Tag: Climate Change Disinformation

Abstract

This paper explores the epistemic and moral responsibility individuals and institutions bear for climate change and sustainability. Highlighting challenges individuals face in understanding climate information, it emphasises the pivotal role of governments and intergovernmental institutions in exercising collective intentionality regarding climate change mitigation and sustainability education. Despite the commendable efforts of other collective entities, such as NGOs and climate movements, this responsibility belongs solely to national governments and intergovernmental institutions because they have a unique ability to create social rules. However, such action remains a desideratum. Current data on ecological crises show that there is a pressing need for heightened awareness and decisive, concrete action.

Abstract

Background

To explore how a vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention can be integrated within existing healthcare services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS).

Methods

Data from 37 semi-structured interviews with 22 people with MS, eight employers, and seven healthcare professionals were analysed using a framework method informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and an intervention logic model.

Results

Four themes were identified relating to the structure of current NHS services, how to improve access to and awareness of VR services, the collaboration between internal and external networks, and the benefits of integrating VR within the NHS services. Participants identified several implementation barriers such as poor links with external organisations, staffing issues, and lack of funding. To overcome these barriers, participants suggested enablers such as technology (e.g., apps or online assessments) and collaboration with third-sector organisations to reduce the pressure on the NHS.

Conclusion

Significant organisational changes are required to ensure a successful implementation of a VR intervention within current NHS services. Despite this, the NHS was seen as a trustworthy organisation to offer support that can optimise the health and professional lives of people with MS.

Abstract

Background

Prescribed burning is a beneficial fire management practice used by practitioners worldwide to meet multiple land management objectives, including reduction of wildfire hazard, promotion of biodiversity, and management of vegetation for wildlife and human interests. Meeting these objectives can be difficult due to the need for institutional coordination, resource and policy constraints, and community support. We examined these dynamics in the United States’ mid-Atlantic region because prescribed fire use is increasing in the region to meet a broadening set of land management objectives. Managers are at the frontlines of these challenges and hold significant experience and knowledge for enhancing wildland fire management policy and strategy. Towards better leveraging this insight, we conducted focus groups with fire managers in land management agencies in the region to identify managers’ perceived barriers and opportunities for implementing prescribed fire.

Results

We found manager perceptions to be hierarchical, with barriers and opportunities expressed across landscape, community, and individual levels. Limited institutional coordination across landscapes was seen by managers as an opportunity for expanding prescribed fire implementation, whereas coping with shared fear or stress about burning among individual managers or individual community members was seen as a significant barrier. Yet, despite different prescribed burning histories and policies at the state level, barriers and opportunities were similar among managers in the mid-Atlantic region.

Conclusions

Managers in the mid-Atlantic region confront barriers to prescribed fire use but are also uniquely positioned to recognize opportunities to enhance its implementation. This work sheds light on these barriers and opportunities, revealing that managers desire greater opportunities for landscape-level fire planning and coordination across agencies as well as greater opportunities for community engagement and interpersonal trust-building within complex social-management networks. Manager perspectives from the mid-Atlantic provide lessons for other regions across the globe grappling with new or broadened land-management strategies that include beneficial fire use.

Abstract

The large diversity of ecosystem services provided by natural wetlands has been underestimated by decision-making authorities in Brazil, posing a threat to sustainable development. The intensive land use practices and increased water usage in the country are the main forces driving the degradation and depletion of small wetlands. The aim of this study was to assess the spatiotemporal changes in geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs) in the Paulista Peripheral Depression in São Paulo State, considering the intensification of land use and land cover (LULC) and the role of local governance in protecting water resources in these environments. Remote sensing imagery and climate data were utilized to analyze the spatial‒temporal changes in GIWs. The effectiveness of local governance policies in addressing wetland protection concerns was also evaluated. The findings indicate that the intensification of LULC has negative impacts on GIWs, leading to their depletion or degradation. Additionally, GIWs are outside the scope of regulatory protection at the federal, state, and local levels. This lack of protection contributes to the vulnerability of wetland resources, poses risks to local ecological benefits, and exacerbates social-environmental issues such as water scarcity.

Abstract

The adoption of a stakeholder approach to public engagement within the public sector has been extensive. However, there remain critical gaps in the understanding of stakeholder participation arising from hidden disparities that contribute to unequal access to communication channels, information, and hence ultimately knowledge and decision making. The term “epistemic injustice” has been used to describe such inequality of access and consequently, the outcome that ensues. Epistemic injustice is much overlooked in stakeholder theory. This article shows how epistemic injustice can act as a barrier to effective stakeholder engagement and hence to successful public policy formulation and implementation. We use the case of vaccine hesitancy among Scotland’s African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) communities to illustrate this problem of unequal participation. The study drew on primary data involving 85 participants and secondary data sources from extant literature and explored salient factors shaping barriers to vaccine uptake during the recent pandemic. The findings demonstrate how the failure to grasp epistemic injustice undermines the effectiveness of the stakeholder approach, even with the most well-intentioned efforts. We argue that epistemic injustice is a critical barrier to effective stakeholder approaches.

Abstract

Communicating the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is real increases climate change beliefs, worry and support for public action in the United States. In this preregistered experiment, we tested two scientific consensus messages, a classic message on the reality of human-caused climate change and an updated message additionally emphasizing scientific agreement that climate change is a crisis. Across online convenience samples from 27 countries (n = 10,527), the classic message substantially reduces misperceptions (d = 0.47, 95% CI (0.41, 0.52)) and slightly increases climate change beliefs (from d = 0.06, 95% CI (0.01, 0.11) to d = 0.10, 95% CI (0.04, 0.15)) and worry (d = 0.05, 95% CI (−0.01, 0.10)) but not support for public action directly. The updated message is equally effective but provides no added value. Both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies. Overall, scientific consensus messaging is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry across different audiences.

Abstract

Developing countries face unique challenges in building and managing their national image due to various socio-political and economic factors. Thus, this study explored the extent of citizens’ deprecating behaviour and factors that breed citizens’ deprecating behaviour focusing on Zimbabwe as a case study. An interpretivist philosophy based on the exploratory approach was employed where a total of 20 personal interviews were conducted with purposively selected government officials, business leaders/marketing experts, sports personalities, media experts, local university students, and international diplomats. Findings indicated a high prevalence of citizens’ deprecating behaviour while national injustices, economic mismanagement, bad governance, foreign government interference, and human rights abuse top the list of factors breeding citizens’ deprecating behaviour. The study recommends the government and the nation branding stakeholders to adopt an inclusive approach in implementing strategies that result in the effective development of a compelling nation brand while promoting social cohesion and equity among the citizens.

Abstract

There is an appreciable divergence in views on racism among Jewish Americans based on their political affiliations, with Jewish Democrats being almost four times as likely as Jewish Republicans to perceive substantial discrimination against Black people. Through qualitative interviews with 30 Jewish adults across the political spectrum in the Philadelphia area, we analyze narratives surrounding George Floyd’s murder, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and the ensuing 2020 racial justice protests. The findings reveal pronounced polarization: Politically conservative Jews, predominantly Orthodox, largely opposed the BLM movement, often employing “color-blind racism” to justify their stance. In contrast, politically liberal Jews supported the BLM movement, emphasizing its importance in addressing racial injustice. This study contributes to the literature on Black–Jewish relations by providing insights into the complex relationship between American Jews and race, highlighting the impact of both religious and political polarization within the Jewish community on matters of racial justice.

Abstract

While populism has recently garnered much scholarly attention and media scrutiny, we know little about what citizens think of this phenomenon. We conducted surveys in Canada, the United States, France, and Italy to probe how citizens perceive populism and whether they self-identify as populists or anti-populists. Surprisingly, many respondents do not comprehend the term, equating populism with “being popular” or the “population.” Only a small proportion put forth definitions of populism advanced by academics and associate the term with people-centrism or anti-elitism. The ideational approach and populism’s “thin-centered” nature is lost on the average citizen. Both supporters and critics of populism frequently link it to charismatic leaders, suggesting that defining populism with a focus on leadership resonates more with the public’s perception. Those that self-identify as populists typically equate it with community, democracy, equality, hope, leadership, and giving a voice to the people. However, anti-populists are more critical, likening populism to demagoguery and extremism, and describing populist supporters in derisive terms.

Abstract

Agrifood scholars have long called for changes to the dominant food system, with the goal of making food systems more sustainable and just. This paper focuses on the ways in which recent and future food system shocks provide an opportunity for sustainable transitions in the food system. However, this requires strategic engagement on the part of alternative agrifood initiatives—agrifood niches—otherwise food systems are likely to return to business as usual. Drawing on the multi-level perspective (MLP) within the sustainability transitions framework, core themes that emerge from social science studies of disasters in agrifood systems are identified. These are summarized as resources, polices, and practices that can assist niches in transforming agrifood regimes in response to disasters. The results highlight that while niches are generally independent of governments, niches would be better positioned to engage in post disaster agrifood change if they have some pre-existing connections with local or regional governments.