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Climate Denial Fuels Climate Change Discussions More Than Local Climate-Related Disasters

ABSTRACT: Most scientists agree that climate change is the largest existential threat of our time. Despite the magnitude of the threat, surprisingly few climate-related discussions take place on social media. What factors drive online discussions about climate change? In this study, we examined the occurrence of Reddit discussions around three types of climate-related events: natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires), political events (i.e., 2016 United States Presidential election), and policy events (i.e., United States’ withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement, release of IPCC report). The objective was to understand how different types of events influence collective action as measured by discussions of climate change. Six large US cities were selected based on the occurrence of at least one locally-relevant natural disaster since 2014. Posts (N = 4.4 million) from subreddits of the selected cities were collected to obtain a six-month period before and after local natural disasters as well as climate-related political and policy events (which applied equally to all cities). Climate change discussions increased significantly for all three types of events, with the highest discussion during the 2016 elections. Further, discussions returned to baseline levels within 2 months following natural disasters and policy events but continued at elevated rates for up to 4 months following the 2016 elections. The findings suggest that collective discussions on climate change are driven more by political leaders’ controversial positions than life-threatening local natural disasters themselves. Implications for collective action are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Shah M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8426507 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionClimate change and climate-related disasters adversely affect mental health. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and climate-related disasters and often lack adequate mental healthcare infrastructure. We used the scoping review methodology to determine how exposure to climate change and climate-related disasters influences the presence of mental disorders among those living in LMICs. We also aimed to recognise existing gaps in this area of literature.MethodsThis review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. To identify relevant studies, we searched five electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, APA PsycInfo and Sociological Abstracts) from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2019. We also searched the grey literature. Included studies had an adult-focused LMIC population, a climate change or climate-related disaster exposure and a mental disorder outcome. Relevant study information was extracted and synthesised.ResultsFifty-eight studies were identified, most of which (n=48) employed a cross-sectional design. The most commonly studied exposure-outcome combinations were flood-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (n=28), flood-related depression (n=15) and storm-related PTSD (n=13). The majority of studies identified a positive exposure-outcome association. However, few studies included a baseline or comparator (ie, unexposed) group, thereby limiting our understanding of the magnitude or nature of this association. There was also great heterogeneity in this literature, making studies difficult to pool or compare. Several research gaps were identified including the lack of longitudinal studies and non-uniformity of geographic coverage.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this was the first scoping review to investigate the relationship between climate change and climate-related disaster exposures and mental disorder outcomes in LMICs. Our findings support the need for further research, but also highlight that mental health should be a priority within LMIC climate change policy considerations.

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Climate Denial Fuels Climate Change Discussions More Than Local Climate-Related Disasters

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