Examining Climate Change Concern from an Ecosystem Services Valuation Perspective: A Case Study from Idaho

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 6. Environmental Attitudes and Perceptions 2

Abstract

Globally, public acceptance of climate change and awareness of its impacts on societal welfare is not uniform between or within countries. In the U.S., variation in the public's acceptance of climate change may be due to differences in personal experience and generally vary by political orientation and religious beliefs. The ecosystem services framework provides an opportunity for understanding this variation because connect what people value with their understanding of how human activities impact specific benefits. We use a social survey administered in the western U.S. to analyze perceptions of how climate change impacts ecosystem services and how these perceptions vary between demographic groups with different political orientations. We find 70% of respondents indicated a concern about climate change and that even those respondents who did not report concern still often recognized that climate change will negatively affect services they appreciate. These results highlight that local publics can reject scientific findings about the human causes of climate change but still accept that the environment is changing. Combine the ecosystem service framework with climate concern questions provides details on the environmental values of people with different opinions about climate change and help scientists and policymakers better understand the foundations of diverging perspectives.

Authors

• Katrina Running, Idaho State University

• Joseph D. Cornell, Idaho State University

• Cristina Quintas-Soriano, Universitat Kassel

• Antonio J. Castro, Universidad de Almeria