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| Title: | Misperceptions of Global Climate Change : information Policies |
| Authors: | Moxnes, Erling
Saysel, Ali K. |
| Issue Date: | 2004 |
| Publisher: | The University of Bergen |
| Series/Report no.: | Working papers in system dynamics 1/04 |
| Abstract: | Global climate change is an atmospheric commons problem where the basic actors are
the states. In democratic nations national policy initiatives depend on the opinion of the
electorate. Unless there is a proper popular perception of climate change, it will be
difficult to undertake appropriate and timely measures. Previous experimental studies
of people’s understanding of climate change and of other renewable resource problems
have revealed that people misperceive the basic dynamics and that they favour
decisions that are systematically biased in the direction of over-utilisation. In the
present laboratory experiment, with 251 students, the focus is on understanding why
people misperceive and how misperceptions could be avoided. Using a simulator, the
subjects are asked to control total global emissions of CO2 to reach a given target for
the atmospheric CO2-concentration. Compared to a previous study we find that full
information about a simplified system leads to improved performance, particularly
among students with a background in mathematics. Subjects perform better in an
analogous, however more easily visualisable system, indicating that they have
difficulties forming appropriate mental models of the more abstract atmospheric
problem. Two information treatments, thought to improve mental models, turn out to
have insignificant effects. Finally, information feedback about the development of the
CO2-concentration helps. According to our findings, current information from the IPCC
and the standard media coverage is not effective in helping people to choose policies
that are consistent with their own preferences. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1956/1981 |
| ISSN: | 1503-4860 (print version) |
| Appears in Collections: | Working Papers in System Dynamics
|
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