Changes in the Light of Change. Global Warming from the View of Young Students. Research Outcomes

The article presents the outcomes of a questionnaire survey concerning climate change and global warming, looked at from the perspective of young students. The study is part of a series of surveys, each realized on the occasion of UN Climate Change Conferences (COP). Questionnaire issues were the knowledge about the summit event and (the bias of) its media sources, the relevance of the problem and required change as well as responsibility in different societal fields. Results show high awareness of the urgent nature of the problem and a differentiated view of various options and fields for needed change, but also a lack of common positions regarding who has to act and how. As the leading interest of the study is to gain insight into how the possibilities and limits of communication affect the negotiation of a complex problem, outcomes are discussed in regard to this wider question.