Image: an Australian Carbon Tax protest.

I’m sceptical that climate change scepticism is simply a matter of scientific ignorance. While it may be true for some climate change sceptic individuals, I don’t think it is representative. The scientific community doesn’t agree with me. Scientists think the answer to this knowledge ‘deficit’ is to provide even more scientific information. This ‘deficit model’ of scientific communication assumes that climate change sceptics are ignorant and will change their views if they are simply plied with more information. However, it does not take into account that all people interpret scientific information in subjective ways, usually in ways that reinforce their prevailing views on the matter. Essentially, scientific information does not deal with people’s concerns on how climate change policy measures would impact their economic well-being. (more…)