Scott Hershberger

Climate Outreach Insights from Social Science and Wisconsin Extension Educators

Thank you for coming to my talk at the 2024 North Central Agriculture and Climate Conference! Here are the references, grouped by section of my presentation. You can also download my slides and read my thesis.

Why facts aren’t enough

  • Badullovich, N., Grant, W. J., & Colvin, R. M. (2020). Framing climate change for effective communication: A systematic map. Environmental Research Letters, 15(12), Article 123002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aba4c7
  • Carman, J. P., Lacroix, K., Goldberg, M. H., Rosenthal, S., Gustafson, A., Howe, P., Marlon, J., & Leiserowitz, A. (2022). Measuring Americans’ Support for Adapting to “Climate Change” or “Extreme Weather.” Environmental Communication, 16(5), 577–588. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2087709
  • Hornsey, M. J., Harris, E. A., Bain, P. G., & Fielding, K. S. (2016). Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change. Nature Climate Change, 6, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2943
  • Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012). The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature Climate Change, 2, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1547
  • Kusmanoff, A. M., Fidler, F., Gordon, A., Garrard, G. E., & Bekessy, S. A. (2020). Five lessons to guide more effective biodiversity conservation message framing. Conservation Biology, 34(5), 1131–1141. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13482
  • Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Rosenthal, S., Kotcher, J., Goddard, E., Carman, J., Ballew, M., Verner, M., Marlon, J., Lee, S., Myers, T., Goldberg, M., Badullovich, N., & Thier, K. (2024). Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Fall 2023. Yale University and George Mason University. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-in-the-american-mind-beliefs-attitudes-fall-2023/
  • Nowatzke, L., & Arbuckle, J. (2024). Global warming’s “Six Americas” among Iowa farmers: Exploring differential attitudes towards climate change and agriculture. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351136/v1
  • Petersen-Rockney, M. (2022). Farmers adapt to climate change irrespective of stated belief in climate change: A California case study. Climatic Change, 173, Article 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03417-9

Extension professionals’ climate attitudes

  • Crimmins, M. A., Duval, D. F., Garfin, G. M., Gouge, D. H., Jones, C. K., Kosmider, A. R., & Wright, A. D. (2024). University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Climate Change Needs Assessment. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. https://economics.arizona.edu/university-arizona-cooperative-extension-climate-change-needs-assessment
  • Grantham, T., Kearns, F., Kocher, S., Roche, L., & Pathak, T. (2017). Building climate change resilience in California through UC Cooperative Extension. California Agriculture, 71(4), 197–200. https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2017a0045
  • Hershberger, S. (2024). Talking About Climate Change Without Talking About “Climate Change”: How Wisconsin Extension Educators Approach Climate Change Communication [master’s thesis]. University of Wisconsin–Madison. https://scott-hershberger.com/research/#extension-climate-comm
  • Kar, S., Friend, D., Merrifield, L., & Winter-Nelson, K. (2022, July 13). Climate Survey of Illinois Extension Professionals: Findings and next steps. Climate Intersections Conference, Duluth, MN.
  • Kratsch, H., Ormerod, K. J., Cobourn, J., & Chichester, L. (2020). Climate Science Readiness and Training Needs of Nevada Extension Professionals. University of Nevada, Reno Extension. https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=3805

Efficacy: an active form of hope

  • Coleman, R., Thorson, E., Jimenez, C., & Vinton, K. (2024). Reaching Science Skeptics: How Adaptive Framing of Climate Change Leads to Positive Responses Via Persuasion Knowledge and Perceived Behavioral Control. Communication Research, 51(4), 392–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221084925
  • Lamm, A. E., McCann, R. G. H., & Howe, P. D. (2022). I could but I don’t: What does it take to adopt pro-environmental behaviors in the United States? Energy Research & Social Science, 93, 102845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102845

Leverage social norms

  • Constantino, S. M., Sparkman, G., Kraft-Todd, G. T., Bicchieri, C., Centola, D., Shell-Duncan, B., Vogt, S., & Weber, E. U. (2022). Scaling Up Change: A Critical Review and Practical Guide to Harnessing Social Norms for Climate Action. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 23(2), 50–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/15291006221105279
  • Goldberg, M. H., van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2020). Perceived Social Consensus Can Reduce Ideological Biases on Climate Change. Environment and Behavior, 52(5), 495–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916519853302
  • Kawa, N. C. (2021). A “Win-Win” for Soil Conservation? How Indiana Row-Crop Farmers Perceive the Benefits (and Trade-offs) of No-Till Agriculture. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment, 43(1), 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12264
  • Mildenberger, M., & Tingley, D. (2019). Beliefs about Climate Beliefs: The Importance of Second-Order Opinions for Climate Politics. British Journal of Political Science, 49(4), 1279–1307. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123417000321
  • Sparkman, G., Geiger, N., & Weber, E. U. (2022). Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half. Nature Communications, 13, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32412-y

The messenger matters

  • Chung, J. H., Sarmiento, I. G., Van Swol, L. M., Shaw, B. R., Koshollek, A., & Ahn, P. H. (2020). Promoting Reforestation to Landowners: The Role of Advice-Giving through Information, Efficacy, Narratives, and Identification in Storytelling. Journal of Forestry, 118(5), 474–486. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvaa028
  • Goldberg, M. H., Gustafson, A., Rosenthal, S. A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2021). Shifting Republican views on climate change through targeted advertising. Nature Climate Change, 11(7), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01070-1
  • Jones, M. D., & Peterson, H. (2017). Narrative Persuasion and Storytelling as Climate Communication Strategies. In M. D. Jones & H. Peterson, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.384
  • Prokopy, L. S., Carlton, J. S., Arbuckle, J. G., Haigh, T., Lemos, M. C., Mase, A. S., Babin, N., Dunn, M., Andresen, J., Angel, J., Hart, C., & Power, R. (2015). Extension′s role in disseminating information about climate change to agricultural stakeholders in the United States. Climatic Change, 130, 261–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1339-9

Example outreach materials

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