ECHOES OF THE LAST MIND

ORIGIN: https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/

A subtle change in how climate risk is communicated can significantly increase attention to disaster preparedness messages, according to research by experts in Sweden and the US.

Homes can be made more resilient to climate change if people heed alerts

Mentioning a person’s local area in communications about climate risk can increase the attention paid by members of the public to extreme weather warnings.

There has been extensive research on how to motivate people to reduce their carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change, far fewer studies have explored how to encourage actions that help people adapt to the risks from extreme weather caused by climate change.

The new study by the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard University, in partnership with an Australian bank, focuses on how to influence behaviour to promote adaptation to climate change.

In an experiment involving nearly 13,000 homeowners in wildfire-prone areas in Australia, the researchers tested whether emails mentioning recipients’ suburbs would prompt greater interest in wildfire safety.

They found that those who received localised messages were twice as likely to seek more information