Evaluating Public Attitudes and Farmers’ Beliefs towards Climate Change Adaptation: Awareness, Perception, and Populism at European Level

The scientific understanding of climate change is firmly established; it is occurring, it is primarily due to human activities, and it poses potentially serious risks to human and natural systems. Nevertheless, public understanding of this phenomenon varies widely among farmers and the public, the two-target audience of this paper. This paper introduces two research questions: (1) How climate change is perceived by public-farmers’ nexus; and (2) How perception and populism (as a thin-ideology moved by social forces) interact? In order to address both questions, we review insights from different sources (literature, research projects, and public opinion services) over the last 10 years. The results proved how public experience of climate change is interdependent with the belief that climate change is happening. What is also notable is that the greater the years of farmers’ farming experiences, the greater the percentage rate of their climate change awareness. Differences among farmers and public perceptions were also noted. Uncertainty, coupled with skepticism, the media, and political will, are common findings when asking to farmers and the public for the main weaknesses in adaptation to climate change. However, scientific consensus, meteorological data, barriers to adaptation, and the role of technology are subjects in which both differ.

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Should You Be a Public Scientist?

10.1093/oso/9780197571316.003.0029 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 375-380

Author(s):

Dennis Meredith

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Resource Depletion ◽

Public Understanding Of Science ◽

Public Understanding ◽

The Public ◽

It Impacts ◽

Global Problems ◽

The Media ◽

Understanding Of Science

Deciding whether to be a “public scientist”—using the media spotlight to highlight important issues—means deciding whether one is a natural explainer. Also, it must be decided how much time and effort can be committed to such outreach and how it impacts research and other activities. Explaining research does offer satisfactions, in that the researcher is contributing to public understanding of science. One problem is that the coverage of science and technology is small and shrinking. That said, opportunities to reach the public directly through websites and social media are considerable. The role of public scientists and the importance of explaining research in general are becoming ever more critical because failure to bridge the information gulf between researchers and the public will hamper, perhaps tragically, our ability to solve the massive global problems we face—climate change, resource depletion, ecological damage, food security, and disease.

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Media framing of human trafficking

Megatrend revija ◽

10.5937/megrev2101043d ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 43-62

Author(s):

Anđelija Đukić

Keyword(s):

Human Trafficking ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Sexual Exploitation ◽

Media Framing ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Media Frames ◽

The Public ◽

The Usa ◽

The Media

In recent decades, there has been notably increased engagement of the international community in combating human trafficking, which has also been contributed by the media. The role of the media is reflected in building certain public attitudes and influencing political decision-making. Based on the selected literature, the paper considers the media framing of human trafficking from the 1990s to the present. The media decides on how to approach trafficking, content and causes, information sources, generating and presenting alternative solutions process, as well as motivational procedures for initiating actions of the public and politicians, thus creating diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames. Based on the research, it is concluded that media frames of human trafficking are not holistic but segmental, and instead of a comprehensive approach, stereotypes are presented in which trafficking is identified with sexual exploitation or considered as the consequence of migration or organized crime actions. This harms the victims, makes the identification of all perpetrators difficult, and narrows the focus of the suppression efforts. It is noted that in the relations between the media, the public and the authorities, in the process of creating a policy and implementing solutions for combating, there are significant influences of policy-makers on media framing, and thus on public attitudes, which provides support and legitimacy of current or future political decisions. In order to illustrate the diversity of media representation of human trafficking, as a COM-plex phenomenon and the possibility of different analyses of media framing, the main findings of several studies in the USA, EU, and Serbia are presented.

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Adaptation to Climate Change and Regional Planning: A Scrutiny of Sectoral Instruments

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12093804 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 3804 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Antonio Ledda ◽

Elisabetta Di Cesare ◽

Giovanni Satta ◽

Gianluca Cocco ◽

Giovanna Calia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Regional Planning ◽

Spatial Planning ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Planning Processes ◽

European Mediterranean Region

Adaptation to climate change means adjustment of human and natural systems to climatic actual or expected events, in order to minimize damage or maximize benefit. Adaptation implies involvement, coordination, and cooperation of different actors and sectors. Multi-actor collaboration usually characterizes the drafting of regional plans, which act as bridges between national and local administrative levels. Regional administrations address resilience issues, through spatial planning processes. This study focuses on the regional plans adopted by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy), south European Mediterranean region, an area that will be negatively affected by climate change in the coming decades. We aim at proposing a method for scrutinizing regional plans related to spatial planning issues, by using criteria rooted in the scientific literature and adaptation strategies. We found out that (i) the scientific literature did not sufficiently address the role of regional plans in the context of adaptation to climate change and (ii) the method proposed and applied in this study highlights whether some key adaptation issues are included in the plans, and might make aware planners and policy makers of basic information concerning the interplay ‘regional planning vs. adaptation to climate change’.

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A Simple Strategy to Communicate about Climate Attribution

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society ◽

10.1175/bams-d-19-0174.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 (6) ◽

pp. E949-E953

Author(s):

Rachel Dryden ◽

M. Granger Morgan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Discourse ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Weather Extremes ◽

The Public ◽

Simple Strategy ◽

Weather Forecasters ◽

Weather And Climate ◽

The Difference

Abstract Hurricane Harvey and other recent weather extremes stimulated extensive public discourse about the role of anthropogenic climate change in amplifying, or otherwise modifying, such events. In tandem, the scientific community has made considerable progress on statistical “climate attribution.” However, explaining these statistical methods to the public has posed challenges. Using appropriately designed “spinner boards,” we find that even members of the general public who do not understand the difference between weather and climate are readily able to understand basic concepts of attribution and explain those concepts to others. This includes both understanding and explaining the way in which the probability of an extreme weather event may increase as a result of climate change and explaining how the intensity of hurricanes can be increased. If properly developed and used by TV weather forecasters and news reporters, this method holds the potential to significantly improve public understanding of climate attribution.

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Communication, the media and deliberation

10.1332/policypress/9781447337201.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 159-180

Author(s):

Tim Marshall ◽

Tim Marshall

Keyword(s):

Two Dimensions ◽

Public Deliberation ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Extensive Experience ◽

The Public ◽

The Press ◽

Neutral Process ◽

The Media

Part of the processes analysed in chapters 6 and 7 concerns the communication and mediation of ideas and policies. This is not an innocent or neutral process, but something which can affect deeply the content of any field being communicated and mediated. This chapter examines two dimensions of these activities. One focus is on the media, including the range of communication fields affecting planning. Particular study is made of the role of the press centrally and locally. The impending demise of the local press in Britain is studied, noting the problematic effects for the public understanding of planning. The second focus is on the actual and potential roles of public deliberation and participation. It is argued that there is scope to improve this considerably, working on the foundation of extensive experience built up nationally and internationally over recent decades.

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Public perceptions of who counts as a scientist for controversial science

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/0963662519856768 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (7) ◽

pp. 797-811 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Brianne Suldovsky ◽

Asheley Landrum ◽

Natalie Jomini Stroud

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Media Coverage ◽

Political Ideology ◽

Genetically Modified Organisms ◽

The United States ◽

Public Perceptions ◽

The Public ◽

The Us ◽

Science Media

In an era where expertise is increasingly critiqued, this study draws from the research on expertise and scientist stereotyping to explore who the public considers to be a scientist in the context of media coverage about climate change and genetically modified organisms. Using survey data from the United States, we find that political ideology and science knowledge affect who the US public believes is a scientist in these domains. Our results suggest important differences in the role of science media attention and science media selection in the publics “scientist” labeling. In addition, we replicate previous work and find that compared to other people who work in science, those with PhDs in Biology and Chemistry are most commonly seen as scientists.

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What Affects Chinese Residents’ Perceptions of Climate Change?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10124712 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 4712 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jinjia Wu ◽

Jiansheng Qu ◽

Hengji Li ◽

Li Xu ◽

Hongfen Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Related Factors ◽

Climate Change Risk ◽

Climate Governance ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

National Education ◽

The Public ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation

The theme of global sustainable development has changed from environmental management to climate governance, and relevant policies on climate governance urgently need to be implemented by the public. The public understanding of climate change has become the prerequisite and basis for implementing various climate change policies. In order to explore the affected factors of climate change perception among Chinese residents, this study was conducted across 31 provinces and regions of China through field household surveys and interviews. Combined with the residents’ perception of climate change with the possible affected factors, the related factors affecting Chinese residents’ perception of climate change were explored. The results show that the perceptive level of climate change of Chinese residents is related to the education level and the household size of residents. Improving public awareness of climate change risk in the context of climate change through multiple channels will also help to improve residents’ awareness of climate change. On the premise of improving the level of national education, improving education on climate change in school education and raising awareness of climate change risk among dependents will help to improve the level of Chinese residents’ awareness of climate change, which could be instrumental in promoting public participation in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.

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