currently taken by Canadian governments, non-governmental organizations, communities, and the private sector to meet domestic and international climate change commitments. Projections indicate that climate change could result in significant changes to many of Canada's natural ecosystems, with equally significant economic and social consequences. Canadian demand for energy is the chief cause of Canada's man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. As a first step in meeting its commitment, Canada is developing and implementing measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions, mainly in the area of energy efficiency, energy conservation, and switching to energy sources that are less carbon-intensive. Progress in limiting such emissions will be assessed via emissions inventories, examination of climatic change indicators, forecasting future energy-related emissions of the three primary greenhouse gases, and use of case studies to assess the effectiveness of emissions control measures. Other components of Canadian activities include increasing public awareness of climate change, sponsoring research on the subject, reviewing environmental policies, and international cooperation. 59 refs., 36 figs., 23 tabs

FACOTRS TO DETERMINE RISK PERCEPTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE, AND ATTITUDE TOWARD ADAPTATION POLICY OF THE PUBLIC

Science.gov (United States)

Baba, Kenshi; Sugimoto, Takuya; Kubota, Hiromi; Hijioka, Yasuaki; Tanaka, Mitsuru

This study clarifies the factors to determine risk perception of climate change and attitudes toward adaptation policy by analyzing the data collecting from Internet survey to the general public. The results indicate the followings: 1) more than 70% people perceive some sort of risk of climate change, and most people are awaken to wind and flood damage. 2) most people recognize that mitigation policy is much more important than adaptation policy, whereas most people assume to accept adaptation policy as self-reponsibility, 3) the significant factors to determinane risk perception of climate chage and attitude towerd adaptation policy are cognition of benefits on the policy and procedural justice in the policy process in addion to demographics such as gender, experience of disaster, intension of inhabitant.

Climate consoles: Pieces in the puzzle of climate change adaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominique Bachelet

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Conservation Biology Institute (CBI has been developing web applications to centralize and serve credible and usable information that allows natural resource managers, as well as the general public, to better understand the challenges posed by on-going environmental change. In particular CBI has designed a series of climate consoles that provide natural resource managers the most recent 5th Climate Model Intercomparison Program (CMIP5 climate projections, landscape intactness, and soil sensitivity for a series of reporting units over the western United States. The publically available web sites were refined based on feedback from a variety of users. In this paper, we describe each of the tools developed as open-source applications and provide details of their infrastructure in the hope they can be used and possibly modified by a wider audience. They were designed to be used as stepping-stones towards planning effective climate change adaptation strategies.

Climate and environmental change in China. 1951-2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Dahe; Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, BJ; Ding, Yongjian; Mu, Mu

2016-01-01

Through numerous color figures and tables, this book presents the most up-to-date knowledge on climate and environmental change in China. It documents the evidence and attribution of climate and environmental changes in the past few decades and discusses the impacts of climate change on environments, economy, and society. The book further provides projections of climate change and its impacts in the future. Finally, it offers the climate change mitigation and adaption technologies with strategic options which will be of interest for policy makers, researchers and the general public as well.

Climate and environmental change in China. 1951-2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qin, Dahe [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou (China). Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute; Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, BJ (China). State Meteorological Administration; Ding, Yongjian [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou (China). Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute; Mu, Mu (ed.) [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao (China). Inst. of Oceanology

2016-02-01

Through numerous color figures and tables, this book presents the most up-to-date knowledge on climate and environmental change in China. It documents the evidence and attribution of climate and environmental changes in the past few decades and discusses the impacts of climate change on environments, economy, and society. The book further provides projections of climate change and its impacts in the future. Finally, it offers the climate change mitigation and adaption technologies with strategic options which will be of interest for policy makers, researchers and the general public as well.

Health Effects of Climate Change (Environmental Health Student Portal)

Science.gov (United States)

... change can affect your health. Read About It Climate Change and Human Health (Public Broadcasting Services (including their teacher resources)) - Web ... Health Sciences) - Overview of the potential effects of climate change on human health. Climate and Health Program: Health Effects (Centers for ...

Climate Scientists In The Public Arena: Who's Got Our Backs? (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Mann, M. E.

2010-12-01

Climate scientists have an important role to play in informing the public discourse on human-caused climate change. Our scientific expertise provides us a unique, informed perspective, and despite recent high profile attacks against climate science, the public still affords climate scientists the greatest trust to deliver an honest, unbiased assessment of the potential threats posed by climate changes. Yet, as with all areas of science where powerful special interests perceive themselves as threatened by the findings of science, scientists enter the public fray at our peril. Our efforts to communicate the science are opposed by a well-funded, highly organized disinformation effort that aims to confuse the public about the nature of our scientific understanding. In recent years, the disinformation campaign has demonstrated a willingness to attack individual, climate scientists as a means of achieving a broader end: discrediting climate science itself. These attacks are rarely fought in legitimate scientific circles such as the peer-reviewed scientific literature or other scholarly venues, but rather through rhetorical efforts delivered by nonscientists, using ideologically aligned media outlets, special interest groups, and politicians. Scientists are massively out-funded and outmanned in this battle, and will lose if leading scientific institutions and organizations remain on the sidelines. I will discuss this dilemma, drawing upon my own experiences in the public arena of climate change.

European climate change policy beyond 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-11-15

There is an increasing scientific consensus that human activities do trigger climate changes. Actual forecasts predict temperature increases that are likely to be beyond the adaptation potential of ecosystems. These considerations play a major role in shaping public opinion and the media landscape, culminating in the view that Europe needs to play a leading role in combating climate change.

Estonia in the system of global climate change. Publication 4/1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Punning, J.M.

1996-01-01

Estonia is among the countries who signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) at the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The FCCC calls on its parties to inventory national sources, to reduction in greenhouse gases and to development of projects responding to climate change. In 1994, an Estonian Country Study Project was initiated within the U.S. Country Studies Program. The Estonian Country Study Project is comprehensive, covering all sectors and directions of activity in Estonia that might impact climate change or be influenced by Global Climate Change. This book contains a collection of papers, covering the aims of the Estonian Country Study Project

Public Perception of Climate Change and the New Climate Dice

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, James; Sato, Makiko; Ruedy, Reto

2012-01-01

"Climate dice", describing the chance of unusually warm or cool seasons, have become more and more "loaded" in the past 30 years, coincident with rapid global warming. The distribution of seasonal mean temperature anomalies has shifted toward higher temperatures and the range of anomalies has increased. An important change is the emergence of a category of summertime extremely hot outliers, more than three standard deviations (3 sigma) warmer than the climatology of the 1951-1980 base period. This hot extreme, which covered much less than 1% of Earth's surface during the base period, now typically covers about 10% of the land area. It follows that we can state, with a high degree of confidence, that extreme anomalies such as those in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010 were a consequence of global warming, because their likelihood in the absence of global warming was exceedingly small. We discuss practical implications of this substantial, growing, climate change.

Harnessing Homophily to Improve Climate Change Education

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Martha C.; Plate, Richard R.; Adams, Damian C.; Wojcik, Deborah J.

2015-01-01

The Cooperative Extension Service (Extension) in the United States is well positioned to educate the public, particularly farmers and foresters, about climate change and to encourage responsible adoption of adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, the climate change attitudes and perceptions of Extension professionals have limited…

Mitigating climate change: The Philippine case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, J.L.L.

1998-01-01

The Government of the Philippines signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate change on June 12, 1992 and the Philippine Congress ratified it in 1994. The Philippine Government has also subsequently created the Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change (IACCC). The GOP is currently preparing the Philippine Country Study to address climate change. The first phase of the work was financed by a grant from the US Country Studies Program which is led by the US Department of Energy. The Study includes the following elements: a) development of a National Inventory of GHG emission and Sinks; b) vulnerability assessment and evaluation of adaptations of coastal resources; c) identification of alternative programs and measures to promote mitigation and/or adaptation to climate change; d) public information and education campaign; and e) development of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. (au)

Climate Change, Wildland Fires and Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Climate change is contributing to an increase in the severity of wildland fires. The annual acreage burned in the U.S. has risen steadily since 1985, and the fire season has lengthened. Wildland fires impair air quality by producing massive quantities of particulate air polluta...

Communicating climate change and health in the media.

Science.gov (United States)

Depoux, Anneliese; Hémono, Mathieu; Puig-Malet, Sophie; Pédron, Romain; Flahault, Antoine

2017-01-01

The translation of science from research to real-world change is a central goal of public health. Communication has an essential role to play in provoking a response to climate change. It must first raise awareness, make people feel involved and ultimately motivate them to take action. The goal of this research is to understand how the information related to this issue is being addressed and disseminated to different audiences-public citizens, politicians and key climate change stakeholders. Initial results show that the scientific voice struggles to globally highlight this issue to a general audience and that messages that address the topic do not meet the challenges, going from a dramatic framing to a basic adaptation framing. Communication experts can help inform scientists and policy makers on how to best share information about climate change in an engaging and motivating way. This study gives an insight about the key role of the media and communications in addressing themes relating to climate change and transmitting information to the public in order to take action.

Responsible investors acting on climate change. Investors acting on climate change. Climate: Investors take action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simon, Marie; Blanc, Dominique; Husson-Traore, Anne-Catherine; Amiell, Alison; Barochez, Aurelie de; Conti, Sophie; Kamelgarn, Yona; Bonnet, Olivier; Braman, Stuart; Chenet, Hugues; Fisher, Remco; Hellier, Mickael; Horster, Maximilian; Kindelbacher, Sophie; Leaton, James; Lieblich, Sebastien; Neuneyer, Dustin; Lenoel, Benjamin; Smart, Lauren; Torklep Meisingset, Christine

2015-02-01

Some investors are willing to lower the carbon emission financed by their investment, recognizing that climate change has financial impacts. At first they measure the carbon footprint of their portfolio, than initiate shareholder engagement actions at oil and gas companies, publish list of exclusion composed of the most carbon-intensive companies and ask for ex fossil fuels indices. In June 2015, Novethic launches the first actualisation of its study released on February 2015 on the mobilisation of investors on climate change over the whole 2015 year. The trend is gaining momentum since more than 200 additional investors publicly disclosed commitments to integrate climate risk into their investment and management practices. In September 2015, for its second update of the report on how investors are taking action on climate change, more than 800 entities were screened. As a key result, investor's actions gain momentum: approaches are growing in number and becoming more expert, divestments are widespread in Europe, and green investments promises are more ambitious. The last edition of November 2015 highlights and scans an exclusive panel of 960 investors worth Euro 30 trillion of assets who have made steps forward to tackle climate change. During the last 8 months, their number has almost increased twofold. This document brings together the first edition of Novethic's study and its three updates

Climate Change: Past, Present, and Future

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, David S.; Davis, Michael G.

2010-09-01

Questions about global warming concern climate scientists and the general public alike. Specifically, what are the reliable surface temperature reconstructions over the past few centuries? And what are the best predictions of global temperature change the Earth might expect for the next century? Recent publications [National Research Council (NRC), 2006; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007] permit these questions to be answered in a single informative illustration by assembling temperature reconstructions of the past thousand years with predictions for the next century. The result, shown in Figure 1, illustrates present and future warming in the context of natural variations in the past [see also Oldfield and Alverson, 2003]. To quote a Chinese proverb, “A picture's meaning can express ten thousand words.” Because it succinctly captures past inferences and future projections of climate, the illustration should be of interest to scientists, educators, policy makers, and the public.

Climate Change and Nuclear Power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurkovic, I.-A.; Feretic, D.; Debrecin, N.

2000-01-01

The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is one of a series of recent agreements through which countries around the world are banding together to meet the challenge of altering the global climate. In 1997, in respond to the growing public pressure and questions on climate change governments adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The 5th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP5 UNFCCC) was a rather technical and complex conference which focused in particular on the development of a detailed framework for the application of ''flexible mechanisms'' as laid down in the Kyoto Protocol. Young Generation Network as a part of the International Nuclear Forum at COP5 took part in the debate saying that nuclear is the part of the solution. (author)

Comment: Legal Liability as Climate Change Policy

OpenAIRE

Hilary Sigman

2007-01-01

Several U.S. states have attempted to use of legal liability imposed on greenhouse gas emitters as a public policy instrument for climate change. This brief comment considers the desirability of this approach, focusing on three possible roles for climate change liability: as a source of compensation, as a direct influence on greenhouse gas concentrations, and as a means to facilitate the adoption of ex ante public policies to control greenhouse gases. The strongest argument for liability may ...

PUBLIC PRIVATE COLLABORATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Kasper

How can local governments influence companies to reduce their climate change impacts? This overall problem is examined in this PhD thesis. The PhD thesis is based on the experiences of seven Danish municipalities participating in the EU Life+ project, Carbon 20. Analyses are made...

The effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce the health impact of climate change: a systematic review of systematic reviews.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maha Bouzid

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Climate change is likely to be one of the most important threats to public health in the coming years. Yet despite the large number of papers considering the health impact of climate change, few have considered what public health interventions may be of most value in reducing the disease burden. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce the disease burden of high priority climate sensitive diseases. METHODS AND FINDINGS: For each disease, we performed a systematic search with no restriction on date or language of publication on Medline, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane CENTRAL and SCOPUS up to December 2010 to identify systematic reviews of public health interventions. We retrieved some 3176 records of which 85 full papers were assessed and 33 included in the review. The included papers investigated the effect of public health interventions on various outcome measures. All interventions were GRADE assessed to determine the strength of evidence. In addition we developed a systematic review quality score. The interventions included environmental interventions to control vectors, chemoprophylaxis, immunization, household and community water treatment, greening cities and community advice. For most reviews, GRADE showed low quality of evidence because of poor study design and high heterogeneity. Also for some key areas such as floods, droughts and other weather extremes, there are no adequate systematic reviews of potential public health interventions. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we found the evidence base to be mostly weak for environmental interventions that could have the most value in a warmer world. Nevertheless, such interventions should not be dismissed. Future research on public health interventions for climate change adaptation needs to be concerned about quality in study design and should address the gap for floods, droughts and other extreme weather events that pose a risk to health.

The effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce the health impact of climate change: a systematic review of systematic reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouzid, Maha; Hooper, Lee; Hunter, Paul R

2013-01-01

Climate change is likely to be one of the most important threats to public health in the coming years. Yet despite the large number of papers considering the health impact of climate change, few have considered what public health interventions may be of most value in reducing the disease burden. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce the disease burden of high priority climate sensitive diseases. For each disease, we performed a systematic search with no restriction on date or language of publication on Medline, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane CENTRAL and SCOPUS up to December 2010 to identify systematic reviews of public health interventions. We retrieved some 3176 records of which 85 full papers were assessed and 33 included in the review. The included papers investigated the effect of public health interventions on various outcome measures. All interventions were GRADE assessed to determine the strength of evidence. In addition we developed a systematic review quality score. The interventions included environmental interventions to control vectors, chemoprophylaxis, immunization, household and community water treatment, greening cities and community advice. For most reviews, GRADE showed low quality of evidence because of poor study design and high heterogeneity. Also for some key areas such as floods, droughts and other weather extremes, there are no adequate systematic reviews of potential public health interventions. In conclusion, we found the evidence base to be mostly weak for environmental interventions that could have the most value in a warmer world. Nevertheless, such interventions should not be dismissed. Future research on public health interventions for climate change adaptation needs to be concerned about quality in study design and should address the gap for floods, droughts and other extreme weather events that pose a risk to health.

Climate Change Education: Goals, Audiences, and Strategies--A Workshop Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Forest, Sherrie; Feder, Michael A.

2011-01-01

The global scientific and policy community now unequivocally accepts that human activities cause global climate change. Although information on climate change is readily available, the nation still seems unprepared or unwilling to respond effectively to climate change, due partly to a general lack of public understanding of climate change issues…

America's Climate Choices: Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Liverman, D. M.; McConnell, M. C.; Raven, P.

2010-12-01

climate-related decisions that society will confront over the coming decades will require an informed and engaged public and an education system that provides students with the knowledge to make informed choices. Although nearly all Americans have now heard of climate change, many have yet to understand the full implications of the issue and the opportunities and risks that lie in the solutions. Nonetheless, national surveys demonstrate a clear public desire for more information about climate change and how it might affect local communities. A majority of Americans want the government to take action in response to climate change and are willing to take action themselves. Although communicating about climate change and choices is vitally important, it can be difficult. This report summarizes some simple guidelines for more effective communications.

'I don't get this climate stuff!' Making sense of climate change among the corporate middle class in Lagos.

Science.gov (United States)

Asiyanbi, Adeniyi P

2015-11-01

Public engagement continues to be central to wider efforts to address climate change. This study contributes to public engagement debates by investigating engagement with climate change among an often overlooked group, the corporate middle class in Africa's second largest megacity, Lagos. Combining survey and interviews, I focus analysis on three aspects: awareness, knowledge and concern; role of scientific and social frames in shaping general attitude; and spatial attribution of causes and consequences. The study reveals a universal awareness and high concern about climate change among the respondents, although understanding and perceptions of climate change are significantly socially framed. Social situatedness, more than scientific facts, is the most important definer of overall engagement with climate change. This study thus underscores a nuanced constructionist stance, showing how corporate professionals' 'ways of knowing' climate change is underpinned by a certain co-production between scientific and socio-experiential frames. I highlight implications for research and public engagement with climate change. © The Author(s) 2015.

Meeting the Climate Challenge. Recommendations of the International Climate Change Taskforce

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

To chart a way forward, an International Climate Change Taskforce, composed of leading scientists, public officials, and representatives of business and non-governmental organisations, was established at the invitation of three leading public policy institutes - the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Center for American Progress and The Australia Institute. The Taskforce's aim has been to develop proposals to consolidate and build on the gains achieved under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol to ensure that climate change is addressed effectively over the long term. In doing so, the Taskforce has met twice, in Windsor, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia, where they reviewed and debated detailed research papers prepared by the Taskforce Secretariat, provided by the three founding organisations. The Taskforce's recommendations are to all governments and policy-makers worldwide. However, particular emphasis is placed on providing independent advice to the governments of the Group of Eight (G8) and the European Union (EU) in the context of the UK's presidencies of both organisations in 2005, during which Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to make addressing climate change a priority. The recommendations are also made in the context of the start of international negotiations in 2005 on future collective action on climate change, and the need to engage the governments of those industrialised countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol

The french researches on the climatic change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

Scientists were the first to prevent decision makers on the risk of the climatic change bond to the greenhouse gases emissions. The results of the third GIEC report confirmed that the main part of the global warming of the last 50 years is due to the human activities. This document presents the major results of the french researches during the last five years: the planet observation, the climate evolution study, the simulation of the future climate, the climatic change in France, the impacts of the climatic change on the marine and earth biosphere, the climatic risks and the public policies, the health impacts, the 2003 heat and the research infrastructures. (A.L.B.)

Cool Science: K-12 Climate Change Art Displayed on Buses

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, R. F.; Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Thompson, S. R.

2015-12-01

Cool science is an art contest where K12 students create placards (7" x 22") to educate the public about climate change. Students are prompted to create their artwork in response to questions such as: What is the evidence for climate change? How does climate change impact your local community? What can you do to reduce the impacts of climate change? In each of three years, 500-600 student entrees have been submitted from more than 12 school districts across Massachusetts. A panel of judges including scientists, artists, rapid transit representatives, and educators chooses elementary, middle, and high school winners. Winners (6), runners-up (6), and honorable mentions (12) and their families and teachers are invited to an annual Cool Science Award Ceremony to be recognized and view winning artwork. All winning artwork is posted on the Cool Science website. The winning artwork (2 per grade band) is converted into placards (11" x 28") and posters (2.5' x 12') that are placed on the inside (placards) and outside (posters) of buses. Posters are displayed for one month. So far, Cool Science was implemented in Lowell, MA where over 5000 public viewers see the posters daily on the sides of Lowell Rapid Transit Authority (LRTA) buses, making approximately 1,000,000 impressions per year. Cool Science acts to increase climate literacy in children as well as the public, and as such promotes intergenerational learning. Using art in conjunction with science learning about climate change appears to be effective at engaging not just traditionally high achieving science students, but also those interested in the creative arts. Hearing winners' stories about how they created their artwork and what this contest meant to them supports the idea that Cool Science attracts a wide diversity of students. Parents discuss climate change with their children. Multiple press releases announcing the winners further promotes the awareness of climate change throughout school districts and their

Weathercasters' views on climate change: A state-of-the-community review

Science.gov (United States)

Timm, K.; Perkins, D. R., IV; Myers, T.; Maibach, E.

2017-12-01

As a community of practice, TV weathercasters are positioned at a crucial intersection between climate scientists and the general public. Weathercasters have the opportunity to use their scientific training and public communication skills to educate viewers about climate change. Though early research found high rates of skepticism about climate change among TV weathercasters, the most current and comprehensive analysis to date of TV weathercasters' views on climate change suggests that their views have evolved in several important ways. Surveys of all working TV weathercasters in the United States conducted in 2015, 2016 and 2017 show that the weathercaster community now holds views of climate change that are similar to that of climate scientists—in particular, that human-caused climate change is happening today and it is impacting American communities in many harmful ways. Ninety-five percent of TV weathercasters now believe that climate change (as defined by the American Meteorological Society) is occurring, and certainty in that belief has grown. Nearly 50% of TV weathercasters believe the climate change that has occurred over the past 50 years has been caused mostly (34%), or largely to entirely (15%), by human activity. Additionally, surveys suggest that weathercasters tend to underestimate the scientific consensus on climate change. Weathercasters, on average, estimate 75% of climate scientists believe humans have caused the majority of recent climate change as compared to the actual value of 97%. Despite convergence in weathercasters' climate change beliefs, this analysis suggests that opportunities remain for building climate literacy among America's TV weathercasters. Increasing this personal knowledge of climate change is one of several factors that empower weathercasters to become public climate educators to increase understanding of climate change causes in communities around the country.

Approaches to Climate Change & Health in Cuba: Guillermo Mesa MD MPhil, Director, Disasters & Health, National School of Public Health. Paulo Ortiz MS PhD, Senior Researcher, Climate Center, Cuban Meteorology Institute.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesa, Guillermo; Ortiz, Paulo; Gorry, Conner

2015-04-01

The US National Institutes of Health predict climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths between 2030 and 2050, with damages to health costing US$2-$4 billion by 2030. Although much debate still surrounds climate change, island ecosystems-such as Cuba's-in the developing world are arguably among the most vulnerable contexts in which to confront climate variability. Beginning in the 1990s, Cuba launched research to develop the evidence base, set policy priorities, and design mitigation and adaptation actions specifically to address climate change and its effects on health. Two researchers at the forefront of this interdisciplinary, intersectoral effort are epidemiologist Dr Guillermo Mesa, who directed design and implementation of the nationwide strategy for disaster risk reduction in the Cuban public health system as founding director of the Latin American Center for Disaster Medicine (CLAMED) and now heads the Disasters and Health department at the National School of Public Health; and Dr Paulo Ortiz, a biostatistician and economist at the Cuban Meteorology Institute's Climate Center (CENCLIM), who leads the research on Cuba's Climate and Health project and is advisor on climate change and health for the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Bioethics and Climate Change: A Response to Macpherson and Valles.

Science.gov (United States)

Resnik, David B

2016-10-01

Two articles published in Bioethics recently have explored the ways that bioethics can contribute to the climate change debate. Cheryl Cox Macpherson argues that bioethicists can play an important role in the climate change debate by helping the public to better understand the values at stake and the trade-offs that must be made in individual and social choices, and Sean Valles claims that bioethicists can contribute to the debate by framing the issues in terms of the public health impacts of climate change. While Macpherson and Valles make valid points concerning a potential role for bioethics in the climate change debate, it is important to recognize that much more than ethical analysis and reflection will be needed to significantly impact public attitudes and government policies. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Is nuance possible in climate change communication?

Science.gov (United States)

Donner, S. D.

2015-12-01

One of the core challenges of climate communication is finding the balance between honestly portraying the science, with all its complexity, and effectively engaging the audience. At a time when all politics are partisan and the media measures value in clicks, complicated stories can become black-and-white. This loss of nuance is acute in tales told of climate change impacts in the developing world, particularly in the low-lying island states of the Pacific. Atoll countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives are certainly existentially threatened by climate change and sea-level rise. Yet the islands and their residents are also more resilient than the dramatic headlines about sinking islands would have you think. Casting the people as helpless victims, however well-intentioned, can actually hurt their ability to respond to climate change. This presentation examines the risks and benefits of providing such nuance on a climate issue that the public and policy-makers generally view as black-and-white. Drawing on efforts a decade of research in Kiribati and other small island developing states in the Pacific, I describe how a mix of cultural differences, geopolitics, and the legacy of colonialism has made the Pacific Islands a narrative device in a western discussion about climate change. I then describe in detail the challenging process of writing a popular magazine story which questions that narrative - but not the long-term threat of sea-level rise - and the personal and political aftermath of its publication. Building upon this humbling experience and findings from psychology, communications and science and technology studies, I outline the key benefits and risks of engaging publicly with the nuances of a climate change issue, and provide a template for effectively communicating nuance in a politically charged atmosphere.

Assessing ExxonMobil’s climate change communications (1977-2014)

Science.gov (United States)

Supran, Geoffrey; Oreskes, Naomi

2017-08-01

This paper assesses whether ExxonMobil Corporation has in the past misled the general public about climate change. We present an empirical document-by-document textual content analysis and comparison of 187 climate change communications from ExxonMobil, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications, internal company documents, and paid, editorial-style advertisements (‘advertorials’) in The New York Times. We examine whether these communications sent consistent messages about the state of climate science and its implications—specifically, we compare their positions on climate change as real, human-caused, serious, and solvable. In all four cases, we find that as documents become more publicly accessible, they increasingly communicate doubt. This discrepancy is most pronounced between advertorials and all other documents. For example, accounting for expressions of reasonable doubt, 83% of peer-reviewed papers and 80% of internal documents acknowledge that climate change is real and human-caused, yet only 12% of advertorials do so, with 81% instead expressing doubt. We conclude that ExxonMobil contributed to advancing climate science—by way of its scientists’ academic publications—but promoted doubt about it in advertorials. Given this discrepancy, we conclude that ExxonMobil misled the public. Our content analysis also examines ExxonMobil’s discussion of the risks of stranded fossil fuel assets. We find the topic discussed and sometimes quantified in 24 documents of various types, but absent from advertorials. Finally, based on the available documents, we outline ExxonMobil’s strategic approach to climate change research and communication, which helps to contextualize our findings.

Acting against climate change, the French know-how

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-10-01

This publication aims at presenting for international purposes the French public and private know-how in the field of struggle against climate change and of decision-making tools. It first recalls the various international commitments (international mobilisation within the IPCC, United Nations, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC, the Kyoto protocol) and proposes an overview of the UE policy. The next part outlines the role of France as host of the COP21, and the French policy and its territorial declinations. It proposes an overview of the French global offer to meet climate challenges: a table indicates actions and actors in the fields of diagnosis, elaboration of action plans, monitoring and assessment, labelling, capacity development. An article presents the 'Monitoring, Reporting and Verification' (MRV) principle and the different arrangements, bodies and actors addressing these assessment issues, with a focus of methods of assessments of greenhouse gas emissions (standards and methods have been developed in France and are evoked). Various tools applicable in different sectors are also indicated, and the exportation of abilities regarding energy-climate diagnosis is outlined. The next part addresses methods, tools and publications addressing the diagnosis of consequences of climate change. The structure, content and approach of Territorial Climate Energy Plans (PCET) is presented and commented. The next parts show how French companies are mobilised to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, give an overview of public and private initiatives for adaptation to climate change, describe how energy-climate approaches are monitored and assessed, comment how French local communities act at an international level through decentralised cooperation, and indicate how French know-how is developed and can be exported in the field of education and training of actors

Global Climate Change and Ocean Education

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, W.; Anderson, J.

2011-12-01

The New England Aquarium, collaborating with other aquariums across the country, is leading a national effort to enable aquariums and related informal science education institutions to effectively communicate the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine animals, habitats and ecosystems. Our goal is to build on visitors' emotional connection with ocean animals, connect to their deeply held values, help them understand causes and effects of climate change and motivate them to embrace effective solutions. Our objectives are to: (1) Build a national coalition of aquariums and related informal education institutions collaborating on climate change education; (2) Develop an interpretive framework for climate change and the ocean that is scientifically sound, research-based, field tested and evaluated; and (3) Build capacity of aquariums to interpret climate change via training for interpreters, interactive exhibits and activities and communities of practice for ongoing support. Centers of informal learning have the potential to bring important environmental issues to the public by presenting the facts, explaining the science, connecting with existing values and interests, and motivating concern and action. Centers that work with live animals (including aquariums, zoos, nature centers, national parks, national marine sanctuaries, etc.) are unique in that they attract large numbers of people of all ages (over 140 million in the US), have strong connections to the natural, and engage many visitors who may not come with a primary interest in science. Recent research indicates that that the public expects and trusts aquariums, zoos, and museums to communicate solutions to environmental and ocean issues, and to advance ocean conservation, and that climate change is the environmental issue of most concern to the public; Ironically, however, most people do not associate climate change with ocean health, or understand the critical role that the ocean plays in

Water-Related Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Subsequently on Public Health: A Review for Generalists with Particular Reference to Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Toqeer; Scholz, Miklas; Al-Faraj, Furat; Niaz, Wajeeha

2016-10-27

Water-related impacts due to change in climatic conditions ranging from water scarcity to intense floods and storms are increasing in developing countries like Pakistan. Water quality and waterborne diseases like hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria and dengue fever are increasing due to chaotic urbanization, industrialization, poor hygienic conditions, and inappropriate water management. The morbidity rate is high due to lack of health care facilities, especially in developing countries. Organizations linked to the Government of Pakistan (e.g., Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Climate Change, Planning and Development, Ministry of Forest, Irrigation and Public Health, Pakistan Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management, Pakistan Agricultural Research Centre, Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources, and Global Change Impact Study Centre), United Nation organizations, provincial government departments, non-governmental organizations (e.g., Global Facility and Disaster Reduction), research centers linked to universities, and international organizations (International Institute for Sustainable Development, Food and Agriculture, Global Climate Fund and World Bank) are trying to reduce the water-related impacts of climate change, but due to lack of public awareness and health care infrastructure, the death rate is steadily increasing. This paper critically reviews the scientific studies and reports both at national and at international level benefiting generalists concerned with environmental and public health challenges. The article underlines the urgent need for water conservation, risk management, and the development of mitigation measures to cope with the water-related impacts of climate change on agriculture and subsequently on public health. Novel solutions and bioremediation methods have been presented to control environmental pollution and to promote awareness among the scientific community. The focus is on diverse strategies to handle

Towards a private-public synergy in financing climate change mitigation projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, ZX; Maruyama, A

2001-01-01

Funding for greenhouse gas mitigation projects in developing countries is crucial for addressing the global climate change problem. By examining current climate change-related financial mechanisms and their limitations, this paper indicates that their roles are limited in affecting developing

Communicating Ocean Acidification and Climate Change to Public Audiences Using Scientific Data, Interactive Exploration Tools, and Visual Narratives

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, M. K.; Rossiter, A.; Spitzer, W.

2016-12-01

The Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum, explores local environmental conditions of San Francisco Bay to connect audiences to the larger global implications of ocean acidification and climate change. The work is centered in the Fisher Bay Observatory at Pier 15, a glass-walled gallery sited for explorations of urban San Francisco and the Bay. Interactive exhibits, high-resolution data visualizations, and mediated activities and conversations communicate to public audiences the impacts of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean. Through a 10-year education partnership with NOAA and two environmental literacy grants funded by its Office of Education, the Exploratorium has been part of two distinct but complementary strategies to increase climate literacy beyond traditional classroom settings. We will discuss two projects that address the ways complex scientific information can be transformed into learning opportunities for the public, providing information citizens can use for decision-making in their personal lives and their communities. The Visualizing Change project developed "visual narratives" that combine scientific visualizations and other images with story telling about the science and potential solutions of climate impacts on the ocean. The narratives were designed to engage curiosity and provide the public with hopeful and useful information to stimulate solutions-oriented behavior rather than to communicate despair about climate change. Training workshops for aquarium and museum docents prepare informal educators to use the narratives and help them frame productive conversations with the pubic. The Carbon Networks project, led by the Exploratorium, uses local and Pacific Rim data to explore the current state of climate change and ocean acidification. The Exploratorium collects and displays local ocean and atmosphere data as a member of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System and as an observing station for NOAA's Pacific

Telework, Climate Change and Public Policy | IDRC - International ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... of millions of people to their workplace is a major source of pollution in urban areas. ... Argentina, South America, Mexico, North and Central America, Peru ... IWRA/IDRC webinar on climate change and adaptive water management.

Climate changes, environment and infection: facts, scenarios and growing awareness from the public health community within Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Bezirtzoglou, Christos; Dekas, Konstantinos; Charvalos, Ekatherina

2011-12-01

increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation and malnutrition due to alterations in agricultural products. Different kind of incidents in Europe with extreme weather events demonstrated effects on public health. The recent outbreak of the insect-borne Chikungunya virus in Italy in 2007 is an example of the kind of new health threat that the EU must be vigilant to confront. In addition, health effects of flooding, have been related to an excess cases of leptospirosis and campylobacter enteritis. Such examples have been demonstrated reported after flooding in the Czech Republic. Similarly, an increase of cryptosporidiosis in the United Kingdom has been related to flooding. Changing vector distributions associated with tickborne encephalitis and malaria have also been demonstrated in EU. A recently reported case of malaria in Italy in June 2008, suspected to be indigenously acquired, has shown how easily malaria could be reintroduced into several countries in the region. Another case of malaria in Greece in May 2010 affecting a young man living in a forestry region was claimed at KEELPNO-the Greek Center for disease control. Would this latest case be considered closely related to the one from Italy? If yes, then Public Health Services should elaborate plans to affront possible tickborne diseases. Heat waves are important causes of mortality on mortality are important. The deaths seen in France in 2003 from a heat wave are projected to be repeated, as heat waves become more severe. However, heat waves impacts on the transmission and severity of infectious diseases have not been elucidated. Finally scientific challenges include the elucudation of climate changes and extreme weather condition impact on infection transmission and outcome, human immune system changes and infection response, outbreak scenarios, animal and plant health and public health preparedness. European action plans to affront climate changes related health and infection problems are developed by the EU

ONERC. Observatoire National sur les Effets du Rechauffement Climatique (National Observatory of Climate warming effects). Report to the Prime Minister and to Parliament. Climate changes and public health risks in France; Changements climatiques et risques sanitaires en France. Rapport au Premier Ministre et au Parlement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

After having recalled the climate change context and the activities of the ONERC (the French National Observatory of Climate Warming Effects) since its previous report, this report gathers several contributions by as many scientists. They propose analysis, comments and discussions on various topics: human diseases which might be influenced by climate change in France (heat waves and allergies, emergence of animal and human diseases, potential impacts of climate change on vector-borne diseases, infectious diseases in overseas territories, public health consequences), surveillance and health alert systems (infectious disease national surveillance and monitoring network, emergency response, satellite imagery, public health and risk management, lessons learned from the chikungunya pandemic), public health and risk management (overview of international works on the relationship between climate change and public health, public health consequences of climate change)

Identifying Effective Strategies for Climate Change Education: The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership Audiences and Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, J. G.; Feldman, A.; Muller-Karger, F. E.; Gilbes, F.; Stone, D.; Plank, L.; Reynolds, C. J.

2011-12-01

Many past educational initiatives focused on global climate change have foundered on public skepticism and disbelief. Some key reasons for these past failures can be drawn directly from recognized best practices in STEM education - specifically, the necessity to help learners connect new knowledge with their own experiences and perspectives, and the need to create linkages with issues or concerns that are both important for and relevant to the audiences to be educated. The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) partnership has sought to follow these tenets as guiding principles in identifying critical audiences and developing new strategies for educating the public living in the low-lying coastal areas of Florida and the Caribbean on the realities, risks, and adaptation and mitigation strategies for dealing with the regional impacts of global climate change. CACCE is currently focused on three key learner audiences: a) The formal education spectrum, targeting K-12 curricula through middle school marine science courses, and student and educator audiences through coursework and participatory research strategies engaging participants in a range of climate-related investigations. b) Informal science educators and outlets, in particular aquaria and nature centers, as an avenue toward K-12 teacher professional development as well as for public education. c) Regional planning, regulatory and business professionals focused on the built environment along the coasts, many of whom require continuing education to maintain licensing and/or other professional certifications. Our current activities are focused on bringing together an effective set of educational, public- and private-sector partners to target the varied needs of these audiences in Florida and the U.S. Caribbean, and tailoring an educational plan aimed at these stakeholder audiences that starts with the regionally and topically relevant impacts of climate change, and strategies for effective adaptation and

Linking Climate Risk, Policy Networks and Adaptation Planning in Public Lands

Science.gov (United States)

Lubell, M.; Schwartz, M.; Peters, C.

2014-12-01

Federal public land management agencies in the United States have engaged a variety of planning efforts to address climate adaptation. A major goal of these efforts is to build policy networks that enable land managers to access information and expertise needed for responding to local climate risks. This paper investigates whether the perceived and modeled climate risk faced by different land managers is leading to larger networks or more participating in climate adaptation. In theory, the benefits of climate planning networks are larger when land managers are facing more potential changes. The basic hypothesis is tested with a survey of public land managers from hundreds of local and regional public lands management units in the Southwestern United States, as well as other stakeholders involved with climate adaptation planning. All survey respondents report their perceptions of climate risk along a variety of dimensions, as well as their participation in climate adaptation planning and information sharing networks. For a subset of respondents, we have spatially explicity GIS data about their location, which will be linked with downscaled climate model data. With the focus on climate change, the analysis is a subset of the overall idea of linking social and ecological systems.

Climate change and public health. Effects and a dialogue with interested people

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martens, P.; Huynen, M.

2001-01-01

In recent decades, it has become increasingly clear that the global climate is becoming warmer and that regional climates are changing. This report summarizes the results of an integrated assessment of vulnerability to climate change and adaptation options in the Netherlands carried out between July 2000 and July 2001 within the framework of the Dutch National Research Program on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change (NRP-2). The project's main aims were: - to provide an overview of scientific insights, expert judgements and stakeholders' perceptions of current and future impacts (positive and negative) of climate change for several economic sectors, human health, and natural systems in the Netherlands, considering various cross-sectoral interactions, - to develop a set of adaptation options for these sectors through a participatory process with the main stakeholders, - to perform an integrated assessment of cross-sectoral interactions of climate change impacts and adaptation options. Climate change impacts and adaptation options have been investigated for several important economic sectors (including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, industry, energy, transport, insurance and recreation and tourism), human health and natural systems (including soils, water and biodiversity issues).The results of this study are based on literature survey, a dialogue with experts and stakeholders. We are convinced that the report represents the most essential and relevant aspects of the impacts and adaptation options for climate change in the Netherlands, given the scenario setting of this study, the state of the art of current scientific knowledge, and today's expert and stakeholders' perceptions of the issues at stake. 3 refs [nl

African voices on climate change. Policy concerns and potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silveira, S.

1994-01-01

This publication is the result of a process of building an understanding and facilitating a dialogue on the issues related to climate change, on the implications that climate change have to Africa, and on the relevance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the continent. Research work was carried out over a year and twelve African countries were directly engaged in this projects, contributing with the work and expertise of their specialists. A whole process of discussions was started aiming not only at identifying questions concerning the countries directly involved but at illustrating the diversity of Africa's economies and societies, and attempting to raise common issues of interest for the whole of the continent. The objective of this publication is to provide a starting point for the discussions to take place during the African Conference on Policy Options and Responses to Climate Change, 5-8 December 1994, in Nairobi. This conference is not only the culmination of 'Climate and Africa' but, most of all, it opens a forum for discussions on climate issues among African policy makers and for building African positions in relation to the Climate Convention. The ideas expressed here are drawn from the material produced in the Climate and Africa Project. Therefore, this publication does not necessarily represent the positions of the Stockholm Environment Institute or the African Center for Technology Studies in relation to Africa and the Climate Convention

Betting and Belief: Modeling the Impact of Prediction Markets on Public Attribution of Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Gilligan, J. M.; Nay, J. J.; van der Linden, M.

2016-12-01

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence and an almost complete consensus among scientists, a large fraction of the American public is not convinced that global warming is anthropogenic. This doubt correlates strongly with political, ideological, and cultural orientation. [1] It has been proposed that people who do not trust climate scientists tend to trust markets, so prediction markets might be able to influence their beliefs about the causes of climate change. [2] We present results from an agent-based simulation of a prediction market in which traders invest based on their beliefs about what drives global temperature change (here, either CO2 concentration or total solar irradiance (TSI), which is a popular hypothesis among many who doubt the dominant role of CO2). At each time step, traders use historical and observed temperatures and projected future forcings (CO2 or TSI) to update Bayesian posterior probability distributions for future temperatures, conditional on their belief about what drives climate change. Traders then bet on future temperatures by trading in climate futures. Trading proceeds by a continuous double auction. Traders are randomly assigned initial beliefs about climate change, and they have some probability of changing their beliefs to match those of the most successful traders in their social network. We simulate two alternate realities in which the global temperature is controlled either by CO2 or by TSI, with stochastic noise. In both cases traders' beliefs converge, with a large majority reaching agreement on the actual cause of climate change. This convergence is robust, but the speed with which consensus emerges depends on characteristics of the traders' psychology and the structure of the market. Our model can serve as a test-bed for studying how beliefs might evolve under different market structures and different modes of decision-making and belief-change. We will report progress on studying alternate models of belief-change. This

Climate Change Science Program Collection

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Collection consists of publications and other resources produced between 2007 and 2009 by the CCSP with the intention of...

Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world

Science.gov (United States)

Bain, Paul G.; Milfont, Taciano L.; Kashima, Yoshihisa; Bilewicz, Michał; Doron, Guy; Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B.; Gouveia, Valdiney V.; Guan, Yanjun; Johansson, Lars-Olof; Pasquali, Carlota; Corral-Verdugo, Victor; Aragones, Juan Ignacio; Utsugi, Akira; Demarque, Christophe; Otto, Siegmar; Park, Joonha; Soland, Martin; Steg, Linda; González, Roberto; Lebedeva, Nadezhda; Madsen, Ole Jacob; Wagner, Claire; Akotia, Charity S.; Kurz, Tim; Saiz, José L.; Schultz, P. Wesley; Einarsdóttir, Gró; Saviolidis, Nina M.

2016-02-01

Personal and political action on climate change is traditionally thought to be motivated by people accepting its reality and importance. However, convincing the public that climate change is real faces powerful ideological obstacles, and climate change is slipping in public importance in many countries. Here we investigate a different approach, identifying whether potential co-benefits of addressing climate change could motivate pro-environmental behaviour around the world for both those convinced and unconvinced that climate change is real. We describe an integrated framework for assessing beliefs about co-benefits, distinguishing social conditions (for example, economic development, reduced pollution or disease) and community character (for example, benevolence, competence). Data from all inhabited continents (24 countries; 6,196 participants) showed that two co-benefit types, Development (economic and scientific advancement) and Benevolence (a more moral and caring community), motivated public, private and financial actions to address climate change to a similar degree as believing climate change is important. Critically, relationships were similar for both convinced and unconvinced participants, showing that co-benefits can motivate action across ideological divides. These relationships were also independent of perceived climate change importance, and could not be explained by political ideology, age, or gender. Communicating co-benefits could motivate action on climate change where traditional approaches have stalled.

Public perception of climate risk and adaptation in the UK: A review of the literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea L. Taylor

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Like other countries, the United Kingdom faces the unavoidable challenge of adapting to a changing climate. However, public perceptions of the risk posed by climate change and support for adaptation policies vary between countries. This article provides a UK-specific review of climate change beliefs, risk perceptions regarding potential climate change impacts, and attitudes towards climate change adaptation. We report on differences between expert and public conceptualisations of climate change risks. We also examine the effects of psychological distancing, climate change awareness, and hazard experience on both concerns about climate change and perceptions of the weather-related risks posed by climate change. Additionally, we review the effects of emotion, agency, perceived responsibility, place attachment, personal values and uncertainty on the willingness of UK residents to support and engage with climate change adaptation. We outline the implications of these factors for climate risk communication and highlight key areas for future research.

Making the climate part of the human world: Why addressing beliefs and biases is necessary part of effective climate change education

Science.gov (United States)

Donner, S. D.

2009-12-01

Efforts to raise public awareness and understanding of the social, cultural and economic consequences of climate change often encounter skepticism. The primary causes of this skepticism, whether in the form of a mild rejection of proposed policy responses or an outright rejection of the basic scientific findings, is often cited to be the poor framing of issues by the scientific community, the quality of science education or public science literacy, disinformation campaigns by representatives of the coal and gas industry, individual resistance to behavioral change, and the hyperactive nature of the modern information culture. However, the root cause may be that the weather and climate, and by association climate change, is viewed as independent of the sphere of human influence in ancient and modern societies. In this presentation, I will outline how long-standing human beliefs in the separation between the earth and the sky and the modern framing of climate change as an “environmental” issue are limiting efforts to education the public about the causes, effects and possible response to climate change. First, sociological research in the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu) finds strong evidence that beliefs in divine control of the weather and climate limit public acceptance of human-induced climate change. Second, media analysis and polling data from North America supports the role of belief and provides further evidence that climate change is viewed as a threat to an “other” labeled “the environment”, rather than a threat to people or society. The consequences of these mental models of the climate can be an outright reject of scientific theory related to climate change, a milder distrust of climate change predictions, a lack of urgency about mitigation, and an underestimate of the effort required to adapt to climate change. In order to be effective, public education about climate change needs to directly address the two, critical beliefs held by

Case grows for climate change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hileman, B.

1999-08-09

In the four years since the IPCC stated that 'the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate', evidence for anomalous warming has become more compelling, and as a result scientists have become more concerned that human-induced climate change has already arrived. The article summarises recent extra evidence on global temperatures, carbon dioxide measurements, ice shelf breakup, coral bleaching, unstable climates and improved climate models. At the time of the Kyoto conference, the US became keen on the idea that enhancing forest and soil carbon sequestration was a good way to offset emissions reduction targets. Congress is however under the opinion on that the Kyoto protocol presents a threat to the US economy, and senate is very unlikely to ratify the protocol during the Clinton Administration. The debate as to whether the US government should mandate major emission reduction or wait for more scientific certainty may continue for a number of years, but, growing concern of scientists and the public for the harmful effects of climate change may cause a change. 4 figs., 8 photos.

Climate change as seen by science and scientific dissemination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bueno, Lilian de Oliveira

2010-01-01

The climate change approach by two daily newspapers and two weekly magazines in 2006 and 2007, and this theme perception by opinion-makers, constitute the major target of this work. A survey was conducted with subscribers to Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo newspapers, Veja and Epoca magazines, with their journalists, as well as with climate change scientists. The survey showed that is equally high the public interest in general science subjects and in specific environmental themes. In the analyzed periodicals, some incorrect technical concepts were detected and the press coverage focused, mainly, on research into climate change impacts. Energy security, another factor strongly related to climate, was explored by the research to evaluate public view of a relation between climate change and nuclear energy. A parallel may be made between climate change and nuclear catastrophe, present in the popular imaginary, since the atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Considering the science role in general, it is essential to highlight the fact that the state of the art research should not be dissociated from efficient and effective communication, able to mobilize citizens and touch decision-makers. Although the dialogue between scientists and the public was considered, traditionally, as related to separated fields of awareness, it may be achieved and the media has a fundamental role in this process. (author)

Nuclear power in Australia: A comparative analysis of public opinion regarding climate change and the Fukushima disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bird, Deanne K.; Haynes, Katharine; Honert, Rob van den; McAneney, John; Poortinga, Wouter

2014-01-01

A nation-wide survey was conducted in 2010 to investigate the Australian public's attitudes to nuclear power in relation to climate change and in comparison to other energy alternatives. The survey showed a majority of respondents (42%) willing to accept nuclear power if it would help tackle climate change. Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Complex in Japan, an event triggered by the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, it was expected that support for nuclear power in Australia would change. In light of this, a follow-up survey was conducted in 2012. Indeed, the post-Fukushima results show a majority of respondents (40%) were not willing to accept nuclear power as an option to help tackle climate change, despite the fact that most Australians still believed nuclear power to offer a cleaner, more efficient option than coal, which currently dominates the domestic production of energy. Expanding the use of renewable energy sources (71%) remains the most popular option, followed by energy-efficient technologies (58%) and behavioural change (54%). Opposition to nuclear power will continue to be an obstacle against its future development even when posed as a viable solution to climate change. - Highlights: • Australia-wide survey assessed opinions of nuclear power in 2010 and 2012. • Study examined attitudes in relation to climate change and Fukushima disaster. • Australians believe nuclear power offers a cleaner, more efficient option to coal. • Australians are against nuclear power due to safety concerns and distrust. • Reluctant acceptance of nuclear power is a fragile attitudinal state easily swayed

A Science-Driven Photojournalistic Documentation of Climate Change (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Braasch, G.; Rothlein, J. E.

2013-12-01

World View of Global Warming is an independent photojournalistic documentation of global warming and rapid climate change begun in 1999. The intended outcomes of the work - the photographs, reportage and publications - are based on the principles of scientific accuracy, a journalistic approach, strong photographic skills, long-term observations, science literacy, education, documentation for policy makers and inspiration to others. During the course of this project the team of photojournalist and public health toxicologist visited, interviewed and/or had correspondence with more than 150 scientists in the field on every continent. Hundreds more have influenced and informed the work. World View of Global Warming has tested the idea that climate change can be more easily understood by the public and government officials through photographs which accurately and engagingly depict the locations and the scientists involved in research, communities responding to impacts of climate change and innovations for mitigation. Use of the photographs by scientists to further their own work and outreach was an immediate and continuing result, including use in journals, reports, textbooks and conferences. This presentation will demonstrate the many uses of photography in climate change communications and discuss how scientists and educators can more effectively interact with the public and media and artists. The website for this project was established in 2002 and now has more than 100 pages of photographs and information. It is strictly non-commercial and documented. Wide and repeated publication indicates the value of the project's climate communication: Exhibition at the Boston Museum of Science (2013), the National Academy of Sciences and the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science and other venues; extended use by the United Nations, UNFCCC, World Meteorological Organization, Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive

Quantification of physical and economic impacts of climate change on public infrastructure in Alaska and benefits of global greenhouse gas mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Melvin, A. M.; Larsen, P.; Boehlert, B.; Martinich, J.; Neumann, J.; Chinowsky, P.; Schweikert, A.; Strzepek, K.

2015-12-01

Climate change poses many risks and challenges for the Arctic and sub-Arctic, including threats to infrastructure. The safety and stability of infrastructure in this region can be impacted by many factors including increased thawing of permafrost soils, reduced coastline protection due to declining arctic sea ice, and changes in inland flooding. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is coordinating an effort to quantify physical and economic impacts of climate change on public infrastructure across the state of Alaska and estimate how global greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation may avoid or reduce these impacts. This research builds on the Climate Change Impacts and Risk Analysis (CIRA) project developed for the contiguous U.S., which is described in an EPA report released in June 2015. We are using a multi-model analysis focused primarily on the impacts of changing permafrost, coastal erosion, and inland flooding on a range of infrastructure types, including transportation (e.g. roads, airports), buildings and harbors, energy sources and transmission, sewer and water systems, and others. This analysis considers multiple global GHG emission scenarios ranging from a business as usual future to significant global action. These scenarios drive climate projections through 2100 spanning a range of outcomes to capture variability amongst climate models. Projections are being combined with a recently developed public infrastructure database and integrated into a version of the Infrastructure Planning Support System (IPSS) we are modifying for use in the Arctic and sub-Arctic region. The IPSS tool allows for consideration of both adaptation and reactive responses to climate change. Results of this work will address a gap in our understanding of climate change impacts in Alaska, provide estimates of the physical and economic damages we may expect with and without global GHG mitigation, and produce important insights about infrastructure vulnerabilities in response to

Water-Related Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Subsequently on Public Health: A Review for Generalists with Particular Reference to Pakistan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toqeer Ahmed

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Water-related impacts due to change in climatic conditions ranging from water scarcity to intense floods and storms are increasing in developing countries like Pakistan. Water quality and waterborne diseases like hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria and dengue fever are increasing due to chaotic urbanization, industrialization, poor hygienic conditions, and inappropriate water management. The morbidity rate is high due to lack of health care facilities, especially in developing countries. Organizations linked to the Government of Pakistan (e.g., Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Climate Change, Planning and Development, Ministry of Forest, Irrigation and Public Health, Pakistan Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management, Pakistan Agricultural Research Centre, Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources, and Global Change Impact Study Centre, United Nation organizations, provincial government departments, non-governmental organizations (e.g., Global Facility and Disaster Reduction, research centers linked to universities, and international organizations (International Institute for Sustainable Development, Food and Agriculture, Global Climate Fund and World Bank are trying to reduce the water-related impacts of climate change, but due to lack of public awareness and health care infrastructure, the death rate is steadily increasing. This paper critically reviews the scientific studies and reports both at national and at international level benefiting generalists concerned with environmental and public health challenges. The article underlines the urgent need for water conservation, risk management, and the development of mitigation measures to cope with the water-related impacts of climate change on agriculture and subsequently on public health. Novel solutions and bioremediation methods have been presented to control environmental pollution and to promote awareness among the scientific community. The focus is on diverse

The Climate Web Library - All the reference reports on climate changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wasse, Gwenael

2012-01-01

This document gathers bibliographical information (title and original title, theme, authors, publication date, link to browse the document, and abstract) of documents addressing climatic change (generalities and mechanisms, temperatures, dry periods and rainfalls, snow and ice, oceans, extreme events, sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and feedbacks, breaking points and hazardous changes), impacts and consequences of climate change (pollution and health, soft water, ecosystems, food, agriculture and forestry, coasts and low altitude areas, populations and societies, economy), emissions of greenhouse gases (present emissions, evolution scenarios)

Climate information for public health: the role of the IRI climate data library in an integrated knowledge system.

Science.gov (United States)

del Corral, John; Blumenthal, M Benno; Mantilla, Gilma; Ceccato, Pietro; Connor, Stephen J; Thomson, Madeleine C

2012-09-01

Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of climate variability and change on health outcomes. Protecting public health from the vagaries of climate requires new working relationships between the public health sector and the providers of climate data and information. The Climate Information for Public Health Action initiative at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) is designed to increase the public health community's capacity to understand, use and demand appropriate climate data and climate information to mitigate the public health impacts of the climate. Significant challenges to building the capacity of health professionals to use climate information in research and decision-making include the difficulties experienced by many in accessing relevant and timely quality controlled data and information in formats that can be readily incorporated into specific analysis with other data sources. We present here the capacities of the IRI climate data library and show how we have used it to build an integrated knowledge system in the support of the use of climate and environmental information in climate-sensitive decision-making with respect to health. Initiated as an aid facilitating exploratory data analysis for climate scientists, the IRI climate data library has emerged as a powerful tool for interdisciplinary researchers focused on topics related to climate impacts on society, including health.

Implications of climate change for Pacific Northwest forest management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wall, G.

1991-01-01

A Canada/USA symposium was held to identify potential consequences of global climate change to Pacific Northwest forests; to identify the future role and relative contribution of those forests in the balance of carbon, moisture, and energy exchange of the atmosphere; and to develop recommendations for Pacific Northwest forest management strategies and policy options for responding to global climate change. Papers were presented on such topics as regional climatic change, forest responses and processes, public policy on forests and climatic change, sequestration of atmospheric carbon, forest management, and forest adaptation to climatic change. Separate abstracts have been prepared for 14 papers from this symposium

Climate change and human health: a One Health approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Patz, Jonathan A; Hahn, Micah B

2013-01-01

Climate change adds complexity and uncertainty to human health issues such as emerging infectious diseases, food security, and national sustainability planning that intensify the importance of interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Collaboration between veterinary, medical, and public health professionals to understand the ecological interactions and reactions to flux in a system can facilitate clearer understanding of climate change impacts on environmental, animal, and human health. Here we present a brief introduction to climate science and projections for the next century and a review of current knowledge on the impacts of climate-driven environmental change on human health. We then turn to the links between ecological and evolutionary responses to climate change and health. The literature on climate impacts on biological systems is rich in both content and historical data, but the connections between these changes and human health is less understood. We discuss five mechanisms by which climate changes impacts on biological systems will be felt by the human population: Modifications in Vector, Reservoir, and Pathogen Lifecycles; Diseases of Domestic and Wild Animals and Plants; Disruption of Synchrony Between Interacting Species; Trophic Cascades; and Alteration or Destruction of Habitat. Each species responds to environmental changes differently, and in order to predict the movement of disease through ecosystems, we have to rely on expertise from the fields of veterinary, medical, and public health, and these health professionals must take into account the dynamic nature of ecosystems in a changing climate.

The climate change convention and human health.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowbotham, E J

1995-01-01

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed at Rio in June 1992, is intended to minimize climate change and its impact. Much of its text is ambiguous and it is not specifically directed to health considerations. It is, however, recognized that adverse effects of climate change on health are a concern of humankind, and health is an integral part of the Convention. The Convention includes commitments by the developed countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to increase public awareness of these commitments. The significance of the Convention in these respects is discussed critically and future developments considered.

Anticipated water quality changes in response to climate change and potential consequences for inland fishes

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yushun; Todd, Andrew S.; Murphy, Margaret H.; Lomnicky, Gregg

2016-01-01

Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component of the world's economy, with a critical role in maintaining public health, inland biological diversity, and overall quality of life. Globally, our climate is changing, with air temperature and precipitation regimes deviating significantly from historical patterns. Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component of the world's economy, with a critical role in maintaining public health, inland biological diversity, and overall quality of life. Globally, our climate is changing, with air temperature and precipitation regimes deviating significantly from historical patterns. Changes anticipated with climate change in the future are likely to have a profound effect on inland aquatic ecosystems through diverse pathways, including changes in water quality. In this brief article, we present an initial discussion of several of the water quality responses that can be anticipated to occur within inland water bodies with climate change and how those changes are likely to impact fishes.

Receptive Audiences for Climate Change Education: Understanding Attitudes and Barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, L. D.; Luebke, J. F.; Clayton, S.; Saunders, C. D.; Matiasek, J.; Grajal, A.

2012-12-01

Much effort has been devoted to finding ways to explain climate change to uninterested audiences and encourage mitigation behaviors among dismissive audiences. Most approaches have focused on conveying information about climate change processes or threats. Here we report the results of a national survey designed to characterize the readiness of zoo and aquarium visitors to engage with the issue of climate change. Two survey forms, one focused primarily on attitudes (N=3,594) and another on behaviors (N=3,588), were administered concurrently in summer 2011 at 15 Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions. The attitudes survey used Global Warming's Six Americas segmentation protocols (climatechangecommunication.org) to compare climate change attitudes of zoo and aquarium visitors with the American public (Leiserowitz et al., 2011). Our results reveal that visitors are receptive audiences for climate change education and want to do more to address climate change. Even these favorable audiences, however, perceive barriers to engaging in the issue, signifying the importance of meeting the learning needs of those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change, and not only of climate change 'deniers.' While 39% of the general public is 'concerned' or 'alarmed' about global warming, 64% of zoo and aquarium visitors fall into these two "Six Americas" segments. Visitors also differ from the national sample in key attitudinal characteristics related to global warming. For example, nearly two-thirds believe human actions are related to global warming, versus less than one-half of the general public; and approximately 60% think global warming will harm them personally, moderately or a great deal, versus less than 30% of the general public. Moreover, 69% of visitors would like to do more to address climate change. Despite zoo and aquarium visitors' awareness of climate change and motivation to address it, survey results indicate they experience barriers to

Celebrity Climate Contrarians: Understanding a keystone species in contemporary climate science-policy-public interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Boykoff, M. T.

2012-12-01

Since the 1980s, a keystone species called 'climate contrarians' has emerged and thrived. Through resistance to dominant interpretations of scientific evidence, and often outlier views on optimal responses to climate threats, contrarians have raised many meta-level questions: for instance, questions involve to what extent have their varied interventions been effective in terms of sparking a new and wise Copernican revolution; or do their amplified voices instead service entrenched carbon-based industry interests while they blend debates over 'climate change' with other culture wars? While the value of their influence has generated numerous debates, there is no doubt that climate contrarians have had significant influence on climate science, policy and public communities in ways that are larger than would be expected from their relative abundance in society. As such, a number of these actors have achieved 'celebrity status' in science-policy circles, and, at times, larger public spaces. This presentation focuses on how - particularly through amplified mass media attention to their movements - various outlier interventions have demonstrated themselves to be (often deliberately) detrimental to efforts that seek to enlarge rather than constrict the spectrum of possibility for mobilizing appropriate responses to ongoing climate challenges. Also, this work analyses the growth pathways of these charismatic megafauna through interview data and participant observations completed by the author at the 2011 Heartland Institute's Sixth International Conference on Climate Change. This provides detail on how outlier perspectives characterized as climate contrarians do work in these spaces under the guise of public intellectualism to achieve intended goals and objectives. The research undertaken and related in the presentation here seeks to better understand motivations that prop up these contrarian stances, such as possible ideological or evidentiary disagreement to the orthodox

Utilizing the social media data to validate 'climate change' indices

Science.gov (United States)

Molodtsova, T.; Kirilenko, A.; Stepchenkova, S.

2013-12-01

Reporting the observed and modeled changes in climate to public requires the measures understandable by the general audience. E.g., the NASA GISS Common Sense Climate Index (Hansen et al., 1998) reports the change in climate based on six practically observable parameters such as the air temperature exceeding the norm by one standard deviation. The utility of the constructed indices for reporting climate change depends, however, on an assumption that the selected parameters are felt and connected with the changing climate by a non-expert, which needs to be validated. Dynamic discussion of climate change issues in social media may provide data for this validation. We connected the intensity of public discussion of climate change in social networks with regional weather variations for the territory of the USA. We collected the entire 2012 population of Twitter microblogging activity on climate change topic, accumulating over 1.8 million separate records (tweets) globally. We identified the geographic location of the tweets and associated the daily and weekly intensity of twitting with the following parameters of weather for these locations: temperature anomalies, 'hot' temperature anomalies, 'cold' temperature anomalies, heavy rain/snow events. To account for non-weather related events we included the articles on climate change from the 'prestige press', a collection of major newspapers. We found that the regional changes in parameters of weather significantly affect the number of tweets published on climate change. This effect, however, is short-lived and varies throughout the country. We found that in different locations different weather parameters had the most significant effect on climate change microblogging activity. Overall 'hot' temperature anomalies had significant influence on climate change twitting intensity.

Alternative Australian climate change plans: The public's views

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carson, Richard T.; Louviere, Jordan J.; Wei, Edward

2010-01-01

Climate change has come to the forefront of Australian politics and there is now an active on-going policy debate about how to best reach a commonly agreed long term goal. This paper looks at five major dimensions of this debate and constructs policy options based on them. A discrete choice experiment approach was used with a representative sample from a major internet panel provider. Survey respondents made choices between pairs of policy options with different characteristics. They favored policies starting in 2010 rather than 2012, and spending 20% of revenue raised on energy-related R and D. They were almost evenly split on whether the plan should initially exempt the transport sector and two competing approaches that redistribute revenue from the plan, and, they opposed plans giving special treatment to energy-intensive sectors of the economy. A number of other policy relevant questions related to understanding Australian views and knowledge related to climate change also were asked.

Improving the reliability of fishery predictions under climate change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brander, Keith

2015-01-01

The increasing number of publications assessing impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and fisheries attests to rising scientific and public interest. A selection of recent papers, dealing more with biological than social and economic aspects, is reviewed here, with particular attention...... to the reliability of projections of climate impacts on future fishery yields. The 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report expresses high confidence in projections that mid- and high-latitude fish catch potential will increase by 2050 and medium confidence that low-latitude catch potential...... understanding of climate impacts, such as how to improve coupled models from physics to fish and how to strengthen confidence in analysis of time series...

Capturing Tweets on Climate Change: What is the role of Twitter in Climate Change Communication?

Science.gov (United States)

Ngo, A. M.; McNeal, K.; Luginbuhl, S.; Enteen, J.

2015-12-01

Climate change is a major environmental issue that is often discussed throughout the world using social media outlets such as Twitter. This research followed and collected tweets about climate change as they related to two events: (i) the June 18, 2015 release of the Encyclical by Pope Francis which included content about climate change and (ii) the upcoming COP21 conference, a United Nations climate change conference, to be held on Dec. 7-8, 2015 in Paris. Using a Twitter account and Ncapture we were able to collect tens of thousands of climate change related tweets that were then loaded into a program called Nvivo which stored the tweets and associated publically available user information. We followed a few major hashtags such as COP21, UNFCCC, @climate, and the Pope. We examined twitter users, the information sources, locations, number of re-tweets, and frequency of tweets as well as the category of the tweet in regard to positive, negative, and neutral positions about climate. Frequency analysis of tweets over a 10 day period of the Encyclical event showed that ~200 tweets per day were made prior to the event, with ~1000 made on the day of the event, and ~100 per day following the event. For the COP21 event, activity ranged from 2000-3000 tweets per day. For the Encyclical event, an analysis of 1100 tweets on the day of release indicated that 47% of the tweets had a positive perspective about climate change, 50% were neutral, 1% negative, and 2% were unclear. For the COP21 event, an analysis of 342 tweets randomly sampled from 31,721 tweets, showed that 53% of the tweets had a positive perspective about climate change, 12% were neutral, 13% negative, and 22% were unclear. Differences in the frequency and perspectives of tweets were likely due to the nature of the events, one a long-term and recurring international event and the other a single international religious-oriented event. We tabulated the top 10 tweets about climate change as they relate to these two

urbanization and climate chang carbon dioxide emission

African Journals Online (AJOL)

userpc

t efficient public urban mass transit that involves low carbon emissi individual car usage should be discouraged. ent, automobile density, climate change, global warming, greenhou e change .... Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano (Federal.

Does it matter if people think climate change is human caused?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel Hartter

2018-04-01

Full Text Available There is a growing consensus that climate is changing, but beliefs about the causal factors vary widely among the general public. Current research shows that such causal beliefs are strongly influenced by cultural, political, and identity-driven views. We examined the influence that local perceptions have on the acceptance of basic facts about climate change. We also examined the connection to wildfire by local people. Two recent telephone surveys found that 37% (in 2011 and 46% (in 2014 of eastern Oregon (USA respondents accept the scientific consensus that human activities are now changing the climate. Although most do not agree with that consensus, large majorities (85–86% do agree that climate is changing, whether by natural or human causes. Acceptance of anthropogenic climate change generally divides along political party lines, but acceptance of climate change more generally, and concerns about wildfire, transcend political divisions. Support for active forest management to reduce wildfire risks is strong in this region, and restoration treatments could be critical to the resilience of both communities and ecosystems. Although these immediate steps involve adaptations to a changing climate, they can be motivated without necessarily invoking human-caused climate change, a divisive concept among local landowners. Keywords: Climate change, Inland West, Public perception, Telephone survey, Wildfire, Working landscapes

A quantitative analysis of the causes of the global climate change research distribution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pasgaard, Maya; Strange, Niels

2013-01-01

investigates whether the need for knowledge on climate changes in the most vulnerable regions of the world is met by the supply of knowledge measured by scientific research publications from the last decade. A quantitative analysis of more than 15,000 scientific publications from 197 countries investigates...... the poorer, fragile and more vulnerable regions of the world. A quantitative keywords analysis of all publications shows that different knowledge domains and research themes dominate across regions, reflecting the divergent global concerns in relation to climate change. In general, research on climate change...... the distribution of climate change research and the potential causes of this distribution. More than 13 explanatory variables representing vulnerability, geographical, demographical, economical and institutional indicators are included in the analysis. The results show that the supply of climate change knowledge...

Climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1990-01-01

In this paper, the authors discuss in brief the magnitude and rate of past changes in climate and examine the various factors influencing climate in order to place the potential warming due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in context. Feedback mechanisms that can amplify or lessen imposed climate changes are discussed next. The overall sensitivity of climate to changes in forcing is then considered, followed by a discussion of the time-dependent response of the Earth system. The focus is on global temperature as an indicator for the magnitude of climatic change

Accounting for health in climate change policies: a case study of Fiji.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, Georgina; Bowen, Kathryn

2014-01-01

Climate change is expected to affect the health of most populations in the coming decades, having the greatest impact on the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the world. The Pacific islands, including Fiji, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The three major health impacts of climate change in Fiji explored in this study were dengue fever, diarrhoeal disease, and malnutrition, as they each pose a significant threat to human health. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent the Fiji National Climate Change Policy, and a selection of relevant sectoral policies, account for these human health effects of climate change. The study employed a three-pronged policy analysis to evaluate: 1) the content of the Fijian National Climate Change Policy and to what extent health was incorporated within this; 2) the context within which the policy was developed; 3) the relevant processes; and 4) the actors involved. A selection of relevant sectoral policies were also analysed to assess the extent to which these included climate change and health considerations. The policy analysis showed that these three health impacts of climate change were only considered to a minor extent, and often indirectly, in both the Fiji National Climate Change Policy and the corresponding National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, as well as the Public Health Act. Furthermore, supporting documents in relevant sectors including water and agriculture made no mention of climate change and health impacts. The projected health impacts of climate change should be considered as part of reviewing the Fiji National Climate Change Policy and National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, and the Public Health Act. In the interest of public health, this should include strategies for combating dengue fever, malnutrition, and water-borne disease. Related sectoral policies in water and agriculture should also be revised to consider climate change and its impact on human

Accounting for health in climate change policies: a case study of Fiji

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georgina Morrow

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Climate change is expected to affect the health of most populations in the coming decades, having the greatest impact on the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the world. The Pacific islands, including Fiji, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Objective: The three major health impacts of climate change in Fiji explored in this study were dengue fever, diarrhoeal disease, and malnutrition, as they each pose a significant threat to human health. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent the Fiji National Climate Change Policy, and a selection of relevant sectoral policies, account for these human health effects of climate change. Design: The study employed a three-pronged policy analysis to evaluate: 1 the content of the Fijian National Climate Change Policy and to what extent health was incorporated within this; 2 the context within which the policy was developed; 3 the relevant processes; and 4 the actors involved. A selection of relevant sectoral policies were also analysed to assess the extent to which these included climate change and health considerations. Results: The policy analysis showed that these three health impacts of climate change were only considered to a minor extent, and often indirectly, in both the Fiji National Climate Change Policy and the corresponding National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, as well as the Public Health Act. Furthermore, supporting documents in relevant sectors including water and agriculture made no mention of climate change and health impacts. Conclusions: The projected health impacts of climate change should be considered as part of reviewing the Fiji National Climate Change Policy and National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, and the Public Health Act. In the interest of public health, this should include strategies for combating dengue fever, malnutrition, and water-borne disease. Related sectoral policies in water and agriculture should

Climate Change and Baleen Whale Trophic Cascades in Greenland

Science.gov (United States)

2009-09-30

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Climate Change and Baleen Whale Trophic Cascades in Greenland...SUBTITLE Climate Change And Baleen Whale Trophic Cascades In Greenland 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S

Energy and climate change: the main analyses of Regards sur la Terre. An annual publication on sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacquet, P.; Tubiana, L.; Colombier, Michel; Loup, Jacques; Laponche, Bernard; Martin-Amouroux, Jean-Marie; Chateau, Bertrand; Kieken, Hubert; Kleiche, Mustapha; Heller, Thomas C.; Mathy, Sandrine; Hourcade, Jean-Charles; Goldemberg, Jose; Pizer, William A.

2007-01-01

In November 2006, the French Development Agency, AFD (Agence francaise de developpement) and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, IDDRI (Institut du developpement durable et des relations internationales) launched an annual publication on sustainable development in a global perspective, Regards sur la Terre, published by Les Presses de Sciences Po (Paris). Regards sur la Terre includes an analysis of the most important international events of the last twelve months in the field of sustainable development, along with a thematic section, which in the first edition focused on energy and climate change. This booklet presents the overall introduction of the 2007 publication and the introduction of its thematic section, as well as a selection of the main chapters dealing with the theme of energy and climate change. Contents: Awakening and crisis of confidence; Reorienting our Societies; Energy in the world: Challenges and prospects; Challenges and constraints for energy supply: The coal hard facts; Satisfying energy growth in emerging countries; Diversifying power generation in China; From Rio to Marrakech: Development in climate negotiations; An international coordination regime come what may; The perspective of developing countries; An American 'point of view'

Climate change 101 : understanding and responding to global climate change

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

To inform the climate change dialogue, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the Pew Center on the States have developed a series of brief reports entitled Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global Climate Change. These reports...

Climate Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Torben Valdbjørn; Hansen, Ernst Jan de Place

2011-01-01

This paper presents the effects of climate change relevant for Denmark, including the change in mean year values as well as the extent of maximum and minimum extremes. Described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the assumptions that the scenarios are based on were outlined...... and evaluated in a Danish context. The uncertainty of the scenarios leaves major challenges that, if not addressed and taken into account in building design, will grow far more serious as climate change progresses. Cases implemented in the Danish building stock illustrate adaptation to climate change...... and illustrate how building design can include mitigating measures to counteract climate change. Cases studied were individual buildings as well as the urban environment. Furthermore the paper describes some of the issues that must be addressed, as the building sector is investing in measures to adapt to climate...

Climatic change. What solutions?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vieillefosse, A.

2009-01-01

From 1990 to the present day, worldwide greenhouse gas emissions have increased by about 25%. Fighting climatic change has become an urgency: we only have 15 years in front of us to inflect the trajectory of worldwide emissions and to avoid a temperature rise of more than 2 deg. C during this century. Therefore, how is it possible to explain the shift between the need of an urgent action and the apparent inertia of some governing parties? How is it possible to implement a worldwide governance capable to answer the urgency of the fight against climatic change? These are the two questions that this pedagogical and concrete book tries to answer by analysing the different dimensions of climatic change and by making a first status of the building up of the international action, and in particular of the Kyoto protocol. For the post-2012 era, research and negotiations are in progress with the objective of reaching an agreement for the Copenhagen conference of December 2009. Several architectures are possible. This book shades light on the advantages and limitations of each of them with the possible compromises. It supplies a pluri-disciplinary approach of the international negotiations, often considered as complex by the general public. Content: 1 - understanding the climatic change stakes: climatic stakes, the main actors behind the figures, the technical-economical stakes; 2 - understanding the present day architecture of the fight against climatic change: strengths and weaknesses of the Kyoto protocol; encouraging research and technology spreading; the other action means in developing countries; 3 - what structure for a future international agreement?: the Bali negotiation process; the ideal vision: an improved Kyoto protocol; the pragmatic vision: individualized commitments; the negotiation space; preventing a planned fiasco. (J.S.)

Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Climate is the average weather in a place over a period of time. Climate change is major change in temperature, rainfall, snow, ... by natural factors or by human activities. Today climate changes are occurring at an increasingly rapid rate. ...

Local Climate Experts: The Influence of Local TV Weather Information on Climate Change Perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bloodhart, Brittany; Maibach, Edward; Myers, Teresa; Zhao, Xiaoquan

2015-01-01

Individuals who identify changes in their local climate are also more likely to report that they have personally experienced global climate change. One way that people may come to recognize that their local climate is changing is through information provided by local TV weather forecasters. Using random digit dialing, 2,000 adult local TV news viewers in Virginia were surveyed to determine whether routine exposure to local TV weather forecasts influences their perceptions of extreme weather in Virginia, and their perceptions about climate change more generally. Results indicate that paying attention to TV weather forecasts is associated with beliefs that extreme weather is becoming more frequent in Virginia, which in turn is associated with stronger beliefs and concerns about climate change. These associations were strongest for individuals who trust their local TV weathercaster as a source of information about climate change, and for those who identify as politically conservative or moderate. The findings add support to the literature suggesting that TV weathercasters can play an important role in educating the public about climate change.

Local Climate Experts: The Influence of Local TV Weather Information on Climate Change Perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Bloodhart, Brittany; Maibach, Edward; Myers, Teresa; Zhao, Xiaoquan

2015-01-01

Individuals who identify changes in their local climate are also more likely to report that they have personally experienced global climate change. One way that people may come to recognize that their local climate is changing is through information provided by local TV weather forecasters. Using random digit dialing, 2,000 adult local TV news viewers in Virginia were surveyed to determine whether routine exposure to local TV weather forecasts influences their perceptions of extreme weather in Virginia, and their perceptions about climate change more generally. Results indicate that paying attention to TV weather forecasts is associated with beliefs that extreme weather is becoming more frequent in Virginia, which in turn is associated with stronger beliefs and concerns about climate change. These associations were strongest for individuals who trust their local TV weathercaster as a source of information about climate change, and for those who identify as politically conservative or moderate. The findings add support to the literature suggesting that TV weathercasters can play an important role in educating the public about climate change. PMID:26551357

Multifarious networks in climate change research: scientists, policy makers and the public

OpenAIRE

Delicado, Ana

2011-01-01

This paper explores the networks of collaborations that are formed in climate change research, both within the scientific community and with the political and social spheres. It draws on the case of climate change research in a particular national setting, Portugal.

Genetic plant improvement and climate changes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magno Antonio Patto Ramalho

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The consequences of climate change for the agribusiness in Brazil have been widely debated. The issue isdiscussed in this publication to show the expected problems, particularly those associated with increases in temperature andwater stress. It is emphasized that the genetic improvement of plants, based on the experience in the past, has much tocontribute to mitigate these problems. To invest in the breeding of new cultivars, selected under stress conditions, is certainlythe best possible strategy for agriculture to cope with changes caused by climate alterations.

Climate Change - Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richardson, Katherine; Steffen, Will; Schellnhuber, Hans J.

Past societies have reacted when they understood that their own activities were causing deleterious environmental change by controlling or modifying the offending activities. The scientific evidence has now become overwhelming that human activities, especially the combustion of fossil fuels......, are influencing the climate in ways that threaten the well-being and continued development of human society. If humanity is to learn from history and to limit these threats, the time has come for stronger control of the human activities that are changing the fundamental conditions for life on Earth. To decide...... on effective control measures, an understanding of how human activities are changing the climate, and of the implications of unchecked climate change, needs to be widespread among world and national leaders, as well as in the public. The purpose of this report is to provide, for a broad range of audiences...

Nitrogen Discharge due to Climate Change and Land Cover Change

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Simulated model output for the figures in the associated publication. Data are SWAT model simulation results for different scenarios of land-use change and climate...

Climate change velocity underestimates climate change exposure in mountainous regions

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon Z. Dobrowski; Sean A. Parks

2016-01-01

Climate change velocity is a vector depiction of the rate of climate displacement used for assessing climate change impacts. Interpreting velocity requires an assumption that climate trajectory length is proportional to climate change exposure; longer paths suggest greater exposure. However, distance is an imperfect measure of exposure because it does not...

Impact of climate and land cover changes on tropospheric ozone air quality and public health in East Asia between 1980 and 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Y.; Tai, A. P. K.

2015-09-01

Understanding how historical climate and land cover changes have affected tropospheric ozone in East Asia would help constrain the large uncertainties associated with future East Asian air quality projections. We perform a series of simulations using a global chemical transport model driven by assimilated meteorological data and a suite of land cover and land use data to examine the public health effects associated with changes in climate, land cover, land use, and anthropogenic emissions between the 5-year periods 1981-1985 and 2007-2011 in East Asia. We find that between these two periods land cover change alone could lead to a decrease in summertime surface ozone by up to 4 ppbv in East Asia and ~ 2000 fewer ozone-related premature deaths per year, driven mostly by enhanced dry deposition resulting from climate- and CO2-induced increase in vegetation density, which more than offsets the effect of reduced isoprene emission arising from cropland expansion. Climate change alone could lead to an increase in summertime ozone by 2-10 ppbv in most regions of East Asia and ~ 6000 more premature deaths annually, mostly attributable to warming. The combined impacts (-2 to +12 ppbv) show that while the effect of climate change is more pronounced, land cover change could offset part of the climate effect and lead to a previously unknown public health benefit. While the changes in anthropogenic emissions remain the largest contributor to deteriorating ozone air quality in East Asia over the past 30 years, we show that climate change and land cover changes could lead to a substantial modification of ozone levels, and thus should come into consideration when formulating future air quality management strategies. We also show that the sensitivity of surface ozone to land cover change is more dependent on dry deposition than on isoprene emission in most of East Asia, leading to ozone responses that are quite distinct from that in North America, where most ozone

Free Markets, Property Rights and Climate Change: How to Privatize Climate Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graham Dawson

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The goal has been to devise a strategy that protects as much as possible the rights and liberties of all agents, both users of fossil fuels and people whose livelihoods and territories are at risk if the anthropogenic global warming (AGW hypothesis is true. To achieve this goal the standard climate policy instruments, taxes and emissions trading, should be discontinued. There are weaknesses in the theoretical perspectives used to justify these policy instruments and climate science cannot provide the knowledge that would be needed to justify their implementation. In their place I propose a privatised policy, based on Austrian and libertarian frameworks of thought, which share an interpretation of climate change as a putative interpersonal conflict rather than market failure. The use of fossil fuels, like any other economic activity, should be subject to side-constraints designed to avoid the infringement of other people’s property rights. Tort litigation on the basis of strict liability would protect these rights, insofar as they need protecting. By providing a public arena for the competitive testing of scientific hypotheses concerning climate change, such litigation would also promote the public understanding and even the advancement of climate science.

Climate Change Mitigation: Climate, Health, and Equity Implications of the Visible and the Hidden

OpenAIRE

Shonkoff, Seth Berrin

2012-01-01

Anthropogenic climate change and the mitigation strategies aimed to attenuate it are both issues of great importance for human rights, public health, and socioeconomic equity. To understand these concerns and to better inform policy and strategic action it is critical to explore: 1) the disparities in the costs and benefits of climate shifts; 2) the abilities of different populations to adapt to these shifts; and 3) the social and health equity dimensions of the climate change mitigation stra...

Understanding climatic change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fellous, J.L.; Gautier, C.; Andre, J.C.; Balstad, R.; Boucher, O.; Brasseur, G.; Chahine, M.T.; Chanin, M.L.; Ciais, P.; Corell, W.; Duplessy, J.C.; Hourcade, J.C.; Jouzel, J.; Kaufman, Y.J.; Laval, K.; Le Treut, H.; Minster, J.F.; Moore, B. III; Morel, P.; Rasool, S.I.; Remy, F.; Smith, R.C.; Somerville, R.C.J.; Wood, E.F.; Wood, H.; Wunsch, C.

2007-01-01

Climatic change is gaining ground and with no doubt is stimulated by human activities. It is therefore urgent to better understand its nature, importance and potential impacts. The chapters of this book have been written by US and French experts of the global warming question. After a description of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, GIEC in French) consensus, they present the past and present researches on each of the main component of the climate system, on the question of climatic change impacts and on the possible answers. The conclusion summarizes the results of each chapter. Content: presentation of the IPCC; greenhouse effect, radiation balance and clouds; atmospheric aerosols and climatic change; global water cycle and climate; influence of climatic change on the continental hydrologic cycle; ocean and climate; ice and climate; global carbon cycle; about some impacts of climatic change on Europe and the Atlantic Ocean; interaction between atmospheric chemistry and climate; climate and society, the human dimension. (J.S.)

Public Demand and Climate Change Policy Making in OECD Countries – From Dynamics of the Demand to Policy Responsiveness

OpenAIRE

Bianca Oehl

2015-01-01

Climate change is one of today’s major political challenges. The Kyoto Protocol assigned national emission reduction goals for the developed countries however national governments in these countries have implemented policies varying widely in range and ambition over time and across countries to meet their goals. Can this variation in policy making be explained by dierences in the typically taken for granted – but empirically often neglected – influence of public demand for climate protection?...

CLIMATE CHANGE, Change International Negociations?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Gao Xiaosheng

2009-01-01

@@ Climate change is one of key threats to human beings who have to deal with.According to Bali Action Plan released after the 2007 Bali Climate Talk held in Indonesia,the United Nations Framework on Climate Change(UNFCCC) has launched a two-year process to negotiate a post-2012 climate arrangement after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will seal a final deal on post-2012 climate regime in December,2009.For this,the United Nation Chief Ban Ki Moon called 2009"the year ofclimate change".

Climate change: Bio-technologies are facing a huge challenge. Why is climate changing? Control and measurement of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Soils at the heart of climate change. Between pollution and climate change, the survival of soil organisms. Modelling microbial degradation in soils to analyse greenhouse gas releases. A threat against plant health. The opinion of the seed industry. Truly living clouds. Language, the other stake of the struggle against climate changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salas y Melia, David; Delmotte, Marc; Chenu, Claire; Chevallier, Tiphaine; Mougin, Christian; Lamy, Isabelle; Caquet, Thierry; Garnier, Patricia; Sache, Ivan; Pagesse, Pierre; Amato, Pierre; Desprez, Basile; Vernet, Agnes

2015-01-01

As the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 decided to react to limit the irrecoverable global warming, this publication, through several articles, outlines that this issue has not progressed at all after 23 years on a political point of view, and has even regressed with respect to initially defined objectives, but has progressed in terms of understanding of climate change under the influence of our production modes, notably in the agriculture sector. Thus, the articles discuss or recall the origin and process of climate change, how greenhouse gas emissions are controlled and measured, how soil are impacted or play a role in climate change as the survival of soil organisms is at stake under the pressure of pollution and climate change, how climate change can be a threat for plants, how the seed industry perceives these issues, how micro-organisms present in the air and clouds are now a topic in atmosphere sciences. The last article discusses the importance of intelligibility of scientific publications on these issues

Scoping the proximal and distal dimensions of climate change on health and wellbeing.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, George Paterson; Reis, Stefan; Beck, Sheila Anne; Fleming, Lora Elderkin; Adger, William Neil; Benton, Timothy Guy; Depledge, Michael Harold

2017-12-05

The impacts of climate on health and wellbeing occur in time and space and through a range of indirect, complicated mechanisms. This diversity of pathways has major implications for national public health planning and influence on interventions that might help to mitigate and adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions, nationally and internationally. This paper draws upon evidence from public health and adverse impact studies across climate science, hydrology, agriculture, public health, and the social sciences. It presents a conceptual model to support decision-making by recognizing both the proximal and distal pathways from climate-induced environmental change to national health and wellbeing. The proximal and distal pathways associated with food security, migration and mobility illustrate the diverse climate change influences in different geographic locations over different timescales. We argue that greater realization and articulation of proximal and distal pathways should radically alter how climate change is addressed as a national and international public health challenge.

Making Grasslands Sustainable in Mongolia: Herders' Livelihoods and Climate Change

OpenAIRE

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

2014-01-01

The threats posed by climate change have significant impacts on Mongolia’s grassland ecosystems and herders’ livelihoods. This publication discusses the auses of climate change and its impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems for herders and the general public. It explains how good pasture management and livestock roductivity are important for increasing incomes and provides information on adaptation practices. It also identifies sustainable management practices that can increase communities’ re...

Companies and adaptation to climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourrier, Herve; Duchene, Patrice-Henry; Metcalf, Gerry; Deandreis, Celine; Hardelin, Julien; Vautard, Robert; Bailly, Boris; Gemenne, Francois; Peyrat, Olivier; Greppo, Fabien; Reysset, Bertrand; Beriot, Nicolas; Leonard, Damien; Colas, Julien; Tutenuit, Claire

2014-04-01

Whereas climate change will have significant consequences on various economic sectors (infrastructures, energy and water supply, agriculture, cities and buildings, and so on), population behaviours and uses will have to be deeply changed, and this is more particularly the case for enterprises and companies. This guide aims at presenting solutions to face the challenge of climate change for enterprises. In its first part, it outlines how our climate is already changing, gives an overview of main future climate trends in the World, indicates what will be the future climate in France, discusses the noticeable and brutal consequences for activities, resources and territories, outlines that adaptation to tomorrow's climate begins now, and discusses to which climate we'll have to adapt at the local level. In the second part, this publication explains why enterprises must adapt themselves to climate change: enterprises are in a changing environment, and must take a legal and standard framework into account, but this adaptation will have a cost. Adaptation also means uncertainty management, and enterprises are facing obstacles and brakes to adaptation. The last part describes how to implement a strategy of adaptation in an enterprise: resources for adaptation, integration of enterprise management, understanding needs to convince within the enterprise itself, assessment of vulnerability to climate change, how to define priorities for action, which options to choose to adapt the enterprise, how to implement the strategy and how to follow it up and assess it. Some sector-related sheets are provided in appendix. They indicate identified risks, potential impacts of national policies for enterprises, measures which can be freely implemented by enterprises, and identified opportunities for various sectors (health, agriculture, forest, coastal areas, fishery and aquaculture, energy and industry, transport infrastructure, town planning and built environment, tourism

Public health and climate change. The example of extreme weather events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pascal, M.; Pirard, P.; Medina, S.; Viso, A.C.; Caserio-Schonemann, C.; Beaudeau, P.

2013-01-01

Climate change may be considered as a key factor for environmental change, exposure to health risks and pathogens, consequently impairing the state of health among populations. Health surveillance Systems can be used 1) to trigger early warning Systems, 2) to create databases which improve scientific knowledge about the health impacts of climate change, 3) to identify and prioritize needs for intervention and adaptation measures, and 4) to evaluate these measures. InVS proposed a method to identify possible health risks and to assess the needs for strengthened health surveillance Systems, taking into account environment, individual and social behaviors, demography and health state. Extreme climate events are illustrated here. These events have short, medium and long term impacts that could be reduced through efficient prevention. To better understand these impacts and orientate prevention, interdisciplinary studies will be needed. (authors)

ClimateInterpreter.org: an online sharing platform with best practices and resources on effective climate change communication, climate change exhibits, and sustainability efforts at aquariums, zoos, and science museums

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, M. K.; MacKenzie, S.

2011-12-01

Many aquariums, zoos, museums, and other informal science education (ISE) centers across the country want to connect their visitors with the important issue of climate change. Communicating climate change and the science it embodies is no easy task though, and ISE institutions are seeking creative and collaborative ways to best interpret the issue with their audiences. Some of these institutions, particularly aquariums and zoos, have live specimens on exhibit that stand to be severely impacted by climate change. Others see it as an educational and moral imperative to address such an important issue affecting the world today, especially one so close to the core mission of their institution. Regardless, informal science educators have noticed that the public is increasingly coming to them with questions related to climate change, and they want to be able to respond as effectively as they can. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one partner in a coalition of aquariums, zoos, museums and informal science education institutions that are working together to present climate change to its visitors. These institutions hold enormous public trust as sources of sound scientific information. Whether it is through exhibitions like the Aquarium's Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea, interpretive and communication techniques to navigate challenging climate change discussions, or with sustainability planning and operational greening efforts, there is a concerted movement to improve the capacity of these institutions to respond to the issue. Ultimately, their goal is to inspire visitors in a way that positively impacts the country's discourse surrounding climate change, and helps steer our dialog toward a focus on solutions. In addition to the Hot Pink Flamingos exhibit, the Aquarium is also working with the coalition to build a website, www.climateinterpreter.org, that can serve as an online platform for sharing the experiences of what different partners have learned at

Misconceptions Surrounding Climate Change: A Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Templeton, C. M.; McNeal, K. S.; Libarkin, J.

2011-12-01

Misconceptions about climate change abound in every corner of society. The result manifests itself ranging from apprehension to total disregard for climate change conditions. According to several sources, however, a large percentage of the U. S. population do, indeed indicate some concern over global warming and climate change in general. These climate change misconceptions are numerous and include, to name a few; confusion between weather and climate, how greenhouse gases are affecting the earth, the effects of ozone depletion, earth's natural cycles, volcanic activity, nuclear waste and a host of other anthropogenic influences. This paper is a review of the current research literature relating to climate change misconceptions. These errant views will be addressed, cataloged, enumerated, and ranked to get a grasp on where the general population, politicians, scientists, and educators as well as students stand on informed climate change information. The categories where misconceptions arise have been identified in this literature review study and include the following: Natural cycles of the earth, ecological which include deforestation, urban development and any human intervention on the environment, educational - including teacher strategies, student understanding and textbook updates, emotional, ozone layer and its interactions, polar ice, political regulations, mandates and laws, pollution from human sources as well as from nature, religious beliefs and dogma and social beliefs. We suggest appropriate solutions for addressing these misconceptions, especially in the classroom setting, and broadly include available funding sources for work in climate change education. Some solutions include need for compilation of appropriate education resources and materials for public use, need for the development of educational materials that appropriately address the variety of publics, and need for programs that are conducting climate change education research and EPO work to

Disturbing Information and Denial in the Classroom and Beyond: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life

Science.gov (United States)

Norgaard, K. M.

2015-12-01

Global warming is the most significant environmental issue of our time, yet public response in Western nations has been meager. Why have so few taken any action? Most studies of public response to climate change have focused on information deficit approaches. Many in the general public and environmental community have presumed that the public's failure to engage is a function of lack of concern about climate change. Instead, using interviews and ethnographic research on how knowledge of climate change is experienced in everyday life I describe "the social organization of climate denial" and discuss how it impacts classroom learning and the broader social understanding of climate change. Disturbing emotions of guilt, helplessness and fear of the future arose when people were confronted with the idea of climate change. People then normalized these disturbing emotions by changing the subject of conversations, shifting their attention elsewhere, telling jokes, and drawing on stock social discourses that deflected responsibility to others. The difficulty people have in making sense of climate change is in direct relation to the social world around them. This research suggests that educational strategies in the classroom and for the general public that consider and target the social, cultural and political aspects of the meaning of climate change will be most effective (in addition to factors that affect individual cognition).

Improving Climate Change Communication Skills through Community Outreach

Science.gov (United States)

Hanrahan, J.

2015-12-01

While many undergraduate Atmospheric Science departments are expanding their curriculums to focus on the science of climate change, often overlooked is the need to educate students about how this topic can be effectively communicated to others. It has become increasingly difficult for young scientists to comfortably discuss this polarizing topic with people outside of the classroom. To address this, Atmospheric Science faculty at Lyndon State College are providing undergraduate students the opportunity to practice this important skill by reaching out to the local community. Over the past year, students have been meeting regularly to discuss climate change and its impacts, and to present this information to the general public at local schools and organizations. The group was organized with the primary goal of teaching undergraduate students about effective ways to communicate basic climate science to nonscientists, but to also improve public understanding of anthropogenic climate change while starting a conversation among young people in the community. We will identify lessons learned after one year, discuss effective strategies, and summarize student feedback.

Climate Change Conceptual Change: Scientific Information Can Transform Attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranney, Michael Andrew; Clark, Dav

2016-01-01

Of this article's seven experiments, the first five demonstrate that virtually no Americans know the basic global warming mechanism. Fortunately, Experiments 2-5 found that 2-45 min of physical-chemical climate instruction durably increased such understandings. This mechanistic learning, or merely receiving seven highly germane statistical facts (Experiment 6), also increased climate-change acceptance-across the liberal-conservative spectrum. However, Experiment 7's misleading statistics decreased such acceptance (and dramatically, knowledge-confidence). These readily available attitudinal and conceptual changes through scientific information disconfirm what we term "stasis theory"--which some researchers and many laypeople varyingly maintain. Stasis theory subsumes the claim that informing people (particularly Americans) about climate science may be largely futile or even counterproductive--a view that appears historically naïve, suffers from range restrictions (e.g., near-zero mechanistic knowledge), and/or misinterprets some polarization and (noncausal) correlational data. Our studies evidenced no polarizations. Finally, we introduce HowGlobalWarmingWorks.org--a website designed to directly enhance public "climate-change cognition." Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, Thomas M.

2016-01-01

Climate change (including climate variability) refers to regional or global changes in mean climate state or in patterns of climate variability over decades to millions of years often identified using statistical methods and sometimes referred to as changes in long-term weather conditions (IPCC, 2012). Climate is influenced by changes in continent-ocean configurations due to plate tectonic processes, variations in Earth’s orbit, axial tilt and precession, atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, solar variability, volcanism, internal variability resulting from interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and ice (glaciers, small ice caps, ice sheets, and sea ice), and anthropogenic activities such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use and their effects on carbon cycling.

A quantitative evaluation of the public response to climate engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Malcolm J.; Teagle, Damon A. H.; Feetham, Pamela M.

2014-02-01

Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase, with CO2 passing 400 parts per million in May 2013. To avoid severe climate change and the attendant economic and social dislocation, existing energy efficiency and emissions control initiatives may need support from some form of climate engineering. As climate engineering will be controversial, there is a pressing need to inform the public and understand their concerns before policy decisions are taken. So far, engagement has been exploratory, small-scale or technique-specific. We depart from past research to draw on the associative methods used by corporations to evaluate brands. A systematic, quantitative and comparative approach for evaluating public reaction to climate engineering is developed. Its application reveals that the overall public evaluation of climate engineering is negative. Where there are positive associations they favour carbon dioxide removal (CDR) over solar radiation management (SRM) techniques. Therefore, as SRM techniques become more widely known they are more likely to elicit negative reactions. Two climate engineering techniques, enhanced weathering and cloud brightening, have indistinct concept images and so are less likely to draw public attention than other CDR or SRM techniques.

Climate variability and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rind, D.

1990-01-01

Changes of variability with climate change are likely to have a substantial impact on vegetation and society, rivaling the importance of changes in the mean values themselves. A variety of paleoclimate and future climate simulations performed with the GISS global climate model is used to assess how the variabilities of temperature and precipitation are altered as climate warms or cools. In general, as climate warms, temperature variability decreases due to reductions in the latitudinal temperature gradient and precipitation variability increases together with the intensity of the hydrologic cycle. If future climate projections are accurate, the reduction in temperature variability will be minimized by the rapid change in mean temperatures, but the hydrologic variability will be amplified by increased evapotranspiration. Greater hydrologic variability would appear to pose a potentially severe problem for the next century

Tertiary Institutions in Ghana Curriculum Coverage on Climate Change: Implications for Climate Change Awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Boateng, C. A.

2015-01-01

Global problems such as climate change, which have deeper implications for survival of mankind on this planet, needs to be given wider attention in the quest for knowledge. It is expected that, improved knowledge derived from curriculum coverage may promote greater public awareness of such important global issue. This research aims at examining…

Impacts of climate change in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bresser, A.H.M.; Berk, M.M.; Van den Born, G.J.; Van Bree, L.; Van Gaalen, F.W.; Ligtvoet, W.; Van Minnen, J.G.; Witmer, M.C.H.

2005-10-01

The main conclusion of the study on the title subject is that the impacts of climatic change in the Netherlands are still limited. However, the impacts will be stronger in the next decades and will be even problematic at the end of this century. In this book an overview is given of probable changes in the climate for the Netherlands, danger for flooding in specific areas of the Netherlands, changes of the nature, impacts for agriculture, tourism and recreation, and industry and businesses, and risks for public health [nl

Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Climate Change in the Southeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

David Himmelfarb; John Schelhas; Sarah Hitchner; Cassandra Johnson Gaither; KathErine Dunbar; J. Peter Brosius

2014-01-01

Despite a global scientific consensus on the anthropogenic nature of climate change, the issue remains highly contentious in the United States, stifling public debate and action on the issue. Local perceptions of and attitudes toward climate change-how different groups of people outside of the professional climate science community make sense of changes in climate in...

Climate Change in the Preservice Teacher's Mind

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Julie L.; Bleicher, Robert E.

2013-01-01

Given the recent media attention on the public's shift in opinion toward being more skeptical about climate change, 154 preservice teachers' participated in an intervention in an elementary science methods course. Findings indicated that students developed a deeper level of concern about climate change. Their perceptions on the evidence…

The Governance of Climate Change Adaptation Through Urban Policy Experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chu, E.K.

2016-01-01

Climate change is increasingly posing risks to infrastructure and public services in cities across the global South. Building on ideas of policy experimentation at the nexus of institutional and transition theories, this paper assesses six climate change adaptation experiments across the cities of

Is your dam vulnerable to climate change? Using the PIEVC engineering protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourgeois, Gilles; Dickson, Stewart; Ness, Ryan; Lapp, David

2010-01-01

The potential impacts of climate change on public infrastructure are currently studied to advance planning and prioritization of adaption strategies. This paper investigated the potential vulnerability of the Claireville and G. Ross Lord dams and reservoirs by considering the projected character, its magnitude and its rate of change in future local climatic conditions, the sensitivity of infrastructure to the changes, and the built-in capacity of the infrastructure to absorb any net negative consequence from the predicted changes in climatic conditions. This study used the public infrastructure engineering vulnerability (PIEV) engineering protocol to study the vulnerabilities of both facilities to current climate, as well as future climate change at the 2050 time horizon. Recommendations were provided for actions to be taken to address the potential vulnerabilities that were identified. The project determined that the two dams have the capacity to withstand the existing and projected future climate.

U.S. Global Climate Change Impacts Report, Adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Pulwarty, R.

2009-12-01

Adaptation measures improve our ability to cope with or avoid harmful climate impacts and take advantage of beneficial ones, now and as climate varies and changes. Adaptation and mitigation are necessary elements of an effective response to climate change. Adaptation options also have the potential to moderate harmful impacts of current and future climate variability and change. The Global Climate Change Impacts Report identifies examples of adaptation-related actions currently being pursued in various sectors and regions to address climate change, as well as other environmental problems that could be exacerbated by climate change such as urban air pollution and heat waves. Some adaptation options that are currently being pursued in various regions and sectors to deal with climate change and/or other environmental issues are identified in this report. A range of adaptation responses can be employed to reduce risks through redesign or relocation of infrastructure, sustainability of ecosystem services, increased redundancy of critical social services, and operational improvements. Adapting to climate change is an evolutionary process and requires both analytic and deliberative decision support. Many of the climate change impacts described in the report have economic consequences. A significant part of these consequences flow through public and private insurance markets, which essentially aggregate and distribute society's risk. However, in most cases, there is currently insufficient robust information to evaluate the practicality, efficiency, effectiveness, costs, or benefits of adaptation measures, highlighting a need for research. Adaptation planning efforts such as that being conducted in New York City and the Colorado River will be described. Climate will be continually changing, moving at a relatively rapid rate, outside the range to which society has adapted in the past. The precise amounts and timing of these changes will not be known with certainty. The