Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Strengthening Personal Concern and the Willingness to Act Through Climate Change Communication

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Addressing the Challenges in Communicating Climate Change Across Various Audiences

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

The climate change awareness of teenagers, as the leading generation for future development affects how societies will be able to cope with climate change. Especially teenagers’ concerns about climate change and their willingness to act in a climate-friendly manner are factors climate change communication has to address. This study investigates why teenagers do not feel concerned about climate change or are not willing to act in a climate-friendly manner in order to identify strategies regarding how to strengthen these aspects in target group-oriented climate change communication formats. Using a mixed-method approach, a quantitative analysis of questionnaires answered by 760 13–16-year old teenagers was validated by a qualitative analysis of interviews with selected respondents. The findings suggest that those teenagers who are not concerned about climate change believe that climate change will happen only in the future. Furthermore, they do not recognize the interconnections or feedbacks regarding climate change between the components of the global system. The group of teenagers who are not willing to act question their own impact and ability to influence the effects of climate change. The findings are discussed, in order to identify implications for climate change communication tailored to the needs of the target group.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson A (2012) Climate change education for mitigation and adaptation. J Educ Sustain Dev 6(2):191–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bamberg S, Möser G (2007) Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: a new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour. J Environ Psychol 27(1):14–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bofferding L, Kloser M (2014) Middle and high school students’ conceptions of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Environ Educ Res 21(2):275–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyes E, Stanisstreet M (2012) Environmental education for behaviour change: which actions should be targeted? Int J Sci Educ 34(10):1591–1614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryman A (2012) Social research methods, 4th ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckler C, Creech H (2014) Shaping the future we want: UN decade of education for sustainable development. Final report; 2014: UN Decade of education for sustainable development (2005–2014) Final report

    Google Scholar 

  • Corner A, Roberts O, Chiari S, Völler S, Mayrhuber E, Mandl S, Monson K (2015) How do young people engage with climate change? The role of knowledge, values, message framing, and trusted communicators. WIREs Clim Change 6:523–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fielding KS, Head BW (2012) Determinants of young Australians’ environmental actions: the role of responsibility attributions, locus of control, knowledge and attitudes. Environ Educ Res 18(2):171–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frick J, Kaiser FG, Wilson M (2004) Environmental knowledge and conservation behavior: exploring prevalence and structure in a representative sample. Personal Individ Differ 37(8):1597–1613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Good PI (2013) Introduction to statistics through resampling methods and R, 2nd ed. Wiley, Hoboken

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hines J, Hungerford H, Tomera A (1986/1987) Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: a meta analysis. J Environ Educ 18(2): 1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell RA, Allen S (2016) Significant life experiences, motivations and values of climate change educators. Environ Educ Res 48:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: summary for policymakers

    Google Scholar 

  • Jugert P, Greenaway KH, Barth M, Büchner R, Eisentraut S, Fritsche I (2016) Collective efficacy increases pro-environmental intentions through increasing self-efficacy. J Environ Psychol 48:12–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kagawa F, Selby D (2013) Ready for the storm: education for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation. J Educ Sustain Dev 6(2):207–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser FG, Fuhrer U (2003) Ecological behavior’s dependency on different forms of knowledge. Appl Psychol Int Rev 52(4):598–613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karpudewan M, Roth WM, Mohd Nor Syahrir Bin A (2014) Enhancing primary school students’ knowledge about global warming and environmental attitude using climate change activities. Int J Sci Educ 37(1):31–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kollmuss A, Agyeman J (2002) Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environ Educ Res 8(3):239–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krippendorff K (2013) Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology, 3rd ed. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuthe A, Keller L, Körfgen A, Stötter J, Oberrauch A, Höferl KM (submitted) How many young generations are there?—The variety of teenagers’ climate change awareness. J Environ Educ

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayring P (2015) Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken, 12th ed. Beltz Pädagogik, Beltz, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Metag J, Füchslin T, Schafer, MS (2015) Global warming’s five Germanys: a typology of Germans’ views on climate change and patterns of media use and information. Public Understanding of Science

    Google Scholar 

  • Mochizuki Y, Bryan A (2015) Climate change education in the context of education for sustainable development: rationale and principles. J Educ Sustain Dev 9(1):4–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ockwell D, Whitmarsh L, O’Neill S (2009) Reorienting climate change communication for effective mitigation: forcing people to be green or fostering grass-roots engagement? Sci Commun 30(3):305–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojala M (2012) Hope and climate change: the importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people. Environ Educ Res 18(5):625–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojala M (2015) Climate change scepticism among adolescents. J Youth Stud 18(9):1135–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill S, Nicholson-Cole S (2009) “Fear won’t do it”: promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Sci Commun 30(3):355–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pidgeon N (2012) Climate change risk perception and communication: addressing a critical moment? Risk Anal 32(6):951–956

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapley T (2010) Interviews. In: Seale C, Gobo G, Gubrium JF (eds) Qualitative research practice. Sage, London, pp 15–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid WV, Chen D, Goldfarb L, Hackmann H, Lee YT, Mokhele K, Ostrom E, Raivio K, Rockstrom J, Schellnhuber HJ, Whyte A (2010) Earth system science for global sustainability: grand challenges. Science 330(6006):916–917

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roeser S (2012) Risk communication, public engagement, and climate change: a role for emotions. Risk Anal 32(6):1033–1040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuler S (2011) Alltagstheorien zu den Ursachen und Folgen des globalen Klimawandels: Erhebung und Analyse von Schülervorstellungen aus geographiedidaktischer Perspektive. Bochumer Geographische Arbeiten, vol 78. Europäischer, Universitätsverlag, Bochum

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweizer S, Davis S, Thompson JL (2013) Changing the conversation about climate change: a theoretical framework for place-based climate change engagement. Environ Commun J Nat Cult 7(1):42–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semenza JC, Hall DE, Wilson DJ, Bontempo BD, Sailor DJ, Lab George (2008) Public perception of climate change. Am J Prev Med 35(5):479–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinatra GM, Kardash CM, Taasoobshirazi G, Lombardi D (2012) Promoting attitude change and expressed willingness to take action toward climate change in college students. Instr Sci 40(1):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith N, Leiserowitz A (2014) The role of emotion in global warming policy support and opposition. Risk Anal 34(5):937–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence A, Poortinga W, Pidgeon N (2012) The psychological distance of climate change. Risk Anal 32(6):957–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spicer N (2011) Combining qualitative and quantitative methods. In: Seale C (ed), Researching society and culture 3rd ed. Sage, Los Angeles, pp 479–493

    Google Scholar 

  • WBGU (2011) Welt im Wandel: Gesellschaftsvertrag für eine große Transformation. WBGU, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Wibeck V (2013) Enhancing learning, communication and public engagement about climate change-some lessons from recent literature. Environ Educ Res 20(3):387–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund (KR14AC7K11819), which finances k.i.d.Z.21-Austria, project number: B464783. Special thanks go to everyone who has contributed to the success of the project, especially to the teenagers involved in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52f, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Kuthe Alina, Körfgen Annemarie, Stötter Johann, Keller Lars, Riede Maximilian & Oberrauch Anna

Authors
  1. Kuthe Alina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Körfgen Annemarie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stötter Johann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Keller Lars
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Riede Maximilian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Oberrauch Anna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kuthe Alina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Doctoral Program Climate Change, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Bettina Lackner

  3. Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Henry McGhie

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Alina, K., Annemarie, K., Johann, S., Lars, K., Maximilian, R., Anna, O. (2019). Strengthening Personal Concern and the Willingness to Act Through Climate Change Communication. In: Leal Filho, W., Lackner, B., McGhie, H. (eds) Addressing the Challenges in Communicating Climate Change Across Various Audiences. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98294-6_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation