Concern about climate change does not decrease at all during COVID-19
What is it about?
The main take away from this research is that at least in the UK, there is no evidence that COVID-19 has led to any reduction in concern about or perceived reality of climate change. This is particularly interesting, because a number of psychologists a decade ago, in at least three independent studies, found that the financial crisis of 2008 led to reduced concern about climate change and reduced association of climate change with anthropogenic causes. The psychologists called this ‘finite pool of worry’ – meaning that there are only so many things a person can care about, and when a major crisis happens, something has to give. Following the financial crisis, it seemed that climate change was one thing that ‘gave’, and people in aggregate saw it is less of a problem. We are not seeing that same crowding out of climate change as an issue of concern now. Although our study was in the UK, we mention in the article some emergent findings by other researchers who point to similar conclusions in the United States.