Displaying items by tag: r alexander bentley

This 2024 global temperature anomaly recap was released after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2024 the hottest year on record. On Feb. 12, 2026, the Trump Administration moved to gut the science-based “findings” rule that allowed the U.S. to restrict the release of carbon dioxide and other pollutants known to be contributing to the global greenhouse effect. NOAA

Higher education can train students to carefully consider the evidence around them

This story was originally published by The Conversation. R. Alexander Bentley is a professor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE — Years ago, after taking an Earth science class, I found myself looking at the world differently. It was the 1990s, and lakes in Wisconsin where I lived at the time were beginning to freeze later in winter and thaw earlier in spring, and flowers seemed to bloom a bit earlier.

That geology class helped me understand the gradual warming that was underway, warming that has accelerated since then.

People are more likely to believe an explanation when they see direct evidence of it. In the U.S., the percentage of people who recognize that global warming is happening is higher in counties that experienced record high temperatures in the previous decade. But understanding what’s happening and why also matters. That’s because people’s existing knowledge shapes how they interpret the evidence they see.

Education level and political affiliation are both known to be strong global predictors of concern about climate change.

But does higher education actually create climate concern? As an anthropologist and a researcher in computational social science, I and my colleague Ben Horne set up a study to try to answer that question.