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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

This thread was mostly an exercise for myself to step back from a report a few days after it came out and to try get more consistent with Bluesky posting, but if anyone's made it this far the full report is here: doi.org/10.26504/rs207

14/14

Perceptions of climate change and policy among farmers and the public in Ireland

This study investigates how farmers, rural residents, and urban residents compare when it comes to perceptions and understanding of climate change, as well as willingness to make changes in their live...

doi.org

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Some take-homes are:
(1) there's no evidence for an urban-rural divide
(2) the public lack clear guidance on dietary emissions
(3) farmers are broadly onboard but could do with support
(4) a small climate 'resistant' group may drive misperceptions if given disproportionate airtime
13/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

It may instead be driven by a small subgroup who appear resistant to policies and report very low levels of concern about climate change. But we find evidence for people with these views in rural and urban communities too.
12/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

So, given all of this evidence, why might there be a perception that farmers are anti-climate action?

(Some) farmers are indeed less likely to recognise the climate impact of eating meat and are less supportive of restrictive farming policies - but the differences are pretty small.
11/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

So farmers are broadly concerned and supportive of some forms of climate action. Why don't we see more climate-friendly farming practices?

We find considerable scope for improving farmer awareness of these practices, some of which may be easy wins:

10/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Across a range of climate policies, we also see broadly similar levels of support across the three groups.

(There are some differences for specific policies, with farmers less supportive of reducing the national herd than the public (2.2 vs. 3.5-3.8), but little difference on most).

9/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Which may be partly driven by the public underestimating how worried farmers are about climate change.
8/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Almost half of farmers even cite climate change as one of the top issues they face (not sig different to the proportion who cite excessive regulation!)

The public also underestimate how many farmers struggle with negative perceptions of farming.
7/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

When it comes to concern, the distribution of worry in all groups is broadly similar. Though it looks like there may be fewer farmers at the 'extremely worried' end, the differences aren't even close to statistically significant (ps > .78).

(Note the distribution uptick at 1 though!)
6/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Farmers do substantially worse on the plant-based item, and we have some evidence that this is a form of motivated reasoning -> the difference is driven by beef and dairy farmers.

But it's also worth noting that majorities of all groups are poor on dietary emissions.
5/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Where we do find a difference is on understanding of what individual actions matter.

Farmers do slightly worse than the public (but again, if anything, the rural-urban divide favours rural).
4/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

We also find no difference in their understanding of what sectors are most responsible for emissions (with no improvement from when we first measured this 3 years ago.)

Concerningly, 1 in 3 farmers and the same proportion of the public don't identify agriculture as one of the big emitters

3/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

We find no reliable differences in knowledge of the effects of climate change between rural residents, urban residents and farmers. (If anything, rural respondents did slightly better!) 2/14

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Apr 11

Rural communities & especially farmers are often painted as anti-climate action.

This week, we published a report to provide some evidence on this.

The results, based on a survey of the public (n=1200) and almost 500 farmers (recruited at events, door-to-door, etc), are pretty interesting:

🧵

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Apr 9

Today, we have published the report 'Perceptions of Climate Change and Policy Among Farmers and the Public in Ireland'.

💡 Read the key findings: www.esri.ie/news/farmers...

📄 Download the full report: www.esri.ie/publications...

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Adrien Fabre @adrien-fabre.bsky.social · Apr 1

🤩🤩 Paper finally out in the AER!

With my co-authors (incl. @bluebery-planterose.com & @s-stantcheva.bsky.social) we surveyed climate attitudes in 20 countries covering 72% of global emissions.

In brief, people want ambitious, global, and fair climate policies. A 🧵⬇️

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Apr 1

Today, we have published 'The Response of Low-Income Households to the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Ireland'.

💡 Read the key findings: www.esri.ie/news/low-inc...

📄 Download the full report: www.esri.ie/publications...

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Mar 28

Today, @ESRI.ie, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), and @deptjusticeirl.bsky.social have published the Monitoring Report on Integration 2024.

💡 Read the key findings: www.esri.ie/news/migrant...

📄 Download the full report: www.esri.ie/publications...

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Feb 25

Today, we have published 'Promoting a nationwide collective response: lessons from the social activity measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.'

💡 Read the Research Bulletin: esri.ie/publications...

📄 Download the full report: esri.ie/publications...

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Feb 14

Paid internship for final year undergrad/masters students to work on an exciting environmental policy project

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Feb 14

We are currently recruiting for the following position:

Behavioural Research Unit Summer Internship 2025.

Applications for this Internship are invited from Economics, Psychology and Social Policy students entering or completing the final year of their undergraduate degree programme

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Jan 11

@isweconomics.bsky.social - if you haven’t already come across this!

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · Dec 17

We’re heading for the second biggest fiscal disaster in the history of the State

The idea that the Green Party was making us all go too far too fast is the exact opposite of the truth

www.irishtimes.com

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Dec 17

Today, we publish 'Understanding Attitudes to Travellers and Roma in Ireland'

💡 Read more: https://www.esri.ie/news/new-esri-research-finds-high-levels-of-prejudice-against-travellers-and-roma-in-ireland

📄 https://www.esri.ie/publications/understanding-attitudes-to-travellers-and-roma-in-ireland

NEW REPORT:
New ESRI research finds high levels of prejudice against Travellers and Roma in Ireland

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Reposted by Shane Timmons

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) @esri.ie · Dec 16

Today, we have published a new Research Bulletin titled 'How to Encourage Collective Climate Action' by Lucie Martin, @shanetimmons.bsky.social , and Pete Lunn.

📄 Download the full research bulletin: https://www.esri.ie/publications/how-to-encourage-collective-climate-action

RESEARCH BULLETIN
How to Encourage Collective Climate Action

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Shane Timmons @shanetimmons.bsky.social · Dec 11

Great to showcase the breadth and quality of behavioural research in Ireland at this year’s Econ, Psych & Policy conference @esri.ie - already looking forward to next year!

Liam Delaney @liamdelaney2025.bsky.social · Dec 11

Shane Timmons opening the 17th annual workshop on economics, psychology, & policy in Ireland. bsp.ucd.ie/annual-econo... Packed schedule today across a wide range of applications in health, climate, finance and others.

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