UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE LEARNING NEEDS OF FAVORABLE AUDIENCES (Invited Presentation)

Meeting the climate change learning needs of the public requires an understanding their attitudes and behaviors. Our zoo and aquarium survey characterized their readiness to engage with the issue. Results suggest that a new approach is needed—one that meets the learning needs of those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change, and not only of climate change ‘deniers.’ Two survey forms, one focused on attitudes (N=3,594) and another on behaviors (N=3,588), were administered at 15 Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions. The attitudes survey used Global Warming’s Six Americas segmentation protocols (climatechangecommunication.org) to compare climate change attitudes of visitors with the American public (Leiserowitz et al., 2011). Our results reveal visitors are receptive audiences for climate change education .While 39% of the general public is ‘concerned’ or ‘alarmed’ about global warming, 64% of zoo and aquarium visitors fall into these two segments. Nearly two-thirds of zoo visitors believe human actions are related to global warming, versus less than one-half of the general public; and approximately 60% think global warming will harm them personally, moderately or a great deal, versus less than 30% of the general public. Moreover, 69% of visitors would like to do more to address climate change.

However , even these favorable audiences perceive barriers: (a) pessimism—50% of visitors are uncertain whether people will do what is needed to address global warming; (b) low self-efficacy—almost one-half of visitors believe they can personally have little to no impact on addressing climate change; and (c) perceived obstacles—when asked what is standing in their way of doing more to address climate change, over 90% of visitors reported at least one obstacle such as lack of knowledge about effective actions. Nevertheless, zoo visitors are slightly more optimistic about humans’ capability to reduce global warming than the general public.

Our data also suggest education resources should build on visitors’ emotional connections with animals and should support social interactions that reinforce a person’s inclination to address climate change, demonstrate the collective impact of individual actions, and aid informed decision-making about effective actions to address climate change.