A bunch of folks have asked for my slides from #ANUClimateUpdate20 - so here's a walk through highlights from 2019/20 climate comms research with links to sources:
Public opinion in Aus is getting closer to matching scientific consensus, but there are differences in age (thx @LowyInstitute): lowyinstitute.org/publications/l… 
Interesting changes between 2019 July and 2020 Jan from @TheAusInstitute which also explored attitudes toward bushfires: tai.org.au/content/concer…
Stop open Qs about impact between experience of weather changes and opinion - as found in this recent review of the literature: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.108…
Australia is second only to the US in terms of how divided we are on climate change along left-right political lines. Hornsey et al. in @NatureClimate: nature.com/articles/s4155…
Borne out by @matt_nurse & @willozap who found motivated numeracy based on political affiliation, re climate change in Australia: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
Politics also matters in terms of how political leadership(!) affects political group members' views on climate policy options, e.g. in this GEC piece: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
And whether or not your view aligns with your political ingroup will affect your perceptions of polarisation between ingroup views and outgroup views: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Political institutions matter too - 23 EU countries' support for taxes re climate is more influenced by trust in politics (e.g. democracy) than it is by aggregate 'belief' in CC: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Trust in experts too is important - we trust people who we see as being 'like us', and esp w science those who are politically neutral and objective. In @NatureClimate nature.com/articles/s4155…
But we also want to see climate experts making personal behaviour changes that match their messages - but not so much that they seem weird and different to us. ER&SS: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
More and more evidence on social norms as important drivers of positive behaviour change (links collected below), but spillover is limited. So, best to focus on social context, not on individual choices. And better to lead by doing, not by telling.
Fatalism about CC being unstoppable creates stagnation, we are better off recognising the tricky spot we're in but focusing on positive ways out of it: @Climate_Policy tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
Interesting relationship between preference for simple v. complex information - matching messages to audience is useful for productive dialogue. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
I love this study. Consumption of 'snack news', where we scroll through headlines and pics without engaging deeply, increases how much we THINK we know, but not how much we ACTUALLY know about a topic...
...and THINKING we know (but not actually knowing) about a topic makes our attitudes on the topic stronger, and makes us want to discuss the topic more! Yikes. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Conversations within trusted groups are so valuable for increasing understanding of our climate predicament. Kids' understanding influences their parents' understandings, in @NatureClimate: nature.com/articles/s4155…
Just as conversations within social networks builds understanding of climate science and impacts, and empowers people to be more open with those around them. @MattGoldberg100 et al. in @PNASNews: pnas.org/content/116/30…
But conversations can be hard, especially when we are mired in a highly emotive social/political context on CC. So, check out the great @ClimateOutreach handbook for how to have constructive conversations. Listen more than tell. Be open, be respectful. climateoutreach.org/resources/how-…
Thanks @ANU_Climate for the invitation to speak, and to awesome co-presenters for sharing insights on farmers as innovative solvers @VMorganSchmidt & people coming together to take action in communities @CarolynHendriks.
