Carbon or cash: Evaluating the effectiveness of environmental and economic messages on attitudes about wind energy in the United States
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The Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences offers majors in three areas: Geology (traditional, environmental, or hydrogeology, for work as a surveyor or in mineral exploration), Meteorology (studies in global atmosphere, weather technology, and modeling for work as a meteorologist), and Earth Sciences (interdisciplinary mixture of geology, meteorology, and other natural sciences, with option of teacher-licensure).
History
The Department of Geology and Mining was founded in 1898. In 1902 its name changed to the Department of Geology. In 1965 its name changed to the Department of Earth Science. In 1977 its name changed to the Department of Earth Sciences. In 1989 its name changed to the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences.
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1898-present
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- Department of Geology and Mining (1898-1902)
- Department of Geology (1902-1965)
- Department of Earth Science (1965-1977)
- Department of Earth Sciences (1977-1989)
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- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
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Abstract
Public support or opposition to the expansion of wind energy plays a key role in energy policy and the development of the industry. For more than 30 years, scholars have attempted to understand the nature of public opinion about wind energy. Unfortunately, the largely observational and correlational nature of the evidence limits the abilities of scholars to isolate the causal relationships that shape attitudes about wind energy. Recent summaries of the literature illustrate the need for experimental designs to improve our understanding of the public’s view on this growing technology. Using an original survey experiment with a national sample, we test the effectiveness of messages about the economic and environmental implications of the expansion of wind energy. Our results indicate that 1) the public is sensitive to messaging about both the environmental and economic effects of wind energy; 2) the messages have both a persuasive (changing the content of attitudes) and priming (changing the weight applied to existing attitudes) effect on the public; and 3) the environmental messages have a greater effect on public opinions of wind energy than economic messages. Those interested in promoting positive attitudes about alternative energy need to be aware of both the persuasive and priming influences in messages about wind energy.
Comments
This article is published as Peterson, D., Carter, K.C., Wald, D.M., Gustafson, W., et al. Carbon or cash: Evaluating the effectiveness of environmental and economic messages on attitudes about wind energy in the United States. Energy Research & Social Science, 51(2019), 119-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2019.01.007. Posted with permission.