Public strongUnderstandingstrong of Climate Change in the United States.pdfVIP

Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States Elke U. Weber Columbia University Paul C. Stern National Research Council This article considers scientific and public understand- Research Board, 1979, p. vii). In 1987, Congress passed ings of climate change and addresses the following the Global Climate Protection Act and directed the En- question: Why is it that while scientific evidence has vironmental Protection Agency to propose to Congress a accumulated to document global climate change and coordinated national policy on global climate change scientific opinion has solidified about its existence and and the Secretary of State to coordinate diplomatic ef- causes, U.S. public opinion has not and has instead forts to combat global warming. The Global Change become more polarized? Our review supports a con- Research Act of 1990 established a major national re- structivist account of human judgment. Public under- search program to study global environmental change, standing is affected by the inherent difficulty of under- including climate change, its causes, its effects, and standing climate change, the mismatch between people’s possible responses. usual modes of understanding and the task, and, partic- ularly in the United States, a continuing societal strug- Scientific Understanding of gle to shape the frames and mental models people use to Climate Change understand the phenomena. We conclude by discussing ways in which psychology can help to im