A Call to Arms for Climate Change? How Military Service Member Concern About Climate Change Can Inform Effective Climate Communication

Motta, Matthew; Ralston, Robert; Spindel, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/17524032.2020.1799836

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Moreover, it should be the case that EJC should be associated with, yet analytically distinct from, measures that assess concern about the effects of climate change in other domains (discriminant validity). Specifically, while I would expect EJC to be correlated with more general concerns about the social and environmental effects of climate change (e.g., the idea that melting ice caps may cause sea levels to rise), as both measures pertain to concern about climate change and its potential effects, the effects of EJC on more specific concerns about the role that climate change might play in undermining national security (e.g., damaging the structural integrity of naval bases; see Motta et al, 2021) should be relatively muted after accounting for the role of concern about the effects of a changing climate more generally.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, for the purposes of assessing the proposed EJC scale’s discriminant validity, I include a series of questions that measure concern about the effects of climate change outside of environmental justice domains (i.e., concern about the national security effects of climate change on U.S. military base integrity and international resource conflict; see Motta et al, 2021, for additional information about these measures). In addition to correlating these items with the EJC scale, I control for concern about the effects of climate change on national security in all multivariate models that assess the effects of EJC on policy attitudes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For climate communication campaigns to effectively increase support for policies aimed at ameliorating climate-induced inequality, communicators must first identify audiences (i.e., demographic subgroups) that are more likely to oppose policies guided by environmental justice and then make an effort to understand their reasons for doing so. This information can help communicators target skeptical groups with messages aimed at increasing support for environmental justice by validating as opposed to challenging their prior social and political attitudes (e.g., Benegal & Scruggs, 2018; Bolsen et al, 2019; Lunz Trujillo et al, 2021; Motta et al, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The pre-political origins and policy consequences of environmental justice concern

Motta

2022

Polit. life sci.

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While the effects of climate change will impact most Americans, they will likely have a disproportionate influence on the socioeconomic well-being of marginalized communities. Few researchers, however, have investigated public support for policies aimed at ameliorating climate-related disparities. Fewer still have considered how political and (critically) pre-political psychological dispositions might shape environmental justice concern (EJC) and subsequently influence policy support—both of which, I argue, could present roadblocks for effective climate communication and policy action. In this registered report, I (1) propose and validate a new measure of EJC, (2) explore its political correlates and pre-political antecedents, and (3) test for a link between EJC and policy support. In addition to psychometrically validating the EJC scale, I find that pre-political value orientations are associated with EJC, which, in turn, mediates the effects of pre-political values on taking action to mitigate the unequal effects of climate change.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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The pre-political origins and policy consequences of environmental justice concern

Motta

2022

Polit. life sci.

Self Cite

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“…It is elsewhere argued that scientists can advocate for the credibility of their colleagues to increase uptake of information (Sarathchandra and Haltinner, 2020). Alternatively, finding trusted leaders for climate communication can reach audiences who otherwise may be alienated (Motta et al, 2021;Sauer et al, 2021;Webb and Hayhoe, 2017). Lewandowsky et al (2015) argue that scientists should not allow pseudoscientific thinking to set the agenda, and caution against debating with someone unwilling to change their mind as it can lend legitimacy to a denialist position.…”

Section: 2019)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Counteracting climate denial: A systematic review

Mendy,

Karlsson,

Lindvall

2024

Public Underst Sci

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Despite scientific consensus on climate change, climate denial is still widespread. While much research has characterised climate denial, comparatively fewer studies have systematically examined how to counteract it. This review fills this gap by exploring the research about counteracting climate denial, the effectiveness and the intentions behind intervention. Through a systematic selection and analysis of 65 scientific articles, this review finds multiple intervention forms, including education, message framing and inoculation. The intentions of intervening range from changing understanding of climate science, science advocacy, influencing mitigation attitudes and counteracting vested industry. A number of divergent findings emerge: whether to separate science from policy; the disputed effects of emotions and the longitudinal impacts of interventions. The review offers guiding questions for those interested in counteracting denialism, the answers to which indicate particular strategies: identify the form of climate denial; consider the purpose of intervention and recognise one’s relationship to their audiences.

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“…Bolsen et al ( 2019 ) found that Republicans were more likely to view climate change as a national security threat when that threat was communicated by either Republicans or military leaders (trusted speakers). When the messages came from Democrats, they showed an increase in belief that climate change was a hoax (see also Motta et al, 2021 ). Faith-based groups may trust messages from religious leaders or from speakers with shared religious values.…”

Section: Climate-change Warnings As Ineffective Rulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rule-Governed Behavior and Climate Change: Why Climate Warnings Fail to Motivate Sufficient Action

Pietras

2022

Behav. Soc. Iss.

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Climate scientists warn of dire consequences for ecological systems and human well-being if significant steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are not taken immediately. Despite these warnings, greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, indicating that current responses are inadequate. Climate warnings and reactions to them may be analyzed in terms of rules and rule-governed behavior. The literature on rule-governed behavior in behavior analysis has identified a variety of factors that can reduce rule following, including insufficient rule exposure, insufficient learning history and rule complexity, incomplete rules, instructed behavior not sufficiently learned, rules having weak function-altering effects, conflicting rules, lack of speaker credibility, rule plausibility and inconsistency with prior learning, and insufficient reinforcement for rule following. The present paper aims to analyze how these factors might impact responses to climate change, and possible solutions and strategies are discussed. Much of the theory and research on climate-change communication has come from outside of behavior analysis. Thus, the paper also aims to integrate findings from this literature with a behavior-analytic approach to rule control. Interpreting climate warnings and climate solutions in terms of rule-governed behavior may improve our understanding of why such rules are not more effective, and aid in the development of verbal and nonverbal strategies for changing behavior and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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A Call to Arms for Climate Change? How Military Service Member Concern About Climate Change Can Inform Effective Climate Communication

Cited by 19 publications

References 45 publications

The pre-political origins and policy consequences of environmental justice concern

The pre-political origins and policy consequences of environmental justice concern

Counteracting climate denial: A systematic review

Rule-Governed Behavior and Climate Change: Why Climate Warnings Fail to Motivate Sufficient Action

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