Public Perception of Climate Geoengineering in Japan as Revealed in an Online Survey

By Masahiro Sugiyama
Socio-Economic Research Center, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan
November 16, 2012

Public perceptions of emerging, controversial technologies play a vital role in public discourse on the path of technological development. For climate geoengineering, some studies examined the public perceptions, but efforts so far were focused only on the United Kingdom and the United States (The Royal Society, 2009; Ipsos MORI, 2010; Leiserowitz et al., 2010).

Here we present results on an online, national survey conducted in March 8-9, 2011, in Japan, to examine the public perception. Using a commercial service, we asked approximately 4000 respondents about their attitudes toward global warming and the stratospheric aerosol injection, arguably the most ?promising? among various geoengineering options. Since respondents had little prior knowledge about this technology, respondents read short descriptions of climate geoengineering, which explained the basic mechanisms, possibilities of dangerous climate change as rationale for climate geoengineering, and potential side effects.

Majorities expressed cautious attitudes toward geoengineering, and show support for climate geoengineering research, although the survey questions did not distinguish between modeling, laboratory experiments, and field experiments. Survey participants chose the university researchers and international organizations as the most trusted sources for information about geoengineering, while the media and government ranked relatively low. We discuss the implications of the survey findings.

References

Ipsos MORI, 2010: Natural Environment Research Council, and Sciencewise-ERC, 2010: Experiment earth? Report on a public dialogue on geoengineering. 84 pp. Available at: http://.ipsos- mori.com/DownloadPublication/1376_sri_experiment-earth-report-on-a?public-dialogue-on- geoengineering_sept2010.pdf.

Leiserowitz A., N. Smith, and J.R. Marlon, 2010: Americans? Knowledge of Climate Change. Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, Yale University. New Haven, CT. 58 pp.

The Royal Society, 2009: Geoengineering the climate: Science, governance and uncertainty. Royal Society, London, UK. 82 pp., (ISBN: 9780854037735).

Join theintelhub.com FORUMS to Talk About Articles Like This One - ENTER NOW

Source: http://theintelhub.com/2012/11/16/public-perception-of-climate-geoengineering-in-japan-as-revealed-in-an-online-survey/

human nature arkansas football howard johnson blackhawks levon helm firelight world peace elbow