Today, five Belgian universities are starting with the climate barometer. With this questionnaire that anyone can complete, the researchers want to find out what effects climate news has on us. Do the messages make you scared and despondent? Or are they motivating?
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 6:36 AM
No one is happy with the latest report from the European climate agency Copernicus and the UN weather organization WMO. Last year, quite a few records were broken: the number of days with ‘extreme heat stress’ was unprecedented, the month of September was the warmest ever, the glacier ice in the Alps in particular melted ‘exceptionally’ fast, and the sea water temperature off the coast was never so high. .
The organizations warn that Europe is not exempt from the consequences of global warming. Even more: it is the fastest warming inhabited continent. “The cost of climate action may seem high, but the cost of inaction is much higher,” it said in a statement.
So many alarm bells, but do those messages also motivate us to change our behavior? Researchers from five Belgian universities want to find out. That’s why they’re starting the climate barometer today. “How do people view the challenges ahead? Does the news make them scared and despondent or are the worrying reports a reason to be indignant and does that motivate them to act?” asks social psychologist Vincent Yzerbyt of UCLouvain. He leads the research together with health psychologist Ann DeSmet from UAntwerp. “We want to know how all those studies, expert recommendations and government regulations reach people. Understanding this is important to shape our climate policy in the future.”
So do you plan to fly less in the future? Or is it up to aviation to design cleaner aircraft? Do you ever eat vegetarian? Do you trust our politicians to properly tackle the climate crisis? Or are you willing to argue for a better policy?
Completing the questionnaire takes approximately 20 minutes. Click here to participate. The survey was drawn up by researchers from UAntwerp, KULeuven, UGent, ULB and UCLouvain.
/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data109966068-60aae5.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1 "Counting the centimeters and hoping that the cold lasts: 'Skating fever doesn't hurt me that much'")
