perceptions

Slowing human-caused climate change requires decisive action. But according to psychologists, the gradual rise in global temperatures can lead to climate apathy, especially among those who don’t face frequent climate disasters.

Climate apathy is a general indifference or lack of emotional or behavioral response to climate change and environmental issues. People experiencing climate apathy may feel disconnected, overwhelmed, powerless, or simply uninterested in climate issues, leading them to avoid taking action or engaging in conversations about it.

A new study by researchers from UCLA and Princeton University looked into ways to effectively communicate about climate change. The research team found that presenting people with continuous data, like rising temperatures in a town, gave them only a vague sense of gradual change. But showing them binary data—like whether a lake froze or not each winter—illustrated the change more effectively.

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, the researchers showed participants either temperature graphs or lake-freezing data for fictional and real towns in order to measure how each format affected their perceptions of climate impact. Participants who saw whether lakes froze rated climate change as more impactful—12% higher on average—than those who saw only temperature data.

By focusing on the increasing rate of once-rare events, the researchers hope that the same temperature data that once led to climate apathy may instead help communities care more about the climate crisis.

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UCLA study: How to break through climate apathy

Photo, posted November 20, 2008, courtesy of Brad Saunders via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Global carbon dioxide emissions increased between 2010 and 2018. The largest contributor to this increase was the power sector as electricity demand around the world continued to grow. The second largest contributor to increased emission turns out to be SUVs, even while emissions for other cars actually decreased.

During that time period, SUVs more than doubled their global market share from 17% to 39% and their annual emissions rose to more than 700 million tons of CO₂, which is more than the yearly total emission of the UK and the Netherlands combined.

This dramatic shift toward bigger, heavier SUVs has offset both efficiency improvements in small cars and savings from electric vehicles. If SUV drivers were a nation, they would rank 7^th in the world for carbon emissions.

SUVs are bigger, they are heavier, and their aerodynamics are poor. As a result, it takes more gas to drive them. They started to become popular in the 1980s – mostly in American suburbia – but now they have become globally popular.

The demand for SUVs is thought to be driven by perceptions of heightened safety or increased social status. There is also the marketing and business strategy of manufacturers who obtain larger profit margins in the SUV segment. Of course, for at least some consumers, the utility aspects of sport utility vehicles are actually important and not just the status.

For whatever reasons, SUVs are likely to be extremely popular for the foreseeable future as demand for sedans continues to decline. Fortunately, electric SUVs are beginning to enter the market – including next year’s mass-market priced Tesla Model Y. Such cars are the best solution to emissions from SUVs.

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Demand for SUVs a Major Contributor to the Increase in Global CO2 Emissions

Photo, posted May 9, 2017, courtesy of Yonkers Honda via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.