Abstract
Even when people accept the existence and causes of climate change, there seems to be little collective will to address it. Human beings are a unique species and we have been successful in overcoming many serious problems confronting us, including some major environmental problems. However, not just political obstacles but important psychological and social barriers seem to have prevented major action on climate in the United States to date. It is difficult for people to accept that the Earth can actually change and become irreversibly less hospitable. Society is not a self-correcting system and powerful interests encourage “skeptical” thinking on the issue of climate. Both our social environment—the perceived “climate” of public opinion—and our changing media system influence our perspectives.
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Priest, S. (2016). What’s the Rush? Reacting to a Slow-Moving Disaster. In: Communicating Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58579-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58579-0_2
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