Education drives awareness of climate change

Despite the very real threat climate change poses to human health and habitats, public awareness and concern varies greatly. And according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change, education is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness. Additionally, the study reports that different factors drive the perception of risk from climate change in different areas of the globe.

These results suggest that improvements in basic education, climate literacy, and understanding how climate change affects local temperatures are key factors in increasing public support for limiting climate change.

The study used 2007-2008 Gallup World Poll data from 119 countries. The Gallup surveys were conducted via phone or in person with randomly selected, nationally representative samples. Respondents were asked how much they knew about climate change and how serious a threat climate change was to their families. Most of the research on public perceptions of climate change focuses on the US, Australia, and Europe, so this study is unique in that it includes a very large worldwide data set.