Nature - stable, delicate or random?

Recently Yale Programme on Climate Change Communication has chosen to use Stone Circle again for an online report they are releasing for Earth Day this week titled Is Nature Stable, Delicate or Random?

Nine years ago Stone Circle was chosen for the cover of a Yale School of Forestry and Environment report titled Toward a New Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities.

Here is the summary of this new report: "Americans have diverse beliefs about the balance of nature – ranging from very stable, to very delicate, to random and unpredictable. Differences in these underlying mental models about the balance of nature are related to more specific beliefs about particular issues. For example, people who believe nature is very stable tend not to believe that global warming is happening, while people who believe nature is delicately balanced are much more likely to believe global warming is happening.

The analysis exploring these deep underlying mental models of nature, how they influence global warming beliefs, and which demographic groups tend to prefer one model vs. another comes from a nationally representative survey on the environment conducted in November, 2014 by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and should reach more than 100,000 social media followers.

Stone Circle