Making behavioral science integral to climate science and action

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARUCH FISCHHOFF
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Behavioral Sciences ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Quantitative Estimates

Abstract The behavioral sciences were there at the beginning of the systematic study of climate change. However, in the ensuing quarter century, they largely faded from view, during which time public discourse and policy evolved without them. That disengagement and the recent reengagement suggest lessons for the future role of the behavioral sciences in climate science and policy. Looking forward, the greatest promise lies in projects that make behavioral science integral to climate science by: (1) translating behavioral results into the quantitative estimates that climate analyses need; (2) making climate research more relevant to climate-related decisions; and (3) treating the analytical process as a behavioral enterprise, potentially subject to imperfection and improvement. Such collaborations could afford the behavioral sciences more central roles in setting climate-related policies, as well as implementing them. They require, and may motivate, changes in academic priorities.

Science communication and mediatised environmental conflict: A cautionary tale

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252098513
Author(s):  
Claire Konkes ◽  
Kerrie Foxwell-Norton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Environmental Conflict ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
James Cook ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Tenured Position

When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a ‘whistleblower’, ‘contrarian academic’ and ‘hero of climate science denial’. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester’s theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates.

Changing minds about climate change: a pervasive role for domain-general metacognition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Tsakiris ◽  
Neza Vehar ◽  
Stephen M Fleming ◽  
Sophie De Beukelaer ◽  
Max Rollwage
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Prior Beliefs ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Face ◽  
Metacognitive Abilities ◽  
Insight Into

Updating one’s beliefs about the causes and effects of climate change is crucial for altering attitudes and behaviours. Importantly, metacognitive abilities - insight into the (in)correctness of one’s beliefs- play a key role in the formation of polarized beliefs. We investigated the role of domain-general and domain-specific metacognition in updating prior beliefs about climate change across the spectrum of climate change scepticism. We also considered the role of how climate science is communicated in the form of textual or visuo-textual presentations. We show that climate change scepticism is associated with differences in domain-general as well as domain-specific metacognitive abilities. Moreover, domain-general metacognitive sensitivity influenced belief updating in an asymmetric way : lower domain-general metacognition decreased the updating of prior beliefs, especially in the face of negative evidence. Our findings highlight the role of metacognitive failures in revising erroneous beliefs about climate change and point to their adverse social effects.

scholarly journals Agriculture's Contribution to Climate Change and Role in Mitigation Is Distinct From Predominantly Fossil CO2-Emitting Sectors

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lynch ◽  
Michelle Cain ◽  
David Frame ◽  
Raymond Pierrehumbert
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Agricultural Emissions ◽  
Stock Pollutant ◽  
Global Temperature Change

Agriculture is a significant contributor to anthropogenic global warming, and reducing agricultural emissions—largely methane and nitrous oxide—could play a significant role in climate change mitigation. However, there are important differences between carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a stock pollutant, and methane (CH4), which is predominantly a flow pollutant. These dynamics mean that conventional reporting of aggregated CO2-equivalent emission rates is highly ambiguous and does not straightforwardly reflect historical or anticipated contributions to global temperature change. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of different sectors emitting different gases are similarly obscured by the common means of communicating emission reduction scenarios using CO2-equivalence. We argue for a shift in how we report agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and think about their mitigation to better reflect the distinct roles of different greenhouse gases. Policy-makers, stakeholders, and society at large should also be reminded that the role of agriculture in climate mitigation is a much broader topic than climate science alone can inform, including considerations of economic and technical feasibility, preferences for food supply and land-use, and notions of fairness and justice. A more nuanced perspective on the impacts of different emissions could aid these conversations.

scholarly journals Computer-assisted detection and classification of misinformation about climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Coan ◽  
Constantine Boussalis ◽  
John Cook ◽  
Mirjam Nanko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Detailed History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Computer Assisted Detection ◽  
History Of

A growing body of scholarship investigates the role of misinformation in shaping the debate on climate change. Our research builds on and extends this literature by 1) developing and validating a comprehensive taxonomy of climate misinformation, 2) conducting the largest content analysis to date on contrarian claims, 3) developing a computational model to accurately detect specific claims, and 4) drawing on an extensive corpus from conservative think-tank (CTTs) websites and contrarian blogs to construct a detailed history of misinformation over the past 20 years. Our study finds that climate misinformation produced by CTTs and contrarian blogs has focused on attacking the integrity of climate science and scientists and, increasingly, has challenged climate policy and renewable energy. We further demonstrate the utility of our approach by exploring the influence of corporate and foundation funding on the production and dissemination of specific contrarian claims.

scholarly journals Conceptualization and Evaluation of a School Project on Climate Science in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareike Schauss ◽  
Sandra Sprenger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Epistemological Beliefs ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
School Project ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Anchored in the thirteenth of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), climate change is one of the key content areas in education for sustainable development. This evaluation study describes a school project that introduces students to scientific work and, more specifically, to scientific research methods in climate research. Using a pre-post design, the evaluation uses a scale measuring epistemological beliefs, as well as two other scales addressing the relevance of climate change in society and career prospects in the field of climate research. The quantitative questionnaire data indicate an increase in future career aspirations in the field of climate research. The qualitative interview data reveal positive changes in the understanding of science and show that an understanding of the nature of science can be promoted.

scholarly journals Changing climate change: The carbon budget and the modifying-work of the IPCC

2020 ◽  
pp. 030631272094193
Author(s):  
Bård Lahn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Carbon Budget ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
Global Carbon Budget ◽  
Scientific Experts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Global Carbon

Over the last 10 years, the concept of a global ‘carbon budget’ of allowable CO2 emissions has become ubiquitous in climate science and policy. Since it was brought to prominence by the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC, the carbon budget has changed how climate change is enacted as an issue of public concern, from determining the optimal rate of future emissions to establishing a fixed limit for how much emissions should be allowed before they must be stopped altogether. Exploring the emergence of the carbon budget concept, this article shows how the assessment process of the IPCC has offered scientific experts the means to modify how the climate issue is problematized, and discusses the implications of this ‘modifying-work’ for the politics of climate change. It finds that the ‘modified climate issue’ must be seen as an outcome of the ordinary work within established scientific and political institutions, and the agency these institutions afford scientists to enact the issue differently. On this basis, it argues that the case of the carbon budget holds important insights not only for the relationship between climate science and policy, but also for the pragmatist literature on ‘issue formation’ in STS.

Role of behavioral sciences in development of professionalism among MBBS students

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Ammara Butt ◽  
Abid Ashar
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
P Value ◽  
Behavioral Sciences ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Students Attitudes

Background: Professionalism is a global quality expected in medical students’ along with clinical skills. Behavioral sciences have been included in 3rd year MBBS curriculum since 2014 at FJMU. The purpose of this change is to enhance Professionalism formally in addition to other areas of the subject. This study aims to determine effectiveness of studying behavioral sciences as a subject in enhancing elements of Professionalism. Subjects and Methods: The mixed-methods study was used and a sample of 240 3rd year medical students was taken by convenient sampling. In the first (quantitative) phase of the study, Penn State College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire (PSCOM-PQ) was administered before and after studying behavioral sciences as a subject, to collect pre and post statistical results about students’ attitudes towards professionalism. The results were analyzed by paired sample t-test. In the second (qualitative) phase, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted to reveal the reasons for professionalism development and role of Behavioral Sciences in its development. 8 students were selected by purposeful homogeneous sampling technique. FGD session was audio-taped and transcribed, finally thematic analysis was done. Results: The results showed highly significant increase (p-value= 0.00, t= -74.39, mean= -72, SD= 14.99) in the scores of Professionalism after studying behavioral sciences as a subject. The broad themes identified by FGD were “Professionalism Related Skills Learned through Behavioral Sciences” and “Modes of Information Transfers’ Role in Professionalism Understanding”. The professional skills conceptualized by the students included emotional stability, empathy, psychoeducation, confidentiality, competency and sense of responsibility. The participants felt that professionalism develops by the means of lectures, workshops, role plays, modeling and formal assessment sessions. Conclusion: Study of behavioral science has significant effect in the development of professionalism among MBBS students and is well received by third year MBBS students.

ICNet Global: Infrastructure and Climate Networks of Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Stoner ◽  
Jennifer Jacobs ◽  
Jo Sias ◽  
Gordon Airey ◽  
Katharine Hayhoe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Infrastructure ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
The World

<p>Climate change is already impacting the performance and integrity of transportation infrastructure around the world and is anticipated to have serious ramifications for infrastructure safety, environmental sustainability, economic vitality, mobility and system reliability. These impacts will disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and urban locations as well as compromising the resilience of the larger interconnected physical, cyber, and social infrastructure networks. For this reason, increasing the resilience of transportation infrastructure to current and future weather and climate extremes is a global priority.</p><p>The complexity of this challenge requires a convergence approach to foster collaboration and innovation among technically and socially diverse researchers and practitioners. The multi-institutional <strong>ICNet Global</strong> Network of Networks unites domestic and international research and practice networks to facilitate integrated engineering, climate science, and policy research to advance the development of resilient transportation infrastructure and systems. ICNet Globalcollaborators represent networks based in Korea, Europe, United Kingdom, and the United States and link researchers at the forefront of scientific, engineering, and policy research frontiers, drawing expertise from many disciplines and nations to share and enhance best practices for transportation resilience.</p><p><strong>ICNet Global’s</strong> long-term mission is to prepare the world’s existing and future transportation infrastructure for a changing climate. To that end, we are working to: (1) build a network of existing research networks who are tackling the challenges climate change poses to transportation infrastructure; (2) establish a common base-level knowledge, capacity, and vision to support the convergence of novel and diverse ideas, approaches, and technologies for creating climate resilient transportation infrastructure; and (3) grow the next generation of critical and diverse thinkers with the expertise to address and solve climate-related infrastructure challenges. Although just one year into our work, and dispite challenges represented by COVID-19, we have surveyed over 100 potential members worldwide to learn about fields of interest and held five productive virtual workshops to discuss current research, how to encorporate climate change information into engineering education, and how practitioners are currently including climate information into planning and design. In this presentation we highlight our goals and recent accomplishments while laying out future plans and inviting interested researchers and practitioners to join us.</p>

Mapping the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation: a multilevel approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julija Winschel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Ceo Compensation ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
Research Propositions

Purpose In view of the current climate change emergency and the growing importance of the climate-related accountability of companies, this paper aims to advance a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of carbon-related chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. Design/methodology/approach Building on the agency-theoretical perspective on executive compensation and existing work in the fields of management, corporate governance, cultural studies, and behavioral science, this paper derives a multilevel framework of the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation. Findings This paper maps the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation at the societal, organizational, group, and individual levels of analysis. It also provides research propositions on the determinants that can support and challenge the implementation of this instrument of environmental corporate governance. Originality/value In the past literature, the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation have remained largely unexplored. This paper contributes to the academic discussion on environmental corporate governance by showcasing the role of interlinkages among the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation and the possible countervailing impacts. In view of the complex interdisciplinary nature of climate change impact, this paper encourages businesses practitioners and regulators to intensify their climate change mitigation efforts and delineates the levers at their disposal.

Tackling climate-science learning through futures thinking

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Simon Taylor ◽  
Ben Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
School Students ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Images Of The Future

This study examined the role of a future-oriented scenario with secondary school students using diorama construction which included climate-change knowledge and envisioning alternative futures. To explore the potential role of futures-thinking modelling, students from one class participated in a 12-week cross-curricular inquiry with their teachers. Jensen’s (2002) dimensions of action-oriented knowledge are used to examine the climate-change knowledge developed by the students. Four common images of the future (Dator, 2014) are incorporated as models to forecast alternative futures. The findings suggest the value of future-oriented dioramas for developing climate-change understanding and futures thinking.

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