Climate Communication Works: New Study Shows That Factual Information Can also Convince Climate Skeptics
Many people hold the view that climate skeptics are generally not open to new ideas. This pessimistic outlook can lead to halting communication efforts before they even begin. A recent study challenges this assumption—researchers conducted surveys with several hundred people in the United States to see how they respond to real news articles about climate change, especially those who had doubts about man-made climate change.
The results show: contrary to expectations, the attitudes of climate skeptics are definitely changing. Their concern about climate change increases when they encounter evidence-based information. Notably, climate change skeptics react more openly than both supporters and they themselves would have expected. However, the study also identified an important catch: Even if doubters reconsider their stance, this rarely translates into political commitment or the intention to act in a climate-friendly way. “Our study consisted in one single exposure to a climate change news, and we showed that it is enough to affects beliefs; however, changing behavior might require repeated access to information about climate change. Still, the fact that climate skeptics thought to be unaffected by the news and then reconsidered their positions leaves us hope that pro-environmental behavior might improve eventually.”