日時：2012年9月25日 （火）

場所： 北海道大学　人文社会科学総合教育研究棟　W202室

参加者： 亀田達也、大沼進、高橋伸幸、高橋泰城、宮内泰介ほか7名（計13名）

タイトル： Public Perceptions of Climate Change and Energy Futures

スピーカー： Dr Wouter Poortinga (Welsh School of Architecture & School of Psychology, Cardiff University)

内容：
The main challenge of current energy policy is to mitigate climate change alongside delivering reliable and secure energy supplies. Meeting climate change and energy security targets requires major shifts towards low-carbon energy production as well as significant reductions in the demand for energy. Public perceptions and attitudes are critically important to this transition: not only do individuals need to personally change their behaviour, they will also have to accept new low-carbon energy technologies and facilities in order to decarbonise the energy they are using. This presentation gives an overview of research conducted in the UK on public perceptions of climate change (CC) and energy security (ES), with a specific reference to nuclear power (NP). First, the presentation will discuss how public perceptions of CC have changed over the years. It will (a) explore how widespread climate scepticism is, using a trend, attribution, and impact scepticism framework, (b) examin
 e CC from a psychological distance perspective, describing it according to the four theorised dimensions of uncertainty, and temporal, social and geographical distance, and (c) show how first-hand experiences with flooding affects perceptions of CC. Second, the presentation will discuss public attitudes to NP. It will (a) give a historical overview of public responses to NP as a uniquely dreaded and unknown risk, (b) show how public attitudes have been affected by accidents, such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and (c) discuss how the public has responded to attempts to ‘reframe’ nuclear power as a possible solution to climate change, using the construct of ‘reluctant acceptance’. Third, the presentation will discuss how (UK) public perceptions of NP as a solution to CC have changed since the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in Japan.