Search Results (32)

Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, with consequences that extend far beyond temperature rise. Its impacts include extreme weather events, sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and disruptions to food and water systems, all of which threaten ecosystems and human well-being. Addressing this crisis requires a broad understanding and engagement from society. However, climate change denial persists, often amplified through online platforms, slowing down effective action. Universities can play a critical role in this context, not only as spaces where scientific knowledge is produced and shared, but also as institutions that train future leaders to respond to environmental crises. In this study, we examined the prevalence of climate change denial among members of a Portuguese public university and explored its relationship with gender, religion, and political orientation. We collected 89 responses and analyzed the data. The findings indicate that individuals with right-leaning political views, certain religious affiliations, and male respondents were more likely to deny climate change. These results highlight the need for targeted educational approaches that address specific audiences, fostering a better understanding of the scientific and environmental realities of climate change, and ultimately promoting informed action toward sustainability. Full article

Climate change is not only a technical and environmental challenge but also an emotional and psychological one that affects public engagement, policy acceptance, and long-term sustainability. This study presents a conceptual framework based on the Kübler-Ross model from psychotherapy to explore emotional responses to climate change: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Based on a thematic analysis of the interdisciplinary secondary literature and illustrative cases, we analyse how these emotional dynamics influence climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Each stage reveals specific psychological barriers and entry points for communication, resilience-building, and policy design. We argue that emotional readiness is a critical yet underacknowledged factor in sustainable development and societal transformation. Addressing emotional dimensions can support mental health, increase acceptance of climate measures, and improve the alignment between sustainability strategies and public responses. Our findings emphasise the importance of tailoring sustainability communication and policies to different emotional stages to foster inclusive, effective, and lasting climate action. Full article

Climate inaction has traditionally been attributed to skepticism and denial. However, strategies obstructing climate action have become more nuanced, shifting from direct denial to complex forms of delay. This study presents a typology of discursive strategies of climate obstruction that expands the existing literature while comprehensively classifying tactics that hinder climate action. We argue that climate obstruction better encapsulates the broad strategies used to delay climate action than climate skepticism. Our typology comprises three categories, each distinguished by the target of obstruction. First, Phenomenon Obstruction (Target 1) includes discourses to obstruct the fact that climate change is occurring and human-caused as well as the severity of its impacts. Second, Climate Action Obstruction (Target 2) encompasses discourses targeting solutions to tackle climate change, such as promoting unproven solutions or greenwashing, shifting responsibility, casting doubt on climate policy productivity, looking for policy perfectness, and appealing to cultural and partisan identity to oppose climate action. Last, Source Credibility Obstruction (Target 3) undermines the credibility of climate actors or climate research, pertaining to its method and data as opposed to questioning the existence of the phenomenon itself (Target 1), and casting such actors as conspirators. Based on a review of 138 scholarly publications, this framework equips scholars to analyze how these strategies manifest across political discourse, news media, and social media. Full article

Scientific disinformation has emerged as a critical challenge at the interface of science and society. This paper examines how false or misleading scientific content proliferates across both social media and traditional media and evaluates strategies to counteract its spread. We conducted a comprehensive literature review of research on scientific misinformation across disciplines and regions, with particular focus on climate change and public health as exemplars. Our findings indicate that social media algorithms and user dynamics can amplify false scientific claims, as seen in case studies of viral misinformation campaigns on vaccines and climate change. Traditional media, meanwhile, are not immune to spreading inaccuracies—journalistic practices such as sensationalism or “false balance” in reporting have at times distorted scientific facts, impacting public understanding. We review efforts to fight disinformation, including technological tools for detection, the application of inoculation theory and prebunking techniques, and collaborative approaches that bridge scientists and journalists. To empower individuals, we propose practical guidelines for critically evaluating scientific information sources and emphasize the importance of digital and scientific literacy. Finally, we discuss methods to quantify the prevalence and impact of scientific disinformation—ranging from social network analysis to surveys of public belief—and compare trends across regions and scientific domains. Our results underscore that combating scientific disinformation requires an interdisciplinary, multi-pronged approach, combining improvements in science communication, education, and policy. We conducted a scoping review of 85 open-access studies focused on climate-related misinformation and disinformation, selected through a systematic screening process based on PRISMA criteria. This approach was chosen to address the lack of comprehensive mappings that synthesize key themes and identify research gaps in this fast-growing field. The analysis classified the literature into 17 thematic clusters, highlighting key trends, gaps, and emerging challenges in the field. Our results reveal a strong dominance of studies centered on social media amplification, political denialism, and cognitive inoculation strategies, while underlining a lack of research on fact-checking mechanisms and non-Western contexts. We conclude with recommendations for strengthening the resilience of both the public and information ecosystems against the spread of false scientific claims. Full article

The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement (DPM, by Stroebe and Schut) is a well-known framework in contemporary grief research and counselling. It depicts how mourners oscillate between various tasks and reactions. There is a need to engage more with the intense feelings of loss (Loss-Oriented tasks), but also with other things in life and other parts of the adjustment process after a loss (Restoration-Oriented tasks). This interdisciplinary article applies the framework to ecological grief and extends it to collective levels. While the DPM has been broadened to family dynamics, many subjects of grief are even more collective and require mourning from whole communities or societies. Religious communities can play an important role in this. This article provides a new application called the DPM-EcoSocial and discusses the various tasks named in it, which are ultimately based on the grief researcher Worden’s work. The particularities of ecological grief are discussed, such as the complications caused by guilt dynamics, climate change denial, attribution differences about climate disasters, and nonfinite losses. Grief and grievance are intimately connected in ecological grief, and (religious) communities have important tasks for remembrance, mourning, and witness. The collective processes can lead to meaning reconstruction, transilience, and adversarial growth. Full article

Climate denialism represents a significant challenge to public awareness and the implementation of effective environmental policies. In Portugal, as in other countries, social networks have been the place where denialist ideas are disseminated, influencing the public perception of the climate crisis. This research aims to understand how denialist discourse manifests and spreads on digital platforms. The research question of this work is: how does climate denialist discourse manifest itself on social media in Portugal? This work has two objectives: (1) to analyze the arguments and discursive strategies used by climate deniers in comments on Facebook, specifically on the pages of the three largest Portuguese newspapers, and (2) to understand the social and discursive dynamics that underpin their beliefs. This work adopted a qualitative methodology that involved manual data collection during the month of September 2024. Posts about climate that were informative were selected. The comments were examined manually and categorized by type of discourse. This approach enabled capturing specific nuances and contexts of denial discourses, providing a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. The study concluded that (I) comments that use fallacies or rhetoric that deny the climate crisis tended to receive more “likes” and approval from users; (II) fallacies that do not offer scientific evidence to refute the existence of climate change were identified in all these comments. Full article

Previous research in Western nations has established a clear connection between pro-environmental public opinion and clean energy transition policies aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13. However, little is known about this relationship in East Asia, the most important region of the world in terms of carbon emissions. Using the International Social Survey Program and Taiwan Social Change Survey results from 2010 and 2020, this study examines public opinion in Taiwan on environmental issues, comparing it with opinion in a group of 18 OECD countries. Results show high but stable support for the environment and the energy transition in Taiwan over this period, with no indications of climate denial. However, willingness to make sacrifices for the environment is sharply lower among the lower half of the income distribution, highlighting existing socioeconomic disparities and inequality. Further, political engagement around environmental issues remains relatively low in Taiwan compared to engagement in the OECD comparison group. This disjunction suggests a unique model of public opinion and policy outcomes in Taiwan, which is clearly distinct from patterns in the West. Comprehending this model is vital, considering East Asia’s necessary role in a global clean energy transition. Full article

Climate change misinformation refers to inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading climate change-related information created and spread in the public domain. Despite substantial consensus among the scientific community on the reality of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion still remains divided. Combating the climate crisis requires immediate and meaningful actions; however, various actors generate and propagate climate change misinformation, with vested interests in sowing doubts in the public sphere about the reality and urgency of climate impacts. The United States of America, where public opinion holds a strong sway in many social and political spheres, acts as a pertinent case in point, where the prevalence of climate denial fueled by persistent climate change misinformation contributes to this divided public perspective. For this reason, it is imperative to enhance the understanding of the subtle ways climate change misinformation exists and functions. This article employs actor–network theory and the concept of black-boxing to explore a case of climate change misinformation in the United States, with the aim of comprehending the workings of climate change misinformation within its network. Full article

One significant obstacle to gaining a widespread awareness of the ongoing climate change is the nature of its manifestations in relation to our perception: climate change effects are gradual, distributed, and sometimes seemingly contradictory. These features result in a lag in collective climate action and sometimes foster climate skepticism and climate denial. While the literature on climate change perception and belief has thoroughly explored its sociocultural and sociopolitical aspects, research on the potential contribution of psychophysiological factors remains scarce. In this perspective paper, we outline evidence and arguments for the involvement of psychophysiological systems such as thermoception, hygroreception, and interoception in modulating climate change awareness. We discuss psychophysiological mechanisms of climate change awareness in animals and humans, as well as possible sources of individual variance in climate change perception. We conclude by suggesting novel research questions which would be worthwhile to pursue in future studies. Full article

The climate crisis is a health emergency: breaking temperature records every successive month, increasing mortality from hurricanes/cyclones resulting in >USD150 billion/year in damages, and mounting global loss of life from floods, droughts, and food insecurity. An entire course on climate change and global public health was envisioned, designed for students in public health, and delivered to Masters level students. The course content included the physical science behind global heating, heat waves, extreme weather disasters, arthropod-related diseases, allergies, air pollution epidemiology, melting ice and sea level rise, climate denialism, renewable energy and economics, social cost of carbon, and public policy. The methods included student engagement in presenting two air pollution epidemiological or experimental papers on fossil fuel air pollution. Second, they authored a mid-term paper on a specific topic in the climate crisis facing their locale, e.g., New York City. Third, they focused on a State, evaluating their climate change laws and their plans to harness renewable wind, solar, storage, nuclear, and geothermal energy. Students elsewhere covered regional entities’ approach to renewable energy. Fourth, the global impact was presented by student teams presenting a country’s nationally determined contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement. Over 200 Master’s students completed the course; the participation and feedback demonstrated markedly improved knowledge and evaluation of the course over time. Full article

Climate change (CC) poses a threat to agricultural sustainability, which is important in the Canadian Prairies, as agriculture is a major occupation and driver of the economy. Agriculture involves both the creation and mitigation of emissions related to CC. To implement adaptation and mitigation practices, producers should accept CC as fact. This study is based in Saskatchewan, Canada, where CC denial is prevalent in public comments. To assess the validity of this anecdotal impression, this study provided a snapshot of Saskatchewan agricultural producers’ perceptions and observations of CC and assessed whether views on CC are associated with characteristics of political orientation and affiliation, mental flexibility, systems thinking, time orientation, climate knowledge, climate observations, and demographic variables. A survey was developed with the following four sections: (1) individual characteristics; (2) observed changes in climate-related variables; (3) knowledge and perceptions about CC; and (4) demographic variables. The survey included multiple-choice questions and items scored on a Likert scale. The survey was completed by 330 Saskatchewan agricultural producers (i.e., farmers and ranchers). The results indicated more CC denial in Saskatchewan producers than in other Canadian samples. Individual and socioeconomic characteristics of lower levels of formal education, identifying as male, conservative political affiliation and ideation, low trust in science, and low mental flexibility were associated with less acceptance and concern of CC. It is therefore necessary to consider socioeconomic and individual characteristics of producers in measures aiming to increase the acceptance of the reality of CC. Future intervention research should target male producers with lower levels of formal education, low trust in science, low mental flexibility, and right-leaning political ideation for the improvement of CC perceptions and examine different teaching methods (e.g., lectures, workshops, webinars) and dissemination methods (e.g., online versus in-person sessions) to see how various techniques may influence learning, as well as the way the information is used by particular groups. Full article

Resistance to clean energy policy in the United States stems partly from public hesitancy and skepticism toward anthropogenic climate change. This article examines self-declared climate change skeptics’ views of clean energy policy along a continuum of skeptical thought, spanning from epistemic denial to attribution doubt. To perform this, we use data from an online survey administered in the US Pacific Northwest and a series of pilot interviews conducted with skeptics in the same region. Results reveal that skeptics’ support for clean energy policy is consistently linked with their environmental concern across the skepticism continuum. Conspiracy ideation and distrust in science lead to a reduction in support. However, the positive effect of environmental concern trumps the effects of these beliefs. Important and hopeful implications of these findings for climate change communication and policy are discussed. Full article

Anthropogenic climate change (ACC) has evolved into a set of crises due to society’s deep economic dependency on fossil fuels. These multiple crises have been well documented and span diverse ecological, human health and economic settings. Given the scale and breadth of CC impacts, expert labeling of the issues has gradually changed from the somewhat benign sounding “global warming” to the more frightening description of a “climate emergency”. Notwithstanding calls for transformative societal change, serious attempts to confront ACC have been hampered by decades of government policy inaction, various scientific debates, political conservatism and denial and public ignorance or apathy. Meanwhile, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have increased inexorably and show no sign of plateauing. The impacts of ACC are becoming evident sooner than expected, and projections for the future of the planet’s ecosystems and the human population which depends on them are dire. Proposals to geoengineer the climate are currently being hotly debated within the scientific community but may prove to be a last resort if the impacts of unmitigated warming become even more severe. Full article

People’s perceptions of climate change represent a growing concern, especially when these perceptions entail the denial of climate change. Past studies have highlighted the detrimental role of conspiracist beliefs concerning climate change regarding people’s perceptions on this matter. However, the effects of generic conspiracy beliefs and the different types of beliefs determining skepticism about climate change, as well as that of an individual’s personality, are still an open area of inquiry. Our cross-sectional study (N = 842) explored the relationships between the degree to which people hold different generic conspiracy beliefs, their personality characteristics (as defined within the Big Five taxonomy), and climate change beliefs (i.e., in its occurrence and anthropogenic causation). Results indicated common predictors of these dimensions of climate change beliefs, specifically three of the five types of generic conspiracy beliefs, extraversion, agreeability, and intellect/imagination as personality factors. While conspiracy beliefs related to personal well-being emerged as related to climate change skepticism, those in government malfeasance and information control were found to be associated with more acceptance of climate change and its anthropogenic causation. These findings reveal a mixed pattern of relationships between different conspiracist beliefs and climate change perceptions and suggest the complex psychological and ideological underpinnings of the attitudes towards climate change. Full article

Due to anticipated energy shortages and the need to achieve climate goals, there is an urgent requirement for transition towards a green, resilient system of energy provision. This transition is hampered because important players in energy markets (governments and oligopolies), while supporting large-scale solutions, avoid or block systemic changes. This rejection of systemic change is strengthened by the dominant social paradigm, which ignores systemic vulnerabilities, treating resources as solutions and the environment as a sink. In its turn, the dominant social paradigm is contested by the new ecological paradigm and by attitudes towards sustainable business practices. Understanding this framework may be relevant for identifying decision-makers’ perception of system risk, and thus for supporting a transition towards a more decentralized and resilient energy supply. In this context, this paper presents an empirical study among Polish students of a business university (N = 393), trying to discover the relationship between the social paradigms, perceptions of environmental resources and sinks, and systemic risk in large-scale energy production (i.e., nuclear power plants). Although the explained variance is limited, results show that various elements of the dominant social paradigm are related to problem denial. Technological optimism and belief in markets are predictors of optimism about resource shortages and neglect of system risk. This optimism is counteracted by political liberalism, and respondent attitudes towards sustainable business practices. Belief in market forces has an ambivalent effect, tempering technological optimism regarding nuclear energy but also political acknowledgement of the limited resources and sink capacities of the environment. Although the influence of the dominant social paradigm on energy transition can be identified, the results may indicate a decline in belief in market forces and liberal democracy, implying a rethinking of the dominant social paradigm may be needed. The existing relationship between these aspects warrants a critical review and discussion of the central role of the dominant paradigm in current management training. The results indicate that a lack of political liberalism and a negative attitude towards sustainable business practices amplify system risks in, e.g., large-scale nuclear energy projects. Full article