Science communicators have struggled to provide meaningful information about climate change due to the complex nature of the problem and the polarized political and media landscapes, and yet, a well informed public is a crucial element to both public acceptance and policy initiatives aimed at climate change mitigation. Current literature suggests that scientific literacy actually increases cultural polarization around the issue of climate change (Kahan, 2012). This study adds to the literature by testing the hypothesis that climate change risk perception is more heavily tied to climate science literacy than general science literacy when controlling for cultural worldviews. We use an online survey to ask a convenience sample of students currently taking classes at UNLV’s College of Urban Affairs about their cultural worldviews, general and climate science literacy, and perceptions of climate change risk to society. Multivariate regression analysis (Ordinary Least Squares) is used for hypothesis testing.
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