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  • Sep '24
    Almost half of Britons have personally experienced heat waves
  • Jul '24
    Research paper: Low carbon lifestyles are supported, but are impacted by ‘narratives of delay’
  • Apr '24
    Research paper: Engaging concerned but distrustful audiences on reducing meat & dairy
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    Climate Barometer Tracker 18th September 2024

    Almost half of Britons have personally experienced heat waves

    When asked about their personal experiences of climate impacts, large proportions of the public have experienced heat waves, extreme heat, storms, and flooding. Of these, heat is the most commonly experienced climate impact, with almost half of Britons surveyed saying they had personally experienced it.

    Only 28% of people surveyed in the Climate Barometer Tracker in April 2024 said that they ‘have never experienced any of these climate events’.

    From the Climate Community 2nd July 2024

    Research paper: Low carbon lifestyles are supported, but are impacted by ‘narratives of delay’

    Researchers at the centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) have found widespread public support for low-carbon lifestyles. In workshops, people explored visions of an ideal 1.5°C future:

    • Food norms are seen to be shifting. While vegan diets are still seen as too restrictive, there is strong support for reducing food waste, and support for the adoption of balanced diets that reduce meat consumption, deliver health co-benefits, and local benefits to farmers.
    • The future of shopping and consumption was seen as going ‘full circle back to the 50s’, with less packaging, long-lasting and affordable, with emissions labelling, and a rise in ‘swapping shops’ and the second-hand market.
    • There is a strong desire for fewer cars on the road, infrastructure to support active travel, and electrification of transport. Frequent flyer taxes are seen acceptable in the short term, but people hoped for more efficient air travel in future.
    • Home refurbishment and better housing standards were almost universally positively received – with government support seen as non-negotiable.

    However, common ‘narratives of delay’ also punctuated these positive visions, stemming from what the authors identified as three emotional defense mechanisms:

    1) Overconfidence in current actions (thinking that small changes have more impact than they actually do)

    2) Defensiveness over radical change (despite many lifestyle changes requiring only moderate adjustments for many)

    3) Dejection at the scale of the challenge (with fatalism acting as a demotivator for making lifestyle changes)

    The paper concludes that:

    “Rethinking strategies for public engagement with climate action will be an essential step towards creating a positive, ambitious, fair, sustainable vision of the future that is desperately needed as part of a people-centred approach to tackling climate change”

    • Source: Global Environmental Change
    • Authors: Catherine Cherry, Caroline Verfuerth, Christina Demski
    • Date: 17th June 2024
    Discourses of climate inaction undermine public support for 1.5 °C lifestyles
    Opinion Insight 17th April 2024

    Research paper: Engaging concerned but distrustful audiences on reducing meat & dairy

    Climate Outreach worked with researchers from the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) and the environmental charity Hubbub to test food and diet-related messages, with residents in Manchester who were ‘climate concerned’ but are not typically involved or represented in climate conversations (broadly representative of ‘Loyal Nationals’), testing ideas and messages about reducing meat and dairy over a 6 month period.

    In surveys, only 27% of people say they have no plans to/don’t want to reduce the amount of meat they eat. But while there is potential to reduce the amount of meat and dairy in people’s diets, the research found that:

    • When people talked about food, they often did so with reference to their own family traditions. The notion of food as a means of bringing people together was common across the various cultures represented in the group.
    • Terms such as ‘plant-based alternatives’ or ‘sustainable diets’ did not widely resonate. These were referred to as ‘middle class’, and participants felt like these terms do not acknowledge food cultures that already rely on vegetables. Using more straightforward language (e.g., ‘eat more vegetables’) was more acceptable.
    • People were worried about climate change and the environmental changes they were seeing.  But when members were asked to post recipes of vegetarian or vegan dishes, they talked mainly about the ease of preparation and taste; impact on climate or sustainability was not discussed.
    • Using climate change as the main message to encourage dietary changes may not be effective. People related more to messages around reducing food waste, community food growing, and improving health and wellbeing.
    • Author: CAST
    • Date: 17th April 2024
    “But we’re a meat-eating family”: Engaging environmentally concerned but politically distrustful groups on reducing meat and dairy

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