icons

Responses to climate change icons

A matrix of nine rows and six columns, one column for each of six icons relevant to climate change. The matrix entries show the number of respondents who indicated which icon they found most concerning. The nine rows show different classes of respondents who were exposed to different subsets (of size four) of the six icons

Usage

data(icons)

Details

The six icons were used in this study were:

PB

polar bears, which face extinction through loss of ice floe hunting grounds

NB

The Norfolk Broads, which flood due to intense rainfall events

LF

London flooding, as a result of sea level rise

THC

The Thermo-haline circulation, which may slow or stop as a result of anthropogenic modification of the hydrological cycle

OA

Oceanic acidification as a result of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide

WAIS

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is calving into the sea as a result of climate change

Source

Data kindly supplied by Saffron O'Neill of the University of East Anglia

References

• S. O'Neill 2007. An Iconic Approach to Communicating Climate Change, University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Science (in prep)
• I. Lorenzoni and N. Pidgeon 2005. Defining Dangers of Climate Change and Individual Behaviour: Closing the Gap. In Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (conference proceedings), UK Met Office, Exeter, 1-3 February

Aliases

• icons

Examples

data(icons)