Cognition Research on Global Climate Change

Abstract

Researchers are looking for an effective solution to mitigate climate change along with the growth of global average temperature and the frequent occurrence of extreme climate disasters. However, after the ratification of Kyoto Protocol, which is the international agreement dedicated to solve the problem, climate change is getting more serious in the recent decade. It is considered that the ultimate reason is not from the limitation of current technology or policy instrument but from the cognition part, which is the basis guiding people to comprehend problems and search for solutions. Until now, the research on the climate change issue is consistently based on a deficient assumption that climate change is a kind of “the tragedy of the commons.” This phenomenon could be considered as the “Pluto phenomenon” and directly cause the inefficiency of current solution. Therefore, the cognition's reconstruction is vital to guide researchers and relevant stakeholders to search for an efficient approach to mitigate climate change.