Over 50% of Americans are worried about climate change – but why is the rest of the country not? Are they duped by misinformation and corporate propaganda... and/or is there something else going on? And how do we get more Americans to support action on climate change?

In this workshop, we will review academic literature and real-world projects on understanding and engaging with Americans across the ideological spectrum on the topic of climate change.

Weaving presentation and discussion, we will draw upon learnings from the fields of political science, psychology, sociology, and communications to unpack how – and why – Americans think the way they do about climate change and how to effectively engage them on science and solutions.

Led by Laur Hesse Fisher, Program Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI). She leads ESI's program on climate change engagement and communication, which includes a journalism fellowship, the MIT Climate Portal, the MIT Climate Primer and TILclimate podcast. She also is the Lead for Learning & Assessment at DEPLOY/US, an organization working to elevate climate leadership in the political right-of-center.