One of the significant challenges facing the climate science
community is how it can effectively communicate accurate climate
change information to the general public. Despite a consensus
among the scientific community that climate change is happening
and is enhanced by human influence, the general public is still
debating whether or not climate change is even occurring. A
major influence on the public's opinion is the media,
particularly an individual's news sources. In this study, we
evaluate college students' perceptions of climate change,
including their opinions on its causes, its severity, and its
impact on their way of life. We couple that with various factors
that affect their perceptions, such as their news sources,
politics, scientific coursework, and age. By examining the
participants’ views on who provides climate change information,
we can better evaluate the effectiveness of the scientific
communication, both for climate educators and the scientific
community as a whole.