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Public concern about climate change impacts on food choices: The interplay of knowledge and politics

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Abstract

As scientists warn that climate change threatens to disrupt global agricultural systems, there is a need to better understand how the public thinks about the impacts of climate change on food. Building on prior research demonstrating interactive effects of knowledge (e.g., issue understanding and educational attainment) and political party identification in public concern about climate change, we analyze data from 816 respondents drawn from a national probability survey of U.S. adults (fielded September 4–December 10, 2018) to examine whether these factors would similarly predict concern about climate change impacts on food choice, specifically. Indeed, we find that knowledge variables more strongly predict concern among Democrats than Republicans. These general patterns persist in models featuring political ideology (liberalism-conservatism) instead of party identification, and when we control for belief in climate change and other demographic variables (age, gender). Results shed light on the dynamics underlying public concern about projected consequences of anthropogenic climate change that carry widespread implications for food security, public health, and nutrition around the globe.

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Notes

  1. The key outcome variable in these surveys read, “Do you think that global warming will pose a serious threat to you or your way of life in your lifetime, or not?” and the subjective knowledge item read, “Next, thinking about the issue of global warming, sometimes called the ‘greenhouse effect,’ how well do you feel you understand this issue—would you say very well, fairly well, not very well, or not at all?”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, Cornell University, 465 Mann Library Building, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Jonathon P. Schuldt

  2. Department of Communication, Cornell University, 459 Mann Library Building, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Danielle L. Eiseman

  3. Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 105A Rice Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Michael P. Hoffmann

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Correspondence to Jonathon P. Schuldt.

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Schuldt, J.P., Eiseman, D.L. & Hoffmann, M.P. Public concern about climate change impacts on food choices: The interplay of knowledge and politics. Agric Hum Values 37, 885–893 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-020-10019-7

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