Severe Weather Experience and Climate Change Belief among Small Woodland Owners

A Study of Reciprocal Effects

Bibliographic Data

ID22332145
AuthorsRiva C H Denny (0000-0003-0896-7219, University of Michigan), Julia Marchese (University of Michigan), Alexandra Paige Fischer (0000-0003-2274-1689, University of Michigan)
Year2022
Volume14
Issue4
Pages1065-1082
Publication date2022-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWeather, Climate, and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1948-8327 • E-ISSN: 1948-8335
PublisherAmerican Meteorological Society (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1175/wcas-d-21-0176.1
OpenAlexW4281768631
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited39

Climate change is threatening forest ecosystem services, but people who manage their own forestland are in a unique position to observe these threats and take steps to reduce their impacts, especially if they believe that climate change is a contributing factor. We investigate the nature of the relationship between small woodland owner experiences of drought and severe storms and climate change belief in the upper midwestern United States using survey data and structural equation modeling. We find for both events that experience has a modest, positive effect on climate change belief, but only indirectly through perceptions of changing trends in these types of events. In addition, we find that trend perception and climate change belief have an important reciprocal relationship. Our findings suggest that experience as well as cognitive biases are related to believing in climate change, and that greater attention should be given to the potential of bidirectional relationships between key concepts related to climate change belief

Climate change · Environmental resource management · Extreme weather · Geography · Perception · Woodland · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Forest Management and Policy · Psychology · Ecology

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