Got gas? Emissions, pollution and abatement in mental models of climate change

Carbon dioxide and a few other greenhouse gases appear commonly in mental models of climate change and global warming. Also frequent are air pollution mental models of global warming, which attribute global warming to air... [ view full abstract ]

Carbon dioxide and a few other greenhouse gases appear commonly in mental models of climate change and global warming. Also frequent are air pollution mental models of global warming, which attribute global warming to air pollution or equate the two. In this paper we compare the particulars of concepts of emissions and air pollution from climate change mental models interviews in the U.S. in 1992 (Pittsburgh, N=37), 2008 (Seattle, N=56) and 2015 (Seattle, N=45), to assess whether the specifics of these concepts are associated with how interviewees think about abatement. In their initial open-ended responses, interviewees volunteer a range of related concepts, from air pollution, which was the second most volunteered cause of climate change in the 1992 interviews (mentioned by 85% of respondents), and most frequently volunteered cause in 2008 (60%), to carbon dioxide (19% of the 1992 respondents volunteered carbon dioxide as a cause of climate change, compared to 35% in 2008). Carbon monoxide, industrial emissions, and methane, and chlorofluorocarbons also appear. At the aggregate level, causes appear to influence abatement beliefs, as air pollution was the second most mentioned mitigation strategy in 1992 (51% mentioned air pollution controls), whereas in 2008 this dropped (only 9% volunteered reducing pollution as a strategy for the U.S. to address global climate change), corresponding to a lower percentage of respondents mentioning air pollution, and a higher prevalence of mental models including multiple source concepts. "Carbon pollution" has become a much more prevalent term in policy discussions of greenhouse gas emissions in recent years. As national and international discussions evolve, the nuances of such concepts may become important to address, if they affect thinking about abatement.