Urgent action to tackle the climate crisis will only be possible with significant public support for radical lifestyle change. Arguments that seek to delay climate action and justify inadequate mitigation efforts, often termed ‘discourses of delay’, are widespread within political and media debate on climate change. Here we report the results of novel public deliberation and visioning workshops, conducted across the UK in 2020/2021 to explore visions of a 1.5 °C future. We found that despite very strong public support for many low-carbon lifestyle strategies in principle, entrenched discourses of delay are limiting beliefs that a fair, low-carbon future is possible. Consisting of four overarching narratives of climate inaction (Resisting personal responsibility; Rejecting the need for urgency; Believing change is impossible; and Defending the social contract), this public discourse of delay is characterised by three distinct repertoires (each with its own emotional resonance), that act to weaken support for climate action by producing defensive responses to discussions of low-carbon lifestyle change and undermining public sense of agency. We argue that countering these narratives, and the defensive responses they invoke, is essential for achieving meaningful public action on climate change.

中文翻译：

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关于气候不作为的言论削弱了公众对 1.5°C 生活方式的支持


只有公众大力支持彻底改变生活方式，才能采取紧急行动应对气候危机。寻求推迟气候行动并证明缓解措施不充分的论点（通常被称为“拖延言论”）在有关气候变化的政治和媒体辩论中广泛存在。在此，我们报告 2020/2021 年在英国各地举办的新颖的公众审议和愿景研讨会的结果，以探索 1.5°C 未来的愿景。我们发现，尽管原则上公众对许多低碳生活方式策略的支持非常强烈，但根深蒂固的拖延言论限制了人们对公平、低碳未来是可能的信念。这种关于拖延的公共话语由四个关于气候不作为的总体叙述（抵制个人责任；拒绝紧迫性；相信改变是不可能的；以及捍卫社会契约）组成，具有三个不同的特点（每个都有自己的情感共鸣）该法案通过对低碳生活方式改变的讨论做出防御性反应并削弱公众的机构意识，削弱了对气候行动的支持。我们认为，反驳这些说法以及它们所引发的防御性反应对于实现有意义的气候变化公共行动至关重要。