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Perceptions of climate change: Linking local and global perceptions through a cultural knowledge approach

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  • Beatrice Crona
  • Amber Wutich
  • Alexandra Brewis
  • Meredith Gartin

Abstract

Understanding public perceptions of climate change is fundamental to both climate science and policy because it defines local and global socio-political contexts within which policy makers and scientists operate. To date, most studies addressing climate change perceptions have been place-based. While such research is informative, comparative studies across sites are important for building generalized theory around why and how people understand and interpret climate change and associated risks. This paper presents a cross-sectional study from six different country contexts to illustrate a novel comparative approach to unraveling the complexities of local vs global perceptions around climate change. We extract and compare ‘cultural knowledge’ regarding climate change using the theory of ‘culture as consensus’. To demonstrate the value of this approach, we examine cross-national data to see if people within specific and diverse places share ideas about global climate change. Findings show that although data was collected using ethnographically derived items collected through place-based methods we still find evidence of a shared cultural model of climate change which spans the diverse sites in the six countries. Moreover, there are specific signs of climate change which appear to be recognized cross-culturally. In addition, results show that being female and having a higher education are both likely to have a positive effect on global cultural competency of individuals. We discuss these result in the context of literature on environmental perceptions and propose that people with higher education are more likely to share common perceptions about climate change across cultures and tentatively suggest that we appear to see the emergence of a ‘global’, cross-cultural mental model around climate change and its potential impacts which in itself is linked to higher education. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

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  • Beatrice Crona & Amber Wutich & Alexandra Brewis & Meredith Gartin, 2013. "Perceptions of climate change: Linking local and global perceptions through a cultural knowledge approach," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 519-531, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:119:y:2013:i:2:p:519-531
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-013-0708-5
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    1. Islam, Moinul & Kotani, Koji & Managi, Shunsuke, 2016. "Climate perception and flood mitigation cooperation: A Bangladesh case study," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 117-133.
    2. Stefano Predieri & Marta Cianciabella & Giulia Maria Daniele & Edoardo Gatti & Nico Lippi & Massimiliano Magli & Chiara Medoro & Federica Rossi & Camilla Chieco, 2023. "Italian Consumers’ Awareness of Climate Change and Willingness to Pay for Climate-Smart Food Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Adelle Thomas & Lisa Benjamin, 2018. "Perceptions of climate change risk in The Bahamas," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 63-72, March.
    4. Sanober Naheed & Salman Shooshtarian, 2021. "A Review of Cultural Background and Thermal Perceptions in Urban Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Nelson Chanza & Walter Musakwa, 2022. "Indigenous local observations and experiences can give useful indicators of climate change in data-deficient regions," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 534-546, September.
    6. Nelson Chanza & Walter Musakwa, 2021. "“Trees Are Our Relatives”: Local Perceptions on Forestry Resources and Implications for Climate Change Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-13, May.
    7. Frisch, L.C. & Mathis, J.T. & Kettle, N.P. & Trainor, S.F., 2015. "Gauging perceptions of ocean acidification in Alaska," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 101-110.
    8. Rohini P. Devkota & Vishnu P. Pandey & Utsav Bhattarai & Harshana Shrestha & Shrijwal Adhikari & Khada Nanda Dulal, 2017. "Climate change and adaptation strategies in Budhi Gandaki River Basin, Nepal: a perception-based analysis," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 195-208, January.
    9. C. Silva & R. Albernaz-Silveira & P. Nogueira, 2014. "Perceptions on climate change of the traditional community Cuiabá Mirim, Pantanal Wetland, Mato Grosso, Brazil," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 83-92, November.
    10. Matias Spektor & Guilherme N. Fasolin & Juliana Camargo, 2023. "Climate change beliefs and their correlates in Latin America," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Dayong Zhang & Jun Li & Qiang Ji & Shunsuke Managi, 2021. "Climate variations, culture and economic behaviour of Chinese households," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-18, July.
    12. Sonam Futi Sherpa & Milan Shrestha & Hallie Eakin & Christopher G. Boone, 2019. "Cryospheric hazards and risk perceptions in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 96(2), pages 607-626, March.
    13. Adelle Thomas & April Karen Baptiste, 2018. "Knowledge, perceptions, concerns, and behaviors to climate change—the Caribbean context: an introduction," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 39-41, March.

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