2014/12/15 by Min Zhou · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Environmental Education and Sustainability #Social Media and Politics
paper · doi:10.1177/0268580914558285
openalex publication_date 2014/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Environmental skepticism, defined as doubt about the authenticity or severity of environmental degradation, is common among the general public. This study attempts to identify its social bases, using a large and recent (2010) dataset that covers 45,119 individuals from 32 countries. Using multilevel modeling, it explores both individual-level and country-level influences on public environmental skepticism. The results support four individual-level perspectives (knowledge deficit, cultural orientation, social trust, and competing priority) and their interplay. Environmental skepticism stems from insufficient education and self-assessed environmental knowledge, religious and conservative values, lack of trust in general society and science, and other concerns competing with environmental concern. Moreover, the skepticism-reducing effect of education and self-assessed knowledge is found to be contingent on individuals’ religiosity and political ideologies. Education and self-assessed knowledge are more effective in reducing skepticism among less religious individuals and left-leaning liberals than among religious people and right-leaning conservatives.