A paradigm of people's perceived positions - The reasoning of Dutch people who feel either mainly victim, causer or in-between when it comes to negative consequences of climate change.

Abstract

Human behavior is leading to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which is polluting the climate. This results in several negative consequences of climate change on a global level, like an increase in precipitation. People’s carbon footprint, as well as their experienced burden of climate change, is unequally distributed, around the world and within Europe. Within the Netherlands, the largest contributors to environmental pollution can be assigned to industries, transportation, electricity use and agriculture. Experienced burdens are due to the flooding of main rivers like the Meuse and Rhine, and due to a predicted sea-level rise for coastal areas. Whether people perceive themselves as suffering from the consequences of climate change, responsible and contributing to climate change, or in-between these perspectives, likely affects their willingness to contribute to climate change mitigation. For this reason, the current study investigated where Dutch people position themselves within the issue of climate change, focusing on personal perceptions and the reasoning behind this position. This study is based on VBN theory, which explains how an individual cognitively structures beliefs regarding negative environmental consequences of climate change. An existing dataset with a sample size of 497 participants has been analyzed, mainly focusing on personal perceptions. The results were divided in perspectives of climate change victims, climate change causers, and people in-between. Whereas the main themes of climate victims appeared to be more on an individual level, the themes of climate causers were rather on a collective level. Even though three different perspectives have been defined, in all three perspectives a certain group of participants felt like they were both victim and causer. This confirmed the complexity and nuances of perceived climate change positions. By revealing a better understanding of these different perceived positions and using VBN theory in a qualitative study, the outcomes of this study set a stage for new climate change mitigation interventions.