Contrary to popular belief, perceiving climate change as psychologically distant is not a significant factor in why people choose not to take action to address it.
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‘Perception of climate change as psychologically distant is not a primary driver of inaction towards climate action, reveals a new study.’
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“There is no consistent evidence that perceiving climate change as psychologically distant hinders climate action, with studies reporting mixed results,” write the authors, led by Dr. Anne M. van Valkengoed of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. 
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Addressing Climate Change Inaction
van Valkengoed and her colleagues collected results from public opinion polls surveying people about their views on climate change, some of which included over 100,000 people from 121 different countries.The polls showed that over 50% of participants actually believe that climate change is happening either now or in the near future and that it will impact their local areas, not just faraway places.
The team also looked at the results of several studies designed to test the relationship between psychological distance and climate action.
Out of 26 reviewed studies, only nine found a positive association between psychological distance and climate action. In fact, some studies showed that viewing climate change as impacting distant places and communities made people want to take more action.
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Overcoming Barriers
The pervasive misconception about the relationship between psychological distance and climate action could actually be impeding progress in mitigating climate change due to social influence, suggest the authors.Advertisement
“We, therefore, recommend researchers, communicators, and policymakers instead focus on how to leverage the finding that many people already perceive climate change as occurring here and now,” said the researchers.
Source-Eurekalert