Extreme weather events and public attention to climate change in Australia
(2023) Climatic Change — Vol. 176, n° 121, p. online (2023)
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- Abstract
- As climate change causes more extreme weather, these incidents have the potential to generate greater public attention to the climate crisis, and thus increase pressure for more ambitious policies. Focusing on Australia, this brief study seeks to understand how various types of extreme events impact this ‘climate attention cycle’ differently based on the intensity and longevity of the attention they generate. Our findings indicate that public attention to climate change following extreme weather events in Australia between 2008-2020 tended to be positive, but quite short-lived, and that there were differences in the intensity and duration of attention depending on the type of weather event. They further indicate that, despite an increased tendency for the media to draw a connection between extreme weather and climate change over the past decade, the level of ‘climate attention’ following extreme events in Australia does not appear to be significantly increasing over time.
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Citations
Crellin, C., & Robert MacNeil. (2023). Extreme weather events and public attention to climate change in Australia. Climatic Change, 176(121), online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03601-5 (Original work published 2023)