Weather, Salience of Climate Change and Congressional Voting

Authors from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program have released a report on Weather, Salience of Climate Change and Congressional Voting. The report investigates how climate change affects individuals by looking at variations in Internet search patterns in conjunction with unusual local weather. The report finds that "searches for 'climate change' and 'global warming' increase with extreme temperatures and unusual lack of snow. The responsiveness to weather shocks is greater in states that are more reliant on climate-sensitive industries and that elect more environmentally-favorable congressional delegations." Moreover, the report examines how this behavior extends to the voting records of members of the U.S. Congress, and observes "that members are more likely to take a pro-environment stance on votes when their home-state experiences unusual weather."

From the report: "Anthropogenic climate change is one of the most difficult policy problems that humanity faces today. The costs and benefits of mitigating carbon emissions are highly uncertain. The relevant pollutants are globally mixing, which creates an enormous collective action problem. Finally, the process of climate change unfolds over several decades. Because the impacts of climate change manifest themselves as gradual changes in the distribution of weather outcomes, it can be difficult for individuals to observe whether climate change is occurring."

"Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effects of weather extend beyond search behavior to the voting records of U.S. Congressional members. Examining within-member variation in support for 215 environmental votes tracked by the League of Conservation Voters between 2004 and 2011, we find evidence that voting on environmental issues is correlated with recent extreme weather in a representative's home state. Reassuringly, the correlation between weather and voting does not extend to votes unrelated to the environment. Although the effect is modest in size, our results suggest that that search intensity may provide a useful proxy for voter and legislator concerns and demonstrates an important link between unusual weather and important action on environmental policy."

read more