Abstract
Environmental skepticism, defined as doubt about the authenticity or severity of environmental degradation, is common among the general public. This study attempts to identify its social bases, using a large and recent (2010) dataset that covers 45,119 individuals from 32 countries. Using multilevel modeling, it explores both individual-level and country-level influences on public environmental skepticism. The results support four individual-level perspectives (knowledge deficit, cultural orientation, social trust, and competing priority) and their interplay. Environmental skepticism stems from insufficient education and self-assessed environmental knowledge, religious and conservative values, lack of trust in general society and science, and other concerns competing with environmental concern. Moreover, the skepticism-reducing effect of education and self-assessed knowledge is found to be contingent on individuals’ religiosity and political ideologies. Education and self-assessed knowledge are more effective in reducing skepticism among less religious individuals and left-leaning liberals than among religious people and right-leaning conservatives.
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