Worry about climate change goes up when people hear about Americans having to move within the U.S. because of it. But hearing about non-Americans moving to the U.S. due to climate issues doesn’t really change how much people believe in climate change or support policies about it.

A new study from the University of Michigan and others suggests that talking about Americans directly affected by climate change might be a more effective way to get people to care and take action. This could be especially important in today’s polarized political climate.

“The truth is that both in the U.S. and around the world, most climate-related migration is likely going to be domestic—people moving within their home countries,” the researchers explain.

“Our work finds that this type of migration is less threatening to Americans and more likely to spur action to reduce emissions. So if climate communicators want to talk about climate migration as a way to invoke climate action, they are best off talking about the Americans who may be forced to move.”

Climate migration

The study builds on what the researchers have done before, this time using a group of people that represent the whole U.S. to see how they react to climate migration.

They wanted to see if different ways of talking about climate migration mattered. They compared a group that didn’t read anything about it to four groups that read different stories about it. They also checked if talking about Americans moving due to climate issues was different from talking about people from other countries moving.

They found that discussing Americans moving due to climate issues was a bit less tied to politics and didn’t raise as much general concern about migration. They didn’t see much proof that telling a personal story about a climate migrant made people more empathetic compared to just using statistics.

Policy response

The study also looked at support for different policies related to climate migration: helping people move temporarily or permanently, or helping communities stay in their homes by building better infrastructure. They noticed that political beliefs mainly drove support for permanent moves. However, those who read about international migration were more supportive of helping people adapt to stay in their communities.

In conclusion, the study found that when talking about climate migration affected policy support, it mostly made people more concerned about migration. This, in turn, made them more likely to support policies that reduce the need for people to move.

The research highlights the challenges in talking about climate change and migration. The authors suggest that communicators need to be aware of these challenges, especially those that lead to people being less concerned or afraid of those affected by these issues.

“Talking about vast numbers of foreigners having to migrate to the U.S. due to climate change just doesn’t seem to be a great way to inspire action on climate change,” Raimi said. “It makes people scared of migrants, but doesn’t do anything to root out the causes of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”