How can social sciences be integrated into climate

The Development of a Social & Ecological Framework for Understanding Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation

Alan Berkowitz, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
David Blockstein, National Council for Science and the Environment
Anthony Broccoli, Rutgers University
Diane Ebert-May, Michigan State University
Robert Evans Kopp, Rutgers University
Cindy Isenhour, University of Maine
Aaron McCright, Michigan State University
Jennifer Robinson, Indiana University
Amanda Sorensen, Rutgers University

Advisory Role: Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University Learning to Integrate Across Natural and Social Sciences<br>

Goal of the Project: To develop tools that will help undergraduate instructors develop integrated social and natural science classes in relation to the human-climate system.<br>

Model-based reasoning can be an important skill to teach undergraduates how to move from abstract to specifics/ theory to empirical

Teaching human-climate dynamics provides an important opportunity to link social and natural science ways of knowing and practices

Teaching human-climate dynamics provides an important opportunity to teach around issues of data variability, uncertainty, and probability Building on ideas that:<br>

To build a “human-climate” dynamics model that identifies the main components of the systems and examples of data that could be used in classes

Identify what “habits of mind” are necessary for understanding the relationships in a human-climate model and help us identify similarities and differences in various disciplines

Develop and refine a rubric for assessing students habits of minds so we know how students are doing. Objectives of the Project<br>

Model of Human-Climate Dynamics<br>

To build a “human-climate” dynamics model that identifies the main components of the systems and examples of data that could be used in classes

Identify what “habits of mind” are necessary for understanding the relationships in a human-climate model and help us identify similarities and differences in various disciplines

Develop and refine a rubric for assessing students habits of minds so we know how students are doing. Objectives of the Project<br>

Essential Principles of Climate Literacy (2009)<br>

A climate-literate person can: Understand the essential principles of earth’s climate system

Assess scientifically credible information about climate change

Communicate about climate and climate change in a meaningful way

Make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate<br>

“This climate science literacy document focuses primarily on the physical and biological science aspects of climate and climate change. Yet as
nations and the international community seek solutions to global climate change over the coming decades, a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to climate literacy—one that includes economic and social considerations—will play a vital role in knowledgeable planning, decision making, and governance. A new effort is in development within the social sciences community to produce a companion document that will address these aspects of climate literacy. Together, these documents will promote informed decision-making and effective systems-level responses to climate change that reflect a fundamental understanding of climate science. It is imperative that these responses to climate change embrace the following guiding principle.” What it says about the social sciences?<br>

Can a stronger understanding of the human dimensions of climate change (or climate social sciences) advance climate literacy goals?<br>

Structural model of activism for climate change mitigation (Roser-Renouf et al., 2014)<br>

Lorenzoni, Nicholson-Cole, and Whitmarsh (2007) Many people do perceive climate change to be a collective problem hardly affected by the behavioral changes of individuals.

At the same time, their work also suggests that many people are hesitant to spend much time politically organizing because of the belief that the government is mostly unwilling to act.<br>

What if we not only have to correct misconceptions and address people’s mental models of climate change processes to advance climate literacy? Rationale 1 for further Integrating Social Science in Climate Literacy :Naïve models of politics, economics, and human behavior may be equally responsible for the public’s failures to communicate and act responsibly and effectively<br>

Rationale 2 for further Integrating Social Science in Climate Literacy : There are overlapping concepts and “habits of mind” that are utilized in social science research practices are the same that are needed for understanding climate change processes are the same and can re-inforce overall scientific literacy

Model-based reasoning

Variation and uncertainty

Integration across scales and systems<br>

Claims, Evidence and Practices<br>

What climate social science insights might be most effectively integrated into climate literacy?

Fields of geography, anthropology, psychology, literature, science education and sociology on our social science team:
Most useful to advancing climate literacy goals
Most robust findings – APA, ASA, and AAG all just released reports on what they can say about climate change<br>

Climate Literacy Principles The sun is the primary energy source for the earth’s climate system
The climate is regulated by complex interactions among components of the earth system
Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made processes
Life on earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate
Our understanding of climate is improved through observations, theoretical studies and modeling
Human activities are impacting the climate
Climate change will have consequences for the earth system and human lives<br>

Long term droughts and societal development or demise

“The lessons of historical responses to climate stress and adaption are instructive. The pace and scale of CC today is unprecedented in human history. Its effects on humans will likely be both broader in scale and intensity, exacerbated by various contemporary socio-political factors that increase vulnerability. These factors include high population densities, urbanization, static geopolitical borders that reduce the ability to migrate, and inflexible systems of governance.” Life on earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate<br>

Social scientists note that many scientific estimates in integrated climate science assessments (i.e., IPCC reports) are inherently conservative.
Also, much is known about the nature and extent of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic CC debunking a popular trope that the scientific consensus in the 1970s was for global cooling and confirming that extremely high percentages of peer-reviewed scientific studies and surveyed scientists affirm that anthropogenic CC is occurring. Our understanding of climate is improved through observations, theoretical studies and modeling<br>

Cross-national analyses of human drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions consistently find that nations’ population size and gross domestic product per capita are the principal direct driving forces of GHG emissions.

Direct and indirect household energy consumption has been studied extensively for decades. Household daily uses of direct home energy use, household transportation energy use, and food consumption (particularly meat and foods produced by industrial agriculture) are the top three categories of GHG-intensive consumption. GHG-intensive patterns of consumption are highly influenced by levels of development and also, to a more variable extent, by cultural factors—such as institutions, values, beliefs, and norms. For example, California has development equal to other U.S. states but uses 42% less electricity per household than the rest of the U.S. due to different economic and institutional policies.” Human activities are impacting the climate<br>

Climate risk is a function of both exposure to physical hazards and societal vulnerabilities such as levels of poverty and inequality, political power, social capital, and access to productive resources. Some societies are much more vulnerable than others, and levels of adaptive capacity are highly uneven on a global scale.

Migration, for example, is often necessary when climatic conditions make some locations inhabitable, but the option is most available to those with adequate economic resources. When low-income migrants are able to move, they often end up on low-cost marginal lands equally prone to physical risks. To date, those most vulnerable to CC often have been the least responsible for GHG emissions. Further, the adaptive efforts of well-resourced societies have, in some cases, worked to reinforce the status quo and generate negative impacts for other societies, or the system as a whole” Climate change will have consequences for the earth system and human lives<br>

Topics that don’t fit under current climate literacy clearly that might be effective in advancing literacy goals: Public opinion on climate change is a social and psychological phenomenon

Governance and political systems

What role for the humanities?<br>

Skepticism
Public understanding of CC varies considerably cross-nationally, even as it has generally increased over time due in large part to increasing media coverage. The modest percentages of US citizens who are skeptical of climate science and who deny the reality and seriousness of CC are somewhat anomalous in cross-national comparison. General publics around the world perceive the impacts of CC to be less severe and more temporally distant then the more immediate impacts of other environmental problems. Public opinion as a social and psychological phenomenon<br>

Individual predictors:
Most analyses in the United States and many elsewhere find that pro-environmental values or identity, political orientation (either political ideology or party identification or both), and gender are among the most consistent predictors of CC understanding. , , Of these, political orientation, which is sometimes measured by proxies such as free-market ideology or cultural worldviews, typically has the strongest effect, while the effect of gender is often only modest. Briefly, females, liberals/Democrats, and individuals espousing pro-environmental values or identities are more receptive to the CC consensus claims of the scientific community. Public opinion as a social and psychological phenomenon<br>

What’s the weather today?

A much smaller, but growing, body of studies examines how meteorological or climatic conditions influence CC understanding. Several studies find that temperature trends or anomalies are weakly associated with citizens’ belief in or concern about CC. Yet, climatic conditions more broadly do not seem to influence CC beliefs and attitudes. Public opinion as a social and psychological phenomenon<br>

Knowledge of political systems can empower the public to participate in collective actions to address CC. Some citizens believe that government is not interested in or is ineffective at addressing CC and are therefore not inclined to engage politically or support policies. , The US has not ratified an international treaty, but coal plant GHG emissions are being regulated under the Clean Air Act, and many CC policies are being implemented at the state and local levels. Political and Governance Systems<br>

How do we advance this climate social science literacy? Strengthening the knowledge where needed

Building an approach that advances understanding of how the natural and social sciences produce knowledge and where students can understand “how they know what they know”

Teaching interdisciplinary classes (maybe happening more at college – but K-12?)

Your ideas?<br>

Acknowledgments This work benefited from support from the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) - NSF award DBI-1052875

Integrated Learning Theme: Socio-Ecological Framework for Understanding Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation<br>

References NOAA, The Essential Principles of Climate Science. (2009).
C. Roser-Renouf, E. W. Maibach, A. Leiserowitz, X. Zhao, The genesis of climate change activism: from key beliefs to political action. Climatic Change 125, 163-178 (2014).
I. Lorenzoni, S. Nicholson-Cole, L. Whitmarsh, Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Global environmental change 17, 445-459 (2007).<br>