The always-massive program for the AAAS meeting contains an inordinate number of sessions on climate change this year. The first started bang-up this morning at 8:30 am, on ‘communicating climate change’.

Sociologists have had a field day in recent years trying to figure out how the US public perceives the risk of climate change, given that the country emits one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions yet has not signed onto the international emissions-limiting Kyoto protocol. It turns out, new research shows, that most Americans aren’t morons when it comes to climate change. They know it’s a problem, they know it’s serious — but they simply feel helpless when it comes to addressing it.

Tony Leiserowitz, a risk perception expert at Yale University, talked about a number of polls, done by himself and others, that reveal some interesting trends. Even though three-quarters of Americans believe global warming is a serious issue, it’s just not a priority for them. Given a list of multiple environmental problems (clean air, clean water, toxic waste and the like), climate change nearly always ends up near the bottom of list of things to act on, in the public’s view.

The problem, according to Leiserowitz? Americans still see climate change as far off, both geographically and temporally. His polling shows that the first words that come to mind for most Americans when they hear ‘climate change’ are images such as melting ice caps or the effects on animal species. In other words, they just don’t think it affects them all that much.

The solution? Those who want to instigate action on climate change shouldn’t focus on trying to scare people into the paralysis of fear. They should instead focus on local and regional impacts of climate change – what people can expect in their own lives – and on small actions people can take on their own.

And don’t start talking about carbon taxes – ‘tax’ is not a word Americans like to hear.