Abstract
The prospect of CO2-induced climate change poses a series of interlocking decisions to be made by individuals and groups, national and international bodies. At each level, people must decide whether the problem is worth attending to and if so, should efforts be made to prevent the build-up from happening (e.g., by drastically restricting the consumption of fossil fuels), to implement curative schemes (e.g., massive reforestation programs), to adapt to the new world we are creating (e.g., by developing new crops or moving large populations) or to promote the build-up (for those who hope to benefit from the change). Each decision requires an assessment of what is happening, what the possible effects are and how well one likes them. The quality of these assessments at one level constrains the wisdom of the decisions made at others. Failure of the U.S. to adopt a coherent policy is likely to thwart any international effort. Absence of international cooperation may lead U.S. consumers to ask “why should we drive less when the Brazilians provide tax incentives for logging out the Amazon?” We are all in trouble if the climatologists seriously understate or overstate how much they know. How such assessments are made, by consumers, legislators, diplomats or scientists, would seem to be eminently psychological questions.
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© 1983 D. Reidel Publ. Co.,Dordrecht, Holland
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Fischhoff, B., Furby, L. (1983). Psychological Dimensions of Climatic Change. In: Chen, R.S., Boulding, E., Schneider, S.H. (eds) Social Science Research and Climate Change. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7001-4_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7001-4_10
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