Personal climate change experiences, the media, and public opinion on climate change

# Personal climate change experiences, the media, and public opinion on climate change
## Phd project
### Søren Damsbo-Svendsen
### 01-10-2020

---

.tinynote {
font-size: 10pt;
}

.smallnote {
font-size: 12pt;
}

.whitetext {
color: white;
}

.tinywhite {
font-size: 10pt;
color: white;
}

.title-slide {
line-height: 200%;
}

</style>

Climate change is accelerating and its consequences are becoming more and more visible.

???

Start with the motivation behind the project.

---
class: bottom, left
background-image: url(presentation_files/wildfires.jpg)
background-size: cover
.whitetext[**California 2020**]
.tinywhite[<br>Image by Associated Press (www.huffpost.com/entry/san-francisco-smothered-in-smoke-as-california-wildfires-rage_n_5f3d5d7fc5b6d8a91741310a)] 
---
class: bottom, left
background-image: url(presentation_files/greenland.png)
background-size: cover
.whitetext[**Greenland 2019**]
.tinywhite[<br>Image by Sean Gallup/Getty Images (www.thedenverchannel.com/news/national/nasa-scientists-fly-over-greenland-to-track-melting-ice)] 
---
class: bottom, left
background-image: url(presentation_files/drought.png)
background-size: cover
.whitetext[**South Africa 2019**]
.tinywhite[<br>Image by REUTERS/Mike Hutchings (www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-safrica-drought/south-africas-karoo-drills-and-prays-as-taps-run-dry-idUSKBN1Y30PL)] 
---
class: bottom, left
background-image: url(presentation_files/lyngbyvej.jpg)
background-size: cover
.whitetext[**Denmark 2011**]
.tinywhite[<br>Image by Bente Schou (www.dr.dk/nyheder/billedserie-regnvejr-paa-sjaelland)] 
---
class: bottom, left
background-image: url(presentation_files/bodil.png)
background-size: cover
.whitetext[**Denmark 2013**]
.tinywhite[<br>Image by Jeanne and John Bollerup-Jensen (www.sn.dk/Sjaelland/Minister-er-klar-til-moede-om-kystsikring/artikel/430611)] 
---
class: left, top

Despite of this, significant proportions of the world's populations still do not **believe** in anthropogenic climate change or **support** any serious mitigation efforts.

???

Despite the fact that "climate change is accelerating and its consequences are becoming more and more visible".

<img src="presentation_files/meme2.jpg" width="70%" height="70%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
.center[.tinynote[Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (www.imgflip.com/i/2w6vau)]]
---
class: left, top

# Motivation

There is an urgent need for knowledge about:

1. How people will respond to the manifest consequences of climate change<br>(*Will it affect their political beliefs? Will they demand stronger/faster policy interventions from political leaders? Will they agree to adapt their lifestyles?*)

2. How climate communication can be made more effective

3. How to sustain the climate crisis' position high on political agendas

---
layout: true
class: left, top

# Core research question

How do personal climate change experiences affect political opinions and behaviour towards climate change – and how is this relationship moderated or facilitated by how the media cover the climate crisis?

---
---

![](presentation_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-3-1.png)

![](presentation_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-4-1.png)

![](presentation_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-5-1.png)

![](presentation_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-6-1.png)

.smallnote[*EW: Extreme Weather; CCO: Climate Change Opinions; MC: Media Coverage*]
---
layout: false
class: left, top

# Theory

* Opinion formation theory, political psychology, cognitive heuristics, motivated reasoning<br>(Zaller 1992; Taber and Lodge 2006)

* Agenda-setting and framing theory<br>(Dearing and Rogers 1996; Guo and McCombs 2016)

* Field-specific, climate-related literature<br>(highly multidisciplinary and empirical, 100-200 studies in past 10 years; e.g. Egan and Mullin 2012; Howe et al. 2019; Druckman and McGrath 2019)

---
class: left, top

# Research design ideal

1. Find **objective data on extreme weather** at individual/local (or regional/national) level

2. Find corresponding individual-level (or aggregate) data on **climate opinions** or climate-related behavior

3. Connect these using **quasiexperimental design** logics (the weather is often a good as-if random and exogenous 'treatment')

4. **Measure news coverage** of weather events and the climate crisis and/or individual news exposure

5. **Analyse** (causal) relationships statistically

???

Will have to depart from in some cases, especially when studying the media or when only aggregate data is available. Lower potential for causal inference.

---
class: left, top

# Papers

---
class: left, top

# Papers

**Paper 1** - How weather experiences strengthen climate opinions in Europe

---
class: left, top

# Papers

**Paper 1** - How weather experiences strengthen climate opinions in Europe

**Paper 2** - Explaining the rising public attention to the climate issue in 2019 with agenda-setting theory

**Paper 3** - Third-level agenda-setting: The evolution of how the media cover the climate crisis

**Paper 4** - How climate opinion and political participation is influenced by personal experiences with extreme weather events

**Paper 5** - Are the effects of extreme weather transmitted socially between family members?

---

# In sum, my project (hopefully):

1. Studies political (causal) effects of personal, everyday climate experiences - in the European/Danish context

2. Captures local, climate-related experiences with new types of 'objective' (meteorological) data

3. Measures media coverage of the climate crisis (quantity and character)

4. Investigates the interplay between personal climate experiences and media coverage

---
class: top, left, inverse

# Thank you! Any questions or ideas?

.smallnote[(Please also feel free to email me any notes or future ideas at [sdas@ifs.ku.dk](sdas@ifs.ku.dk))]

<img src="presentation_files/banksy2.jpg" width="2133" />
.tinynote[Banksy piece, London (Image by Zak Hussein / PA Images via Getty Images; www.grist.org/article/it-looks-like-banksy-just-created-an-extinction-rebellion-mural)]