The concern – importance gap
Tony Duckenfield
Beyond Logic Consulting / Behavioural Scientist / Behaviour Change expert / Cares about Climate Change / Cares about Equality
Opinion polls show that whilst most people are concerned about climate change, it is not rated as a top issue facing Britain today and is therefore relatively low down the list of UK election topics and below NHS, cost of living, the economy and immigration. What’s behind this discrepancy, and what might be done to increase the priority placed on tackling climate change?
Opinion polls show that whilst most people are concerned about climate change, it is not rated as a top issue facing Britain today and is therefore relatively low down the list of UK election topics and below NHS, cost of living, the economy and immigration. What’s behind this discrepancy, and what might be done to increase the priority placed on tackling climate change?
On the other hand, it is disturbing to note that concern over climate change is actually falling (it was 85% in Winter 2021), despite the increase in extreme weather events (for example, there were 12 months in a row to May 2024 which were the hottest on record, and Spring 2024 was the wettest on record in the UK). In fact, the sheer frequency of climate related events could be ‘normalising’ them and making them less newsworthy.
A fear of frightening people and ‘turning them off’ also seems to be having an effect with the risks associated with climate change being downplayed to avoid accusations of ‘scaremongering’. For example, in Lincolnshire the Environment Agency, quite rightly, examined flood risk and identified roads that could be used as evacuation routes. These routes (ER) were added to road signs, but local people have apparently not been told about them with a local authority spokesperson saying they “didn’t want to scare people”.
There is also the challenge that climate change is such a big and complex problem, what can be done about it anyway? In fact, there are things that governments and individuals can do, but the picture has been muddied by the false claims of the fossil fuel industry. For example, there is no need for new oil and gas licences but oil companies are maximising their efforts to exploit untapped resources claiming that this is necessary for energy security.
Then individuals are bombarded with messages enticing them to fly more, purchase more and consume more, then are made to feel better by promises of products being greener, when the reality is quite different. Even without sacrifices such as not flying or eating beef, there are plenty of things people can do to reduce their consumption simply by avoiding waste and not buying things they don’t really need.
So, what can be done to push climate up the agenda?
First, we can remind people of the link between the climate and some of those things which are of more immediate and direct concern such as food availability and prices, risk of flooding, loss of snow on ski slopes, extra turbulence when flying, and more school closures due to extreme heat.
Then we can have an honest conversation about the risks and costs of not taking action, framed in a meaningful way such as the equivalent annual cost to each household if we remain on the current pathway.
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Finally, we can end on a positive note by pointing out that we know what needs to be done by the government and by individuals, while providing reassurance that the cost of taking action is far less than the cost of not doing so.
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Sources:
?#climatechange #fossilfuelphaseout #Reduce #globalheating #climateactionnow #netzero