Comments on: Is Climate Change Awareness an Innovation?

By: ValÃ©rie

ValÃ©rie — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:36:34 +0000

I think that more and more people are aware of environmental problems. In fact a couple of surveys that have been out lately told us that Canadians really care about the environment. The real problem with climate change is that people are ask to do things, e.g. taking the bus, which go against North Americans way of life. People are asking themselves “Why should I sacrifice my comfort in being squeeze in a bus or a subway?”. I think the solution to this is an integrated approach to the problem where the Canadian government will try to solve the very roots of climate change by not just suggesting that we change our behaviour (e.g. the One Tone Challenge), but put in place some measures that will really contribute to this change (e.g. more money in public transport, incentive measures for companies to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions, more stronger environmental laws, new standards for car emissions, etc.).

By: Tania Lanphere

Tania Lanphere — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:19:34 +0000

Yes, human resistance to change is definitely part of the problem, and current western values do place a large emphasis on consumerism and profit. I would also say that the media is part of the problem, both in enforcing those values and in being a poor tool for spreading awareness. Many scientific studies that accurately report environmental problems caused by pollution, etc. get blown out of proportion when reported to the general public. Then, because most of the population either does not understand what the study really says or does not bother to find out, such a study comes to be seen as a doom day prophecy. Then when the ‘prophecy’ does not ‘come true’, the public comes to think that the study must have had no true scientific value. This happened for years now, and people just started to ignore each new report of higher smog levels, health problems caused by polluted water, or enlargement of the the hole in the ozone layer. It may not be as bad now, but science as reported by the media is still largely discounted. Unfortunately, it is still the only exposure most people have to information that might spread their awareness of global climate change. I think a new mechanism needs to found to spread awareness. Sadly, I don’t think a TV ad campaign on global climate change would be enough, but I lack any better ideas. Except for beginning environmental education at a much younger level. Teach not just ‘reduce, re-use, recycle’ in elementary schools, but also how the parts of an ecosystem (and the world biosphere) connect and interact. We did this some long ago when I was in elementary school, but I know that it is not as wide spread as it needs to be for environmental awareness to be a solid part of basic education.

By: brad

brad — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:00:16 +0000

I think the problem has more to do with human nature in general: we tend to have a hard time changing behavior when the consequences of our actions don’t appear until later. Look at smoking as an analogy: lots of people still smoke, despite full knowledge of the risks, because they gain immediate pleasure and won’t experience the negative consequences until years later. Climate change is like that too: we get a lot of immediate benefits from burning fossil fuels and yet the consequences take decades to develop. I think the solution to climate change is going to involve either making climate-friendly technologies so cool and desirable that everyone will want to use them, or else attaching some sort of stigma to burning fossil fuels (similar to “kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray”), or both.