May 8 – Triangle Climate & Landscape Researchers’ Brown Bag

The Triangle Climate & Landscape Researchers’ Brown Bag that will be taking place:
Date/Time: Thursday, May 8th from 12:00 – 1:30pm.
Title: Climate change risk perception among adolescents: the power of climate change knowledge and the role of worldview
Presenter: Kathryn Stevenson, a Doctoral Student at NC State University
Location: The Bullfrog Education Room in the Wildlife Resources Commission building on NCSU’s Centennial Campus (1751 Varsity Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606-2576).
Project Overview:
Concern for climate change is static or on the decline in the U.S., and it seems that lack of scientific understanding is not to blame. Worldview has a much bigger influence over how people view climate change, and some studies show that scientific literacy further polarizes people’s worldview-driven risk perceptions.
This is potentially bad news for climate literacy campaigns, as we may be making the skeptics even more skeptical. Because worldviews are still forming among adolescents, K-12 education may represent a critical window for climate literacy efforts. This study looked at the relative influence of climate change knowledge and worldviews among middle school students. We found that worldviews do influence climate change risk perceptions at low levels of knowledge, but as climate change knowledge levels increase, the levels of risk perceptions reach similar levels, regardless of worldview. These results suggest that climate literacy efforts may counteract divisions based on worldviews among children, verses polarize them among adults.