Climate skepticism rises as economies fall – UConn study
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- Category: Politics
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13 Mar 2012
- Published on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 18:31
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As people start to feel the burden of an economic crunch, they're more likely to become skeptical of climate change.
According to Lyle Scruggs, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, the recent Great Recession has resulted in an American public that is skeptical about climate change, a shift in opinion related to concerns over the economy.
"Many people believe that part of the solution to climate change is suppression of economic activity," pointed out Mr. Scruggs. When confronted with a desire to boost the economy, he continues, people seem to convince themselves that climate change might not be happening.
Mr. Scruggs and University of Connecticut political science graduate student Salil Benegal studied information drawn from a number of national and international public opinion surveys dating to the late 1980's to draw a correlation between people's economic worries and their belief in climate change.
They found significant drops in public climate change beliefs in the late 2000's.
One study cited was a 2008 Gallup poll where between 60 and 65 percent of people agreed with statements of the opinion that global warming is imminent, not exaggerated, and that the theory is agreed upon by scientists.
By 2010, the poll showed that only 50 percent now agreed with the same statements.
The authors found a strong relationship between jobs and people's prioritization of climate change. When unemployment was at 4.5 percent, 60 percent of those surveyed said climate change had already begun happening. When unemployment reached 10 percent, that number dropped to 50 percent.
The researchers speculate that cognitive dissonance, which arises when people experience conflicting thoughts and behaviors, could explain the pattern. As many see economic growth to be in conflict with economic growth, admitting climate change is real but should be ignored in favor of economic growth would lead to an internal philosophical clash.
According to Mr. Scruggs, with the economy bouncing back and the unemployment rate shrinking, it would be possible to see an increase in belief in global warming.
