Karen Akerlof

Karen Akerlof
Research Team

Research Assistant Professor
Center for Climate Change Communication
George Mason University

Bio: 

Karen Akerlof is project director for the Climate Communication Consortium of Maryland, a public-private partnership of organizations collaborating in generating and implementing research data to further public engagement statewide. She is also currently concluding a project assessing the use of community deliberation in the formation of local policy responses to sea-level rise and inundation (www.FutureCoast.info). Other previous activities include conducting a survey on global warming public opinion and household energy use behaviors for a regional watershed partnership and national lakeshore, and writing on media coverage of climate science, popular usage of the terms global warming and climate change, and international perceptions of the impacts of climate change on public health. 

Education: 

BA (’91), Political Science, University of Michigan
MS (’09), Environmental Science & Policy, George Mason University
PhD ('12), Environmental Science & Public Policy, George Mason University

Selected Publications: 

 

Refereed journal articles:

Myers, T. A., Maibach, E. W., Roser-Renouf, C., Akerlof, K., & Leiserowitz, A. (in press). The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of climate change. Nature Climate Change.

Akerlof, K., Maibach, E. W., Fitzgerald, D., Cedeno, A. Y. & Neuman, A. (2012). Do people “personally experience” global warming, and if so how, and does it matter? Global Environmental Change. Journal link.

Akerlof, K., Rowan, K. E., Fitzgerald, D., & Cedeno, A. Y. (2012). Communicating climate projections in U.S. media: Politicization of model uncertainty. Nature Climate Change. Journal link.

Akerlof, K. & Maibach, E. W. (2011). A rose by any other name ...? What members of the general public prefer to call "climate change." Climatic Change, 106(4), 699. Journal link.  SSRN link.

Akerlof, K., DeBono, R., Berry, P., Leiserowitz, A., Roser-Renouf, C., Clarke, K., Rogaeva, A., Nisbet, M. C., Weathers, M. R., & Maibach, E. W. (2010). Public perceptions of climate change as a human health risk: Surveys of the United States, Canada and Malta. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7(6), 2559-2606. Journal link.

Maibach, E. W., Nisbet, M. C., Baldwin, P. K., Akerlof, K., & Diao, G. (2010). Reframing climate change as a public health issue: An exploratory study of public reactions. BMC Public Health, 10, 299. Journal link.

Book chapter:

Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A., Roser-Renouf, C.,  Akerlof, K., & Nisbet, M. (2010). Saving energy is a value shared by all Americans. of public reactions: Results of a global warming audience segmentation analysis. In K. Ehrhardt-Martinez & J.A. Laitner (eds). People-centered initiatives for increasing energy savings. Pgs. 8-1 to 14. Washington, DC: American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. 

Publicly released research reports:

Akerlof, K. (2012). Public opinion and policy preferences on coastal flooding and sea-level rise, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University. Report link.

Akerlof, K. (2010). Assessing household energy use and global warming opinion: Alger County 2010 [Prepared for Superior Watershed Partnership and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore]. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University. Report link. 

Leiserowitz, A. & Akerlof, K. (2010). Race, ethnicity and public responses to climate change. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change. Report link.

Other publications:

Akerlof, K., Bruff, G., & Witte, J. (2011). Audience segmentation as a tool for communicating climate change: Understanding the differences and bridging the divides. ParkScience, 28(1), 56-64. Article link.

Akerlof, K. (Mar. 2011). When news media pass on covering complexity: The case of missing coverage of models. The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media. Article link. 

Akerlof, K. (Jan. 2011). Contested predictions: The significance of modeling to public climate debates. Weather and Society Watch. Article link. 

Akerlof, K., & Maibach, E. W. (2008). “Sermons” as a climate change policy tool: Do they work? Evidence from the international community. Global Studies Review, 4(3), 4-6.

Contact: 
kakerlof@gmu.edu
Curriculum Vitae: 
CV_K.Akerlof_11.2012.pdf