Policy and the public in a polarized country
In order to reach the goals in the Paris Agreement on how to combat climate change, some aggressive policy changes need to be put in place. Apart from creating policies, policy makers also need to gain support from the public in order to implement them.
Megan Mullin, associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, studies public opinion about climate change in the US, where the public has become polarized on practically every issue the past few years, most extremely so when it comes to the issue of climate change. Hoping for a mass movement to emerge that cannot be ignored as in the case of pollution in 1970, seems more and more unrealistic, but Megan is not all pessimistic about the future. In this interview, made at the Institute this February, Megan claims that it’s just a question of finding new strategies.
