Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: urban planning
Description
Global climate change (GCC) is among the most important issues of the 21st century. Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change are some of the salient local and regional challenges scientists, decision makers, and the general public face today and will be in the near future. However, designed adaptation and mitigation strategies do not guarantee success in coping with global climate change. Despite the robust and convincing body for anthropogenic global climate change research and science there is still a significant gap between the recommendations provided by the scientific community and the actual actions by the public and policy makers. In order to design, implement, and generate sufficient public support for policies and planning interventions at the national and international level, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the public's perceptions regarding GCC. Based on survey research in nine countries, the purpose of this study is two-fold: First, to understand the nature of public perceptions of global climate change in different countries; and secondly to identi-fy perception factors which have a significant impact on the public's willingness to sup-port GCC policies or commit to behavioral changes to reduce GHG emissions. Factors such as trust in GCC information which need to be considered in future climate change communication efforts are also dealt with in this dissertation. This study has identified several aspects that need to be considered in future communication programs. GCC is characterized by high uncertainties, unfamiliar risks, and other characteristics of hazards which make personal connections, responsibility and engagement difficult. Communication efforts need to acknowledge these obstacles, build up trust and motivate the public to be more engaged in reducing GCC by emphasizing the multiple benefits of many policies outside of just reducing GCC. Levels of skepticism among the public towards the reality of GCC as well as the trustworthiness and sufficien-cy of the scientific findings varies by country. Thus, communicators need to be aware of their audience in order to decide how educational their program needs to be.
ContributorsHagen, Bjoern (Author) / Pijawka, David (Thesis advisor) / Brazel, Anthony (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Guhathakurta, Subhrajit (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Winter storms decrease the safety of roadways as it brings ice and snow to the roads and increases accidents, delays, and travel time. Not only are personal vehicles affected, but public transportation, commercial transportation, and emergency vehicles are affected as well. Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, both suffer from mild, but sometimes extreme, storms that affect the entire city. Taking a closer look at the number of crashes reported by the City of Portland and the City of Seattle, it is seen that there is an increase in percent of crashes with reported road conditions of snow and ice. Both cities appear to have nearly the same reported crash percentages. Recommendations in combating the issue of increased accidents and the disruption of the city itself include looking into communication between the climate research institution and city planners that could help with planning for better mitigation during storms, a street or gas tax, although an impact study is important to keep in mind to make sure no part of the population is at risk; and engineering revolutions such as Solar Roadways that could benefit all cities.
ContributorsHoots, Danielle (Author) / Crewe, Katherine (Thesis advisor) / Golub, Aaron (Committee member) / Brazel, Anthony (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015