Abstract
Previous research has examined public views on climate change and pro-environmental behavior; however, there has been little focus on in-depth qualitative examination of views on mitigation strategies carried out by different social actors. This paper examines how people discuss strategies to mitigate climate change and the relative responsibilities of individuals, the UK government, and corporations. Twenty people were interviewed about what they thought should be done to reduce the degree of climate change. Three main themes in their responses are identified: (1) representations of climate change; (2) responsibility for action; and (3) opposing environmental and economic interests. Overall, there was support for a variety of climate change mitigation strategies. There was some emphasis on individual behavior change combined with suggestions about greater information provision and the importance of personal choice. Although some participants criticized economic and profit-oriented structures, there was a strong sense among participants that change in this regard was unlikely. An expansion of examples of alternative strategies to address climate change could contribute towards transcending individualized approaches and accentuate perceptions of possibilities for significant social change.
Highlights
Because of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, climate change is affecting environmental and social systems [1]
Previous research has examined in detail public views on climate change, showing some beliefs that result in the downplaying of the importance of mitigating climate change
Given that mitigating climate change will require action from diverse individual and institutional actors, and given that views on personal responsibility are influenced by what other actors are seen to be responsible for, we examined in detail the views of members of the public on the role and relationship of different actors in climate change mitigation
Summary
Because of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, climate change is affecting environmental and social systems [1]. Given that mitigating climate change will require action from diverse individual and institutional actors, and given that views on personal responsibility are influenced by what other actors are seen to be responsible for, we examined in detail the views of members of the public on the role and relationship of different actors (individual, government and corporations) in climate change mitigation. Tindall and Greenfield [20] explored environmental group members’ views on responsibility for addressing climate change, suggestions for mitigation, and the relationship between different actors They found that the top four responsibility attributions related to government leadership (76.3%), individuals (39.4%), “everyone” (28.4%) and corporations (21.6%). The use of qualitative interviews for studying beliefs about different actors’ responsibility for climate change mitigation supplements previous research by revealing in more depth the arguments, the thought processes and the negotiation that people engage in when conceptualizing climate change mitigation and responsibility in relation to the societal context
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