after_alex

After a semester around some of the world’s toughest public policy problems, the issue of climate change seems to be one of the most relevant and timely. My energy policy class with Henry Lee briefly touched on American consumers and disbelief of climate change as a legitimate or even noteworthy matter. The issue of climate change seems to be all the more relevant currently, and even though there’s currently a huge UN conference on the subject, few Americans care to acknowledge it.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, only 35% of all Americans believe that climate change is a serious problem. Other countries, on the other hand, have much higher rates of alarm, with both China and India above 50%… and not surprisingly, Japan and France at about 65%.

I’m sure there have been intelligent analysis done regarding American consumers and the climate problem, but many experts (including Maxine Savitz, VP of the National Academy of Engineering) admit that out of all the aspects relating to climate change, consumer behavior in markets and toward policies is the least understood side of the problem. Perhaps it’s just obvious why Americans refuse to acknowledge climate as an issue. Perhaps it’s not. I’d like to make some unqualified claims about the reasons for US skepticism.

1. A strong preference for an “American” way of life. More crucially, a critical departure is just acknowledging that conventional aspects of it are more dangerous (and possibly more expensive) than previously thought.

2. Distrust in the “establishment”. This includes media, scientific community, and the government. In short, I think Americans are deep down skeptics…they need to “see it to believe it” and even then, they may not even believe “it” at all.

3. Faith in technology. The can-do attitude in the US helps us innovate the best technology on earth from the internet to nuclear or solar power. I would imagine most Americans thinking, can’t technology just fix this?

Rather than judge the values of Americans I’d be interested to see what factors drive the average US citizen to think and to act they way she does. Can America be persuaded? Could they be “nudged” into what others across the world demand as “responsible” action? Which factors in decision making and behavior to make an impact?