Perceptions of Environmental Change and Climate Concern among Idaho’s Farmers

• In Event: 315 - Open Refereed Roundtables Session. B. Table 01 Shared and Contested Spaces
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 06. Inequality, Place and Environment

Abstract

Research on public opinion about climate change has found that conservative political ideology is the most powerful predictor of skepticism about climate change’s anthropogenic causes. Most farmers in Idaho are politically conservative, but farmers are also a unique group for whom observations of on-the-ground environmental change is part of daily life and work. This study uses data from in-depth interviews with 30 farmers in southeastern Idaho to examine the relationship between observations of specific environmental changes and concern for climate change. We find that while most farmers report noticing changes in precipitation patterns, longer growing seasons, and warmer winters with less snow, few farmers connect these observations with human activities and long-term global climate change. Instead, they interpret these changes to be part of natural and inevitable cycles that could reverse at any time. These findings have two important implications: 1) they suggest that direct experience, even in the form of disruption to an individual’s occupation and economic security, is not enough to overcome the influence of political ideology in forming a position on climate change, and 2) acknowledging climate variation in general is not sufficient to convince individuals that the changes are produced by human activities.

Authors

• Katrina Running, Idaho State University

• Jordan Burke, Idaho State University

• Kathleen Shipley