Executive Director Kelly Wanser provides context for the importance of terminology in a piece for Medium, here.
U.S. National Survey: Terminology For Approaches For Directly Influencing Climate
November 12, 2020
The terms used to describe approaches to directly influence the Earth's climate to reduce global warming drive understanding of the topic. SilverLining set out to better understand this effect for two of the most commonly used terms for approaches to directly influencing the Earth’s climate to reduce global warming.
Since the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 2015 report on the topic, there has been variable use of the terms 'geoengineering', 'climate intervention', and other terms to refer to approaches for rapidly and intentionally reducing warming in climate. The older term, 'geoengineering' has historically been widely used in literature and media, primarily by subject matter experts and enthusiasts. 'Climate intervention' was introduced in 2015 by the NAS study as a potentially more accurate and accessible designation, and its use has been concentrated in U.S. agencies, policymakers, certain non-profits, and some recent literature and media.
To understand how people respond to these terms, SilverLining commissioned a nationally representative survey led by survey research experts Patrick Ruffini and Eleanor O'Neil at Echelon Insights.
Results from the national survey of 1,006 registered voters in the 2020 likely electorate, fielded from October 16-22, 2020, suggest that climate intervention may be a preferable term for approaches to directly reducing Earth's warming because of better comprehension, reduced confusion, and more neutral perceptions of safety.
Familiarity with both terms is low, but 'climate intervention' is more familiar. Both terms have yet to be fully defined in the public mind, but more say they’ve heard of 'climate intervention' (35% have heard a lot or some) versus 'geoengineering' (19%).
Respondents were better able to comprehend what climate intervention refers to. When given a list of the same possible definitions for each term, 57% are able to correctly identify that 'climate intervention' is about efforts to combat climate change versus 22% who say this of 'geoengineering'.
By a 3-to-1 ratio, respondents felt that of the two terms, 'climate intervention' "sounds safer" than 'geoengineering'. Thirty-two percent say 'climate intervention' sounds safer, compared to 11% who say 'geoengineering' does.
By a 4-to-1 ratio, respondents were also more likely to say 'geoengineering' sounds harder to understand. Forty-five percent say 'geoengineering' sounds harder to understand, compared to 10% who say 'climate intervention' does.
Read more in the full survey memo and one-page summary linked below.