Making sense of climate engineering: a focus group study of lay publics in four countries

Victoria Wibeck (), Anders Hansson, Jonas Anshelm, Shinichiro Asayama, Lisa Dilling, Pamela M. Feetham, Rachel Hauser, Atsushi Ishii and Masahiro Sugiyama
Additional contact information
Victoria Wibeck: Linköping University
Anders Hansson: Linköping University
Jonas Anshelm: Linköping University
Shinichiro Asayama: Waseda University
Lisa Dilling: University of Colorado
Pamela M. Feetham: Massey University
Rachel Hauser: NCAR/UCAR
Atsushi Ishii: Tohoku University
Masahiro Sugiyama: The University of Tokyo

Climatic Change, 2017, vol. 145, issue 1, No 1, 14 pages

Abstract: Abstract This study explores sense-making about climate engineering among lay focus group participants in Japan, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden. In total, 23 qualitative focus group interviews of 136 participants were conducted. The analyses considered sense-making strategies and heuristics among the focus group participants and identified commonalities and variations in the data, exploring participants’ initial and spontaneous reactions to climate engineering and to several recurrent arguments that feature in scientific and public debate (e.g. climate emergency). We found that, despite this study’s wide geographical scope, heterogeneous focus group compositions, and the use of different moderators, common themes emerged. Participants made sense of climate engineering in similar ways, for example, through context-dependent analogies and metaphorical descriptions. With few exceptions, participants largely expressed negative views of large-scale deliberate intervention in climate systems as a means to address anthropogenic global warming.

Keywords: Climate engineering; Geoengineering; Sense-making; Focus group; Cross-country; Analysis; Analogies; Metaphors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-017-2067-0

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