Emily Cunningham

Re: non-env. studies students - if you're not in a major that compels you to read about climate change, it's easy (or necessary) to wall it off. Also, in discussions on a campus, where people are learning silo'd topics, you can deflect questions about it by not being 'an expert.'

Was the graph above for environmental majors or non-enviro majors? Or both? Trying to understand if there was a difference in how both groups feel about climate?

It was both; eight students, drawn to be a representative mix of the student body. We paid them to do two 3 hour meetings over a Saturday and Sunday last April. (Paying is key, otherwise they self-select.) No one doubted climate change.

The most interesting students were the ones who would not have shown up for free. (I'd say roughly half of them.) Among other things, some reported having no conversations at all about climate with their friends, and expected if they brought it up, they'd be shut down.

Basically, we reproduced Norgaard's experience in Norway from 2001. Almost closely enough that you could take quotes from her work and mix them into ours, or vice-versa, and not notice. It's not a 'science-info' problem, it's a social contract problem...

There may be a big value in doing this with pairs. (Other people have thought about that too, though it makes recruiting slightly harder.) The underlying issues probably aren't science, or even money, but social norms threatened by climate & climate action, and safety and trust.

What do you mean by "doing this with pairs"? Learning about climate change? I'm excited for when your report comes out!

>> @archiekinnane @theoomiller This is the pair that set up and produced the focus group event, and the document that goes with it is great reading. We will get it into public form.