The Critical Relationship between Climate Change Awareness and Action: An Origin-Based Perspective

Abstract

While it is now widely accepted by scientists and governments that human activity contributes to climate change, there is a lack of understanding whether this realisation is now gaining greater attraction with the general public than it had 5 or 10 years ago. Additional gaps in knowledge relate to the link between awareness and action, which could be hypothesised to have become stronger in light of evidence being produced of some projected climate changes occurring already. This article examines climate change awareness and the link with travelrelated decision-making by adopting an under-utilised origin perspective in Wellington, New Zealand. The findings, generated by a household mail survey, indicate that the majority of the respondents are aware of tourism's contribution to climate change and think that it is likely that their lives in New Zealand will be negatively affected by climate change. However, when examining the respondents' recent holiday decision-making, it is evident that for the overwhelming majority, climate change awareness does not appear to influence travel-related decisions. This article concludes by discussing demand-focused measures aimed at reducing the GHG emissions generated by tourism.

Climate Change and Sustainable Tourism: Carbon Mitigation by Environmentally Certified Tourism Enterprises

“…However, it is not clear whether marketing their business as "climate friendly" and attempting to attract environmentally concerned tourists to their businesses will pay further dividends. Although the public believes that climate change is a serious problem, prior research has found that these concerns do not influence their travel behavior or demand for ecofriendly holiday destinations (Becken, 2007;Bergin-Seers & Mair, 2009;Eijgelaar et al, 2010;Gössling & Schumacher, 2010;McKercher et al, 2010;Tiller & Schott, 2013). However, the recent research by Cohen and Higham (2011) suggests an increasing number of travelers with a "carbon conscience" may demand these actions by operators in the future.…”

“…Cohen and Higham's (2011) interviews with 15 UK consumers found a range of attitudes, including some who were unaware of the impact of air travel on climate change, several who were aware but unwilling to change their travel behavior, and others who were aware and starting to travel with a "carbon conscience" (p. 331). Becken's (2004) research found that just over a half of tourists thought global climate change was an issue for tourism, while a recent study of New Zealand residents found that just over a half believed that tourism contributed to climate change (Tiller & Schott, 2013). However, only a small minority changed their travel behavior as a result.…”

“…National, state, and territory government tourism agencies in Australia have also responded by providing information on climate change and carbon mitigation for tourism operators, with Tourism Queensland being one of the more proactive agencies (Zeppel & Beaumont, 2012b). Industry organizations have produced reports on climate change and tourism and provided assistance for their members on carbon mitigation strategies (Queensland Tourism Industry Council [QTIC], 2008;Tourism and Transport Forum [TTF], 2008, 2011).Research has found that the traveling public is aware of the issue of climate change but does not necessarily link it to tourism or their travel behavior (Becken, 2004(Becken, , 2007Eijgelaar, Thaper, & Peeters, 2010;Gössling & Schumacher, 2010;McKercher, Prideaux, Cheung, & Law, 2010;Tiller & Schott, 2013). Recent studies of tourism operators suggest that, while some do not perceive a connection between their operations and climate change (Byrnes & Warnken, 2006;Hall, 2006;Su, Hall, & Ozanne, 2013), others are becoming aware of the link and the need for action on emissions reduction (Gössling & Schumacher, 2010;Zeppel, 2012a).…”

Tourism Pedagogy and Visitor Responsibilities in Destinations of Local-Global Significance: Climate Change and Social-Political Action

“…Destinations like the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are especially problematic from a sustainability perspective as they (i) represent globally significant cultural heritage under severe threat from multiple sources including climate change [10]; and (ii) are complex governance domains: they present significant management challenges as they are protected areas of social-cultural significance from the local to the global level and often entail cross-sectoral governance. They also contain multiple stakeholders whose diverse characteristics, values and interests may result in a wide range of perceptions and attitudes towards climate change and impact management (see [11,12]). The GBR, for instance, is a World Heritage Area and visitor destination, as well as a protected marine park, and its extensive geographic range off the east coast of Australia intersects multiple state and local jurisdictions and impacts numerous coastal communities.…”

Proximity ethics, climate change and the flyer’s dilemma: Ethical negotiations of the hypermobile traveller

“…Both authors' relative comfort with flying (as seemingly unquestioned behaviour) and assessment of its moral legitimacy predominated in our ethical decision-making when flying represented the only possibility for face-to-face interactions with loved ones living far away. The moral dissonance, or awareness-action gap, for individuals has been an increasing phenomenon with growing awareness of the climate change impacts of flying (Lovelock, 2014), but the moral intersection of family relationship maintenance and carbon-based mobility has received only limited discussion (Tiller and Schott, 2013). Our narrative analysis indicates that proximity ethics is very much worth exploring as a framework through which people legitimise flying behaviour, as seen in the absence of any perception of real moral dilemma among either author in the context of flying for family connections, despite regretting the carbon impact.…”