Covid-19 has not made people any less concerned about climate change – despite the pandemic disrupting and dominating many aspects of their lives, a study suggests. Over a period of 14 months – including the first three months of the Covid-19 lockdown – neither concern about climate change nor belief in the severity of the problem declined in the UK, the research found. Researchers compared responses to the pandemic with the financial crisis of 2008 to better understand how worries and priorities can change in a crisis. In contrast to the economic collapse of 2008, which led to reduced concern with environmental issues, the pandemic has not decreased people’s belief in the severity of climate change. The findings shed light on how a concept called the finite pool of worry applies to climate change. The theory proposes that there are only so many things a person can care about, and when a major crisis happens, some concerns are replaced by others. However, in this case climate change was not replaced by other issues, researchers say. To view the full article visit NewsWire.
