| 英文摘要: | Environ. Policy Gov. http://doi.org/t3j (2014)
A democratic approach to environmental policy calls for communities' participation in policy development through open discussions. Online channels, including social media and blogs, can help understanding of the public's debate about environmental issues and be used to test policy tools.
Using concept mapping analysis, Nigel Martin of The Australian National University and John Rice of Griffith University, Australia, looked at 1,702 blog comments from 344 individuals to analyse the public debate around the creation and implementation of US climate policy following the re-election of President Barack Obama in November 2012. They compared discussions around a top-down (leadership from the US President) and a bottom-up (grass-roots activism from individuals) approach to climate policy. Overall, the findings show that debates focused much more on climate science consensus and uncertainty than the development of acceptable policy options. Political party positions emerge as additional barriers to public engagement with policy development. Finally, the results point to the risk of online discussions being dominated by individuals trying to promote their own agendas. Therefore online channels might need to be better designed to help develop broadly acceptable policy solutions. |