University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

1. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Comparing Global Warming Awareness, Perceptions and Concerns of College Students in China and the United States Student Researchers: Drew Christensen, Joy Larson, Ben Ponkratz, Dan Putman, Brittany Whited and Amy Zagar Faculty Mentor: Eric Jamelske Department of Economics University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Chippewa Valley Center for Economic Research & Development

2. Overview • The Project • The Survey • The Sample • The Results • US/China • US: Conservative/Liberal • China: Political Parties • Questions/Discussion

4. Global Warming Project • How much do people know about global warming? • Is global warming really happening? • Is it anthropogenic? • What does science say? • What should we do?

7. Source: The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)

8. The Sample • 826 college students from four sites in U.S. • Arkansas, California, New York, Wisconsin • 776 college students from four sites in China. • Guangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shanxi • 1,602 total respondents. • Sample size varies slightly due to some non-response/not sure.

9. CO2 Emissions: 5,838,381,000 MT/yr Population: 311,179,000

10. CO2 Emissions: 6,538,367,000 MT/yr Population: 1,341,000,000

11. Format • Comparison across groups • Question and response options with data coding scheme • Two graphs…. • Average response for each group (omits not sure) • Distribution of responses behind average (shows not sure)

12. Holla! What do students across Chinese sites think compared to students across US sites?

13. 1 0

14. 1 0

15. 5 4 3 2 1

16. 5 4 3 2 1

17. 5 4 3 2 1

18. 5 4 3 2 1

19. 3 2 1

20. 3 2 1

21. 6 5 4 3 2 1

22. 6 5 4 3 2 1

23. 3 2 1

24. 3 2 1

25. 3 2 1

26. 3 2 1

27. 5 4 3 2 1

28. 5 4 3 2 1

29. 5 4 3 2 1

30. 5 4 3 2 1

31. 1 0

32. 1 0

33. 1 0

34. 1 0

35. Re-Cap • Of those with an opinion, approximately 90% of students in both China and the US believe GW is happening. • More uncertainty among US students (14% > 4%) • Chinese students report thinking about GW more and also say that it is more important to them • Over 85% of Chinese students believe that GW is primarily caused by human activity compared to just under 60% in the US • Chinese students report taking more actions to lessen their impact

36. Re-Cap • US students are less convinced of agreement in the scientific community whether or not GW is happening • In addition, they are even less convinced of scientific agreement regarding whether or not GW is anthropogenic • Chinese students report a significantly higher level of familiarity with both national and international policies • Both favor international agreement (with/without other, China more)

37. What Next • So what is driving the differences between China and the US? • Explore responses within the US (n = 826) by political ideology • Conservative (n = 195) • Liberal (n = 294) • Drop Moderate/Other

39. 1 0

40. 5 4 3 2 1

41. 5 4 3 2 1

42. 3 2 1

43. 6 5 4 3 2 1

44. 3 2 1

45. 3 2 1

46. 5 4 3 2 1

47. 5 4 3 2 1

48. 1 0

49. 1 0

50. Re-Cap • 98% of Liberals believe GW is happening compared to just 73% of Conservatives. • More uncertainty among Conservatives (17% > 9%) • Liberals report thinking about GW more and also say that it is more important to them (like Chinese) • Over 74% of Liberals believe that GW is primarily caused by human activity compared to just under 41% of Conservatives • Liberals report taking more actions to lessen their impact, but not as much as Chinese