ENSC 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, Social Dilemma, Norm (Social)

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Environmental Studies
• Course: ENSC 310
• Professor: John Andrew

Document Summary

Public environmental awareness and the role of the news media. Influence of the news media on public perception. Common problem is that environmental problems are socially constructed. Perception is based on how people perceive risks. Predicted magnitude of a particular loss or damage x probability of it occurring (severity x probability) risk management is subjective. Have you been affected by the risk, cultural norms (what society believes to be a risk) Whether the risk is controllable: i. e smoking, people will take on more risk if its controllable. Whether sensitive groups of society may be affected. Whether the potential effects are immediate or delayed. Whether the risk is perceived as fair. Whether people trust authorities to properly manage risk. Personal circumstances, ability to recover from loss i. e deforestation: how do you perceive this, depends on cognitive frame. Deforestation as a problem of preserving biodiversity. Economic as more of diminishing supplies of a economically exploitable material.