“I don’t care about climate change” is the title of my thesis as part of my Environmental Communication and Management Master’s Program at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Ultuna campus, Uppsala, Sweden. That said, I am concerned about climate change.
It’s been a while since I completed and defended this thesis and I am grateful to see how this project continues to have a life of its own. It reminds me of why I chose this topic – beyond the 30 credits as part of my programs.
I do not doubt that the climate is changing and science says “it is human-induced, requiring urgent solutions”. Why do many people’s representations of climate change express skepticism rather than align with this scientific consensus? My thesis answered this question.
Contrary to considerably many academic publications that examine climate change-related views and attitudes in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries; this research zooms into Nigeria, hinting at the social representations of climate change in non-WEIRD countries, especially across the global south region, as it is called.
Disengaged, Economic, Antagonizing and Denial were the four representations that stood out from my research. The influence of the different sources of knowledge was also prominent.
I am still pumped that this research poster was awarded the best. The full thesis can be accessed via Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)’s Epsilon portal here: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/20089/
Again, thank you to everyone – family and friends especially, who supported me through this journey, and to my supervisor, Anke Fischer who held my hands and nudged me to get to the finish line in record time.
