Promoting Climate Actions: A Cognitive-Constraints Approach

Many Americans do not view climate change as a threat requiring urgent action. Moreover, among U.S. conservatives, higher science literacy is paradoxically associated with higher anthropogenic climate-change skepticism. The present study harnessed the power of two cognitive constraints essential to belief formation and revision to design educational materials that can mitigate these problems. The key role of the coherence and causal-invariance constraints, which map onto two narrative proclivities that anthropologists have identified as universal, predicts that climate-change information embedded in scientific explanations of (indisputable) everyday observations within a coherent personal moral narrative, juxtaposed with reasoners’ typically less coherent explanations, will be more persuasive than climate-change information by itself. An experiment conducted in U.S. states with the highest level of climate skepticism demonstrates that across the political spectrum, conveying science information using materials that leverage these constraints raises both appreciation of science and willingness to take pro-climate actions.

Stand out of my sunlight: The mediating role of climate change conspiracy beliefs in the relationship between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science

Despite the scientific consensus about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there are still obstacles hindering society from acknowledging the severity of the situation. Notably, previous research suggests that climate change threats can cause people to display ethnocentric reactions to preserve the ingroup’s interests. In this research, we investigate the relation between collective narcissism and attitudes towards climate science. We argue that national collective narcissism is negatively associated with the acceptance of climate science. We further hypothesized that this relation might be mediated by conspiracy beliefs about climate change, because narcissistic identifiers are prone to hold conspiracy beliefs. In a pilot study ( N = 409), we found that national collective narcissism was significantly associated with climate change conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1 ( N = 295), climate change conspiracy beliefs mediated the negative relation between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science. In Study 2 ( N = 375), this mediation was replicated when controlling for other forms of climate skepticism. Lastly, general conspiracy mentality did not mediate this relation, which emphasizes the importance of considering the specificity of climate change conspiracy theories (rather than generic propensity to believe in conspiracy theories) in understanding distrust of climate science.

On the Socio-Cultural Determinants of Polish Entrepreneurs’ Attitudes towards the Development of Renewable Energy: Business, Climate Skepticism Ideology and Climate Change

This article analyses the business community in Poland and their views on climate change and the objectives of the European Green Deal (EGD). The authors focus on the analysis of the attitude of entrepreneurs towards the cultural and ideological stereotypes promoted by climate denialists. This article shows that the ideological factor may play a certain role in shaping the attitudes of entrepreneurs towards energy transition. The research was carried out on a sample of 400 entrepreneurs. The research results indicate that the ideological factor is of particular importance among entrepreneurs who are concerned about the costs of energy transition and the expenditure related to the implementation of the EGD for economic reasons. According to the authors, the stereotypes promoted by climate sceptics may find fertile ground, particularly when accompanied by fears of additional financial costs. Attitudes towards the goals of energy transition among entrepreneurs usually differ depending on the size of the company: representatives of smaller companies, who have greater concerns about their economic position, are more likely to present the views of climate sceptics. Acceptance for the theory of climate sceptics may also be influenced by the industry sector: those who may lose out on energy transition, such as representatives of the mining industry, may share the myths of climate denialists.

Carbon Vitalism

This article names and examines carbon vitalism, a strain of climate denial centered on the moral recuperation of carbon dioxide—and thus fossil fuels. Drawing on interconnections between CO2, plant life, and human breath, carbon vitalists argue that carbon dioxide is not pollution but the stuff of life itself and thus possesses ethical and ecological standing. This philosophy contains a poetics of denial that is too often overlooked by studies of climate skepticism focusing narrowly on industry funding. Accordingly, this article develops a reparative theory of climate denial, asking what values and relations are gathered together within carbon vitalist speech and how speakers work to sustain these connections. Through close readings of carbon vitalist media and interviews with key figures in its network, the article demonstrates how the body is central to carbon vitalism’s rhetorical and emotional framing of ecological interdependence and epistemological populism. As such, carbon vitalism in effect reenacts long-established feminist appeals to the body (though to decidedly different political purposes). The article concludes by evaluating how the climate movement could both challenge and remobilize these logics, exploring what this corporeal turn in climate denial means for feminist and antiracist theories of environmental justice and the body.

The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change, Robin Globus Veldman (2019)

Review of: The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change, Robin Globus Veldman (2019) Oakland: University of California Press, 332 pp., ISBN 978-0-52030-367-6, p/bk, $29.95

The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change, Robin Globus Veldman (2019)

Review of: The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change, Robin Globus Veldman (2019) Oakland: University of California Press, 332 pp., ISBN 978-0-52030-367-6, p/bk, $29.95

Stand out of my Sunlight: The Mediating Role of Climate Change Conspiracy Beliefs in the Relationship between National Collective Narcissism and Acceptance of Climate Science

Despite the scientific consensus about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there are still obstacles hindering society from acknowledging the severity of the situation. Notably, previous research suggests that climate change threats can cause people to display ethnocentric reaction to preserve the ingroup’s interests. In this research, we investigate the relation between collective narcissism and attitudes towards climate science. We argue that national collective narcissism is negatively associated with the acceptance of climate science. We further hypothesized that this relation might be mediated by conspiracy beliefs about climate change, because narcissistic identifiers are prone to hold conspiracy beliefs. In a pilot Study (N = 409), we found that national collective narcissism was significantly associated with climate change conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1 (N = 295), climate change conspiracy beliefs mediated the negative relation between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science. In Study 2 (N = 375), this mediation was replicated when controlling for other forms of climate skepticism. Lastly, general conspiracy mentality did not mediate this relation, which emphasizes the importance of considering the specificity of climate change conspiracy theories (rather than generic propensity to believe in conspiracy theories) in understanding distrust toward climate science.