Examining the Relationship Between Physical Vulnerability and Public Perceptions of Global Climate Change in the United States

Abstract

Although there is a growing body of research examining public perceptions of global climate change, little work has focused on the role of place and proximity in shaping these perceptions. This study extends previous conceptual models explaining risk perception associated with global climate change by adding a spatial dimension. Specifically, Geographic Information Systems and spatial analytical techniques are used to map and measure survey respondents' physical risk associated with expected climate change. Using existing spatial data, multiple measures of climate change vulnerability are analyzed along with demographic, attitudinal, and social contextual variables derived from a representative national survey to predict variation in risk perception. Bivariate correlation and multivariate regression analyses are used to identify and explain the most important indicators shaping individual risk perception. Analysis of the data suggests that the relationship between actual and perceived risk is driven by specific types of physical conditions and experiences.

Monitored versus experience-based perceptions of environmental change: evidence from coastal Tanzania

“…Residual plots of annual rainfall (Mwanza). Leiserowitz 2006;Brody et al 2008). Consistent with previous work (see Leiserowitz 2006;Semenza et al 2008), we observed that people with higher levels of education perceive a lower risk associated with climate change.…”

“…Inconsistent with previous literature, we did not find income to be negatively associated with climate change risk perceptions as suggested by some researchers (see Leiserowitz 2006;Brody et al 2008;Semenza et al 2008) that people with higher household income will perceive a lower risk associated with global climate change. The differences between our findings and previous studies are likely due to contextual and the techniques used to establish statistical associations between the outcome and independent variables.…”

“…However, some emerging research works suggest that perceptions of risk, including climate risk perception, are gendered, and that this affects women's and men's responses to those risks. For instance, Brody et al (2008) and Sanchez et al (2012) suggested that females perceive a greater risk associated with global climate change. Also, women express slightly more concern about climate change than do men (McCright 2010), as other climate change public opinion studies find (e.g.…”

“…Perception is inextricably linked to human action (Brody et al 2008). Human action, here, includes coping, adaptation, mitigation, risk aversion, etc.…”

Local is not always better: the impact of climate information on values, behavior and policy support

“…Personal threat of climate change has also been linked to support for a range of policies to address the issue (e.g., Brody et al 2008;Zahran et al 2006). In addition to the correlational research in support of this view, a recent experimental study by Scannell and Gifford (2013) found that providing individuals with local climate information-and thus highlighting personal threat-increased their engagement with the issue.…”