Personally Relevant Climate Change
2011/10/20 by Leila Scannell, Robert Gifford · 683 citations
Environmental Science · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Action (physics) #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Climate change #Community engagement #Ecology #Environmental Education and Sustainability #Environmental resource management #Environmental science #Geography #Place Attachment and Urban Studies #Political economy of climate change #Political science #Psychology #Public relations #Sample (material) #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1177/0013916511421196
published in Environment and Behavior 45(1), 60-85 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2011/10/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
To help mitigate the negative effects of climate change, citizens’ attitudes and behaviors must be better understood. However, little is known about which factors predict engagement with climate change, and which messaging strategies are most effective. A community sample of 324 residents from three regions in British Columbia read information either about a climate change impact relevant to their local area, a more global one, or, in a control condition, no message. Participants indicated the extent of their climate change engagement, the strength of their attachment to their local area, and demographic information. Three significant unique predictors of climate change engagement emerged: place attachment, receiving the local message, and gender (female). These results provide empirical support for some previously proposed barriers to climate action and suggest guidelines for effective climate change communication.
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