TY - JOUR
T1 - Scales of perception
T2 - Public awareness of regional and neighborhood climates
AU - Ruddell, Darren
AU - Harlan, Sharon
AU - Grossman-Clarke, Susanne
AU - Chowell, Gerardo
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This study is based upon research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant Nos. DEB-0423704 Central Arizona - Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER), SES-0345945 Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC), and GEO-0816168 Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendation expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
PY - 2012/4
Y1 - 2012/4
N2 - Understanding public perceptions of climate is critical for developing an effective strategy to mitigate the effects of human activity on the natural environment and reduce human vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. While recent climate assessments document change among various physical systems (e. g., increased temperature, sea level rise, shrinking glaciers), environmental perceptions are relatively under-researched despite the fact that there is growing skepticism and disconnect between climate science and public opinion. This study utilizes a socio-ecological research framework to investigate how public perceptions compared with environmental conditions in one urban center. Specifically, air temperature during an extreme heat event was examined as one characteristic of environmental conditions by relating simulations from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) atmospheric model with self-reported perceptions of regional and neighborhood temperatures from a social survey of Phoenix, AZ (USA) metropolitan area residents. Results indicate that: 1) human exposure to high temperatures varies substantially throughout metropolitan Phoenix; 2) public perceptions of temperature are more strongly correlated with proximate environmental conditions than with distal conditions; and 3) perceptions of temperature are related to social characteristics and situational variables. The social constructionist paradigm explains public perceptions at the regional scale, while experience governs attitude formation at the neighborhood scale.
AB - Understanding public perceptions of climate is critical for developing an effective strategy to mitigate the effects of human activity on the natural environment and reduce human vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. While recent climate assessments document change among various physical systems (e. g., increased temperature, sea level rise, shrinking glaciers), environmental perceptions are relatively under-researched despite the fact that there is growing skepticism and disconnect between climate science and public opinion. This study utilizes a socio-ecological research framework to investigate how public perceptions compared with environmental conditions in one urban center. Specifically, air temperature during an extreme heat event was examined as one characteristic of environmental conditions by relating simulations from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) atmospheric model with self-reported perceptions of regional and neighborhood temperatures from a social survey of Phoenix, AZ (USA) metropolitan area residents. Results indicate that: 1) human exposure to high temperatures varies substantially throughout metropolitan Phoenix; 2) public perceptions of temperature are more strongly correlated with proximate environmental conditions than with distal conditions; and 3) perceptions of temperature are related to social characteristics and situational variables. The social constructionist paradigm explains public perceptions at the regional scale, while experience governs attitude formation at the neighborhood scale.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10584-011-0165-y
DO - 10.1007/s10584-011-0165-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84857919046
SN - 0165-0009
VL - 111
SP - 581
EP - 607
JO - Climatic Change
JF - Climatic Change
IS - 3
ER -