A new, Wrigley Institute-funded study on climate communications has found that Americas are not only more familiar with the term “climate change,” but it also generates more concern than newer terms such “climate emergency” or “climate crisis.” (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Want people to pay attention to climate change? Just call it climate change, study says
Original story by Wändi Bruine de Bruin and Gale Sinatra
The term “climate change” has been around for so long that you might wonder whether it’s still effective when used in climate communications. If we want to spur action as climate risks and impacts intensify, should we start using terms like “climate crisis” instead?
Surprisingly, no.
A new, Wrigley Institute-funded study has found that Americans are not only more familiar with terms such as “climate change” and “global warming,” but those terms also generate greater concern, urgency, and desire for action than do more-intense terms such as “climate crisis” or “climate emergency.”
It’s the latest in a series of investigations led by Bruine de Bruin and Sinatra, either individually or together, on the most effective ways to communicate with the public about and influence behaviors around climate change. Previous studies have shown that the average American feels confused by the language most commonly used by climate experts, and that benefits-focused labels such as “healthy” or “sustainable” are more effective than descriptive labels like “vegan” or “plant-based” at getting consumers to choose planet-friendly foods.
In the most recent study, Sinatra and Bruine de Bruin also found that Democrats and Republicans are moving closer together in their perceptions of climate terms, and that use of more dramatic terms such as “climate crisis” could actually backfire when trying to reach audiences who are less concerned about climate change.
Read the full article in The Conversation >>
In the News
US News & World Report Op Ed: “Climate Change Is a ‘Crisis’ and an ‘Injustice.’ But Calling it That Doesn’t Help.”
Anthropocene Magazine: “Which term carries a bigger punch: climate emergency or climate change?”