Using Public Deliberation and Environmental Issues Forums …
519
4.5 Collective Discussion Matters
Participants from all study sites commented that the deliberation process was very
informative and they gain new insights and perspectives by listening to each. The
discuss helps participants to not only gain a deeper perspective on the actions but
also critical weigh them for pros and cons.
When asked, “Have you tried anything to address climate change in your home
or community?” About 78% of them have already taken actions (recycle, bike, less
consumption, energy efficient home, compost, not eat meat, volunteer, garden, buy
organic and/local, and new technology). About 22% of participants have not be
able to articulate anything but they are willing to make changes needed and needed
information on what to do on the pre-forum survey.
On the post-forum survey, when asked, “Would you be willing to try anything new
to address climate change in your home or community?” about 90% of participants
said that they learned and are willing to try new things while one person responded
that he/she is already doing what he/she can in the current time restrictions. The new
actions include both personal level (solar power, unplug, participate in groups, energy
audit, and reduce personal energy usage) and community level actions (sponsor a
local event for climate change education, support and advocate for local climate
policy).
4.6 Increase in Sense of Hope
We measured the sense of hope by using the Climate Change Hope Scale (CCHS)
developed by Li and Monroe (2017). The range for the score is from 10 (minimum,
strongly disagree) to 70 (maximum, strongly agree). At study site 1, we received 23
completed pre- and post-forum responses for this section and observed an increase
on the mean score from pre-forum (mean = 57.08, SD = 5.82) to post-forum (mean
= 59.35, SD = 6.29). At study site 3, we received 19 completed pre- and post-forum
responses and observed an increase on the mean score from pre-forum (mean =
52.31, SD = 11.80) to post-forum (mean = 56.11, SD = 10.47). We used dependent
t-tests to determine whether or not the increase is statistically significant. Table 2
show the mean differences on the statements from CCHS. Results show that the
participants moved from slightly agree to agree on the statements that they think the
society will be able to address climate change and they know what to do to help solve
the problem. The increase is not statistically significant at p = 0.05.
519
4.5 Collective Discussion Matters
Participants from all study sites commented that the deliberation process was very
informative and they gain new insights and perspectives by listening to each. The
discuss helps participants to not only gain a deeper perspective on the actions but
also critical weigh them for pros and cons.
When asked, “Have you tried anything to address climate change in your home
or community?” About 78% of them have already taken actions (recycle, bike, less
consumption, energy efficient home, compost, not eat meat, volunteer, garden, buy
organic and/local, and new technology). About 22% of participants have not be
able to articulate anything but they are willing to make changes needed and needed
information on what to do on the pre-forum survey.
On the post-forum survey, when asked, “Would you be willing to try anything new
to address climate change in your home or community?” about 90% of participants
said that they learned and are willing to try new things while one person responded
that he/she is already doing what he/she can in the current time restrictions. The new
actions include both personal level (solar power, unplug, participate in groups, energy
audit, and reduce personal energy usage) and community level actions (sponsor a
local event for climate change education, support and advocate for local climate
policy).
4.6 Increase in Sense of Hope
We measured the sense of hope by using the Climate Change Hope Scale (CCHS)
developed by Li and Monroe (2017). The range for the score is from 10 (minimum,
strongly disagree) to 70 (maximum, strongly agree). At study site 1, we received 23
completed pre- and post-forum responses for this section and observed an increase
on the mean score from pre-forum (mean = 57.08, SD = 5.82) to post-forum (mean
= 59.35, SD = 6.29). At study site 3, we received 19 completed pre- and post-forum
responses and observed an increase on the mean score from pre-forum (mean =
52.31, SD = 11.80) to post-forum (mean = 56.11, SD = 10.47). We used dependent
t-tests to determine whether or not the increase is statistically significant. Table 2
show the mean differences on the statements from CCHS. Results show that the
participants moved from slightly agree to agree on the statements that they think the
society will be able to address climate change and they know what to do to help solve
the problem. The increase is not statistically significant at p = 0.05.