Climate change, powerlessness and the commons dilemma: Assessing New Zealanders’ preparedness to act |
| |
| Authors: | Christopher AitkenRalph Chapman John McClure |
| |
| Institution: | a School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
b School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand |
| |
| Abstract: | Mitigating climate change is recognized as an increasingly urgent task that requires understanding a range of different strategies, including voluntary behavior change. Among the psychological barriers to behavior change are perceptions of powerlessness and the commons dilemma. This paper examines the association between these factors in a sample of New Zealand citizens and clarifies their importance in relation to other barriers to action to mitigate climate change, including uncertainty and perceived risk. Stronger perceptions of powerlessness and the commons dilemma were related to lower levels of action to mitigate climate change and lesser importance being placed upon climate change as an influence on individual actions. The perceived risk of climate change and the perception that humans influence climate change were the strongest predictors of mitigation action. |
| |
| Keywords: | Climate change Commons dilemma Powerlessness Risk perception |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
