Table 2. Summary of the understanding of... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2.

Summary of the understanding of climate change-related terms among Econesian society members

Definition	Expert definition	Average % correctly matching	Most commonly matched with
Climate change	Change in global weather patterns: long-term variation in global weather patterns particularly increases in temperature and storm activity, regarded as a probable consequence of the greenhouse effect (Mastrandrea and Schneider, 2008)	95% showed an understanding of the topic 5% of the respondents had no idea what climate change was	Changing weather patterns (46%) Ozone layer depletion (24%) Flooding (15%) Growing world population and migration (10%)
Global warming	Global warming is an average increase in the Earth’s temperature, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns (US EPA, 2009)	92% of the respondents showed appreciation of the term, 48% of which matched the expert definition 8% of the respondents had no idea about what the term meant	Global crisis and warfare (35%) Ozone depletion (28%) Ice melting (16%) Natural disasters (8%) Pollution (5%)
Sea-level rise	An increase in the mean sea level from the melting of land-based snow and ice, and changes in the water density from an increase in ocean water temperature (IPCC, 2007: 86)	92% of the respondents showed appreciation of the term, 49% of which matched the expert definition 8% of the respondents had no idea about what the word meant	Flooding due to cyclones (16%) Water level rising because of the melting of ice (49%) The situation of Vanuatu, Tuvalu and other small island countries (24%)

Definition	Expert definition	Average % correctly matching	Most commonly matched with
Climate change	Change in global weather patterns: long-term variation in global weather patterns particularly increases in temperature and storm activity, regarded as a probable consequence of the greenhouse effect (Mastrandrea and Schneider, 2008)	95% showed an understanding of the topic 5% of the respondents had no idea what climate change was	Changing weather patterns (46%) Ozone layer depletion (24%) Flooding (15%) Growing world population and migration (10%)
Global warming	Global warming is an average increase in the Earth’s temperature, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns (US EPA, 2009)	92% of the respondents showed appreciation of the term, 48% of which matched the expert definition 8% of the respondents had no idea about what the term meant	Global crisis and warfare (35%) Ozone depletion (28%) Ice melting (16%) Natural disasters (8%) Pollution (5%)
Sea-level rise	An increase in the mean sea level from the melting of land-based snow and ice, and changes in the water density from an increase in ocean water temperature (IPCC, 2007: 86)	92% of the respondents showed appreciation of the term, 49% of which matched the expert definition 8% of the respondents had no idea about what the word meant	Flooding due to cyclones (16%) Water level rising because of the melting of ice (49%) The situation of Vanuatu, Tuvalu and other small island countries (24%)