In this study, a team of ISTPP researchers examines the public’s perceptions of the health risk posed by climate change. Using the Institute’s 2013 National Climate Change Survey, a large randomized sample of adults in the United States, respondents were asked to evaluate the health risk posed to four groups — themselves, their community, the United States, and the world. The results suggest that individuals evaluate the risk for each of these contexts differently. Statistical analyses are estimated to identify the determinants of the perceived risk perception for each group to identify their respective differences.
James W. Stoutenborough, Kellee J. Kirkpatrick, M. Jeremy Field, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2015. “What Butterfly Effect: The Contextual Differences in Public Perceptions of the Health Risk Posed by Climate Change.” Climate 3(3): 668–688. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cli3030668 .
