Americans are more likely to be concerned about climate change and to support policies to slow it when they read about other Americans who are displaced due to climate change; they are less likely to support those same policies when they read about international migrants coming to the U.S. because of climate displacement.
These are some of the findings of a new study by researchers from the University of Michigan and other institutions.
"Talking about domestic migration, talking about Americans who are experiencing the effects of climate change and who might have to move can increase people's concerns about climate change and can sometimes lead them to want to engage in policy to reduce emissions," said Kaitlin Raimi, lead author of the study and professor of public policy at U of M's Ford School.
According to the study, stories of international climate migrants coming to the U.S. heightens Americans' sense of fear and risk. Raimi said the findings of the study are important because how people react to information about climate change can stall progress on climate change policy.
"I think what this research suggests is that sometimes that shouting from the rooftops can backfire. It's important to think about how audiences are going to receive information and whether that's going to help move us forward in the ways that we need to go as a society in terms of reducing emissions and helping each other," she said.
The other authors of the study are Julia Lee Cunningham, associate professor at U-M’s Ross School of Business; Nathaniel Geiger and Melanie Sarge from the Media School at Indiana University; and Ash Gillis from the Owen Graduate School of Management, Law School and Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt University.
