Gauging the temperature

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‘Climate strike’ is the Collins Dictionary word of the year for 2019. It’s the second year the title has been environment-themed – in 2018, it was ‘single-use’ in reference to the copious amounts of plastic products used just once, ending up in landfill or clogging up our oceans.

In the past 12 months, awareness around plastic waste has reached critical mass and high-profile climate campaigns have made global headlines: namely schoolgirl Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Futures school strikes and the UK’s Extinction Rebellion protests. In May, the UK parliament backed a Labour motion to formally declare an environment and climate emergency.

Sir David Attenborough, who has been instrumental in communicating the issue through the Blue Planet II series, struck a positive tone recently, telling the BBC: “I think we’re all shifting our behaviour.

I think we’re changing our habits, and the world is waking up to what we’ve done to the planet.”

While the human impact on climate change and the environment has been recognised in the UK for some time, it has previously been viewed as a topic less important than other social issues. However, over the past year or so, public opinion has begun to shift.

Sixty-two per cent of the public think addressing climate change requires a ‘high’ or ‘extremely high’ level of urgency, according to YouGov research for the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, which was set up in September to examine the social and behavioural changes needed for a sustainable society.

Meanwhile, August polling by Ipsos Mori found 85% of the public concerned about the issue, with the majority ( 52%) very concerned. Three in four think Britain is already feeling the effects of climate change, up from 41% in 2010.

Despite this, there is a widespread lack of understanding of the issues surrounding climate change and the environment. In particular, we fail to grasp the seriousness of these issues, which suggests a need for better communication and clarity from governments and campaigning organisations.

A study by The Policy Institute at King’s College London found various misperceptions about climate change among the public. While respondents mostly recognised the issue – 69% rejected Donald Trump’s claim that “global warming is a hoax” and 67% agreed with the UK parliament’s climate emergency declaration – there were some big misconceptions (see boxout).

Bobby Duffy, director of the Institute, says: “It’s clear that people are worried about climate change, and this is based on some understanding of the facts – but we’re still not getting enough of the message about how serious and unusual our current climate and other environmental changes are. This will not just be done by giving people more facts – in some ways, the misperception I’d most like to correct currently is that  it’s now normal to be worried.” 

The research asked whether people were worried enough themselves to change their own actions or urge governments to act. The majority believe that it is other people who are not worried enough about it ( 76%). Addressing this gap could be key to galvanising people to act differently, says Duffy.

“Given collective responsibility is the key to tackling climate change, and that we know that our understanding of the norm is a key driver of our own behaviour, getting this message across that, yes, other people are worried and willing to act too, would be a key step.”

There are also question marks over whether behaviour is truly changing. While recycling rates have increased and there is a growing consumer movement against plastic packaging, other shifts have yet to occur.

For example, flying is the most carbon-intensive way to travel. In Sweden, ‘flygskam’ – or flight shame – appears to be having an impact on travel patterns – according to a survey by the WWF, 23% of Swedes said they had not travelled by air in the past year for climate reasons.

In the UK, more than two-thirds of people feel that we should limit air travel, according to the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations research – however, for the majority, this hasn’t yet translated to actually taking fewer flights. Only 16% of British respondents said they were cutting back on flying, according to a survey from Swiss bank UBS.

Instead, it is the issue of single-use plastics that we have most latched onto, with reusable coffee cups becoming widely used, retailers and restaurants ditching plastic straws, and zero-waste shops springing up in cities across the country.

So, what behaviour change insights from plastic could be applied to other key environmental issues?

“Our attitudes to plastic have changed beyond all recognition but to some extent it’s a great case study in the power of imagery and emotion over facts and figures; capturing hearts rather than minds. Powerful images like those shown in Blue Planet II or Justin Hofman’s photo of a seahorse latched on to a cotton bud have forged an indelible connection between cause and effect – ‘disposable straws kill turtles’,” says Nick Bonney, founder of Deep Blue Thinking.

“The challenge for the climate movement is how it can forge a similar connection when the problem almost feels so big and multi-faceted that the average consumer is unsure what lifestyle changes they can make that might actually make a difference.”

It’s understandable that climate campaigners have stepped up the push for change and focus on direct action, says Duffy. “In the face of such huge change based on something difficult to directly experience as a sudden attention-grabbing event, comms messages struggle. We’re not good at spotting incremental changes as humans, and are instead drawn to dramatic single events – it’s why we think sharks are bigger threats than asthma, when that’s incredibly far from the truth.

“The challenge for direct action is to startle, but not seem too many steps ahead of wider public opinion, as it risks losing people, and making the cause seem removed from their concern – and this is an incredibly difficult line to tread.”

A misunderstood world

• On average, the public thinks that 12 of the 20 hottest years in recorded history were in the past 22 years, but the World Meteorological Organisation estimates that all 20 of the hottest years on record have been in the past 22
  
• The public underestimates the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions generated globally by electricity and heat production (respondents on average guessed 21% when the figure is 49%), and overestimated air travel’s impact, guessing it contributed to 20% of emissions, when it is 2%
  
• The impact of recycling is overestimated: 52% of respondents think it is one of the top three most effective steps to tackle climate change – but it is the seventh most effective (ranking below: having one fewer child, living car-free, avoiding one transatlantic flight, buying green energy, eating a plant-based diet, and replacing a typical car with a hybrid).

Reference:

Source: ‘Misperceptions about climate change and the natural environment’, The Policy Institute at King’s College London. Survey results are based on 1,084 online interviews conducted by Ipsos Mori with a representative sample of British public aged 16-75 conducted August 2019. The question on hottest years was based on 1,099 online interviews conducted August 2019.