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Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience

Abstract

One of the reasons that people may not take action to mitigate climate change is that they lack first-hand experience of its potential consequences. From this perspective, individuals who have direct experience of phenomena that may be linked to climate change would be more likely to be concerned by the issue and thus more inclined to undertake sustainable behaviours. So far, the evidence available to test this hypothesis is limited, and in part contradictory1,2,3,4. Here we use national survey data collected from 1,822 individuals across the UK in 2010, to examine the links between direct flooding experience, perceptions of climate change and preparedness to reduce energy use. We show that those who report experience of flooding express more concern over climate change, see it as less uncertain and feel more confident that their actions will have an effect on climate change. Importantly, these perceptual differences also translate into a greater willingness to save energy to mitigate climate change. Highlighting links between local weather events and climate change is therefore likely to be a useful strategy for increasing concern and action.

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Figure 1: Impact of flooding experience on preparedness to reduce energy use mediated by perceived instrumentality, concern, uncertainty and perceived local vulnerability.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-062-23-1134) as well as a Climate Change Leader Fellowship (RES-066-27-0013) and a major grant to the Understanding Risk research group from the Leverhulme Trust (F/00 407/AG). Further support was received from Horizon Digital Economy Research, RCUK grant (EP/G065802/1). The authors also wish to thank D. Venables, N. Vaughan and Ipsos MORI for assistance with the survey.

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All authors contributed to the design of the survey used within the work presented. A.S., N.F.P. and W.P. organized and managed the data collection. A.S. analysed the data. A.S. led in writing the paper, developing this with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to A. Spence or N. F. Pidgeon.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Spence, A., Poortinga, W., Butler, C. et al. Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience. Nature Clim Change 1, 46–49 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1059

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