The role of perceived powerlessness and other barriers to climate action

Gary J. Pickering; Gillian Dale

doi:10.1111/cag.12938

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The role of perceived powerlessness and other barriers to climate action

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

The role of perceived powerlessness and other barriers to climate action

Gary J. Pickering and Gillian Dale

Canadian Geographies, Vol.68(4), pp.560-573

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12938

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Abstract

Canada

climate change

individual differences

mitigation

powerlessness

The impacts of anthropogenic climate change are rapidly worsening, but current efforts to mitigate this crisis are insufficient. Therefore, it is critically important to understand how to motivate more individuals to take action to protect against future climate change impacts. This study examines the individual-level factors that predict motivations to act, as well as potential barriers to action in a sample of Canadian adults. Participants completed a questionnaire that assessed a) demographics; b) climate change knowledge, opinions, and scepticism; and c) psychological factors that may impede action. The responses were analyzed to determine the factors that explain whether individuals would change their actions in light of climate change and to what extent climate change considerations impact their actions. Predictors of action included how informed individuals were about climate change, perceived severity of its effects, perceived urgency to act, and climate change scepticism. The strongest predictor was perceived powerlessness; individuals who felt a sense of powerlessness were less likely to change their actions and reported that the threat of climate change had less influence over their behaviours. Powerlessness in turn was associated with age and political affiliation. Implications of these findings, and possible solutions to overcome the barrier of perceived powerlessness, are discussed.

Details

Title: The role of perceived powerlessness and other barriers to climate action
Authors: Gary J. Pickering (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research Cluster
Gillian Dale - Brock University
Publication details: Canadian Geographies, Vol.68(4), pp.560-573
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1111/cag.12938
ISSN: 1541-0064; 0008-3658
Copyright note: © 2024 The Author(s). Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Canadian Association of Geographers / l'Association canadienne des géographes. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Grant note: We thank the following organizations for financial support through grants to Gary Pickering: the Council for Research in the Social Sciences, Brock University; the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Organisation Unit: Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991047798502621
Output Type: Journal article