Clarifying Climate Confusion: Addressing Systemic Holes, Cognitive Gaps, and Misconceptions Through Climate Literacy

The challenge of significantly increasing the public's climate literacy is a daunting one. While polling research indicates that most American adults believe climate change is happening, the data also show there is widespread confusion about the causes of the change and the degree of scientific consensus around the human impacts on the climate system. Consumers and corporations, who may lack an understanding of the important role of carbon in the climate system, are encouraged to reduce carbon emissions, purchase carbon offsets, and consider carbon labels that show the amount of embedded greenhouse gases in products and services. Utility companies promoting the use of smart meters find that many consumers do not understand how their electricity is generated or the role played by fossil fuels, which are in effect concentrated forms of buried solar energy linking energy use today to past and future climates. While aggressive media, corporate, and political forces are often regarded as the primary cause of the public's climate confusion, a review of five decades of science education relating to climate in general and climate change in particular reveals that basic climate science has not been well addressed in national and state education standards or science education curricula. Moreover, key misconceptions and misinformation about basic climate science are strongly held by students, teachers, and public audiences. We review research on these misconceptions and call upon educators and communicators to address systemic holes and pedagogical gaps with high-quality resources and professional development. The recently developed Essential Principles of Climate Literacy provides an authoritative, comprehensive framework for educators and communicators to frame climate science. However, to be effectively used as a tool for increasing broad climate literacy, effective mental models to address misconceptions will need to be integral to the high-quality resources and professional development programs required to significantly increase climate literacy throughout society.