Seeing futures now: Emergent US and UK views on shale development, climate change and energy systems

Partridge, Tristan, Thomas, Merryn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8529-8245, Harthorn, Barbara Herr, Pidgeon, Nicholas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8991-0398, Hasell, Ariel, Stevenson, Louise and Enders, Catherine 2017. Seeing futures now: Emergent US and UK views on shale development, climate change and energy systems. Global Environmental Change 42 , pp. 1-12. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.11.002

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Abstract

Shale development – extraction of oil and gas from shale rock formations using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ – has become a critical focus for energy debates in the US and UK. In both countries, potential industry expansion into new areas for shale extraction is expected to produce a wide range of environmental and social impacts and to change the configuration of future energy systems. To engage with emergent views on these complex, multi-scale issues, we held a series of day-long deliberation workshops (two in the US and two in the UK) designed and facilitated for diverse groups of people to discuss a range of possible consequences and meanings of shale development. Amid nuanced differences between and within national contexts, notable similarities in views were tracked across all four workshops. Concerns in common were not limited to specific risks such as water contamination. Participants also questioned whether shale development was compatible with their visions for and concerns about the longer-term future – including views on impacts and causes of climate change, societal dependency on fossil fuels, development of alternative energy technologies, the perceived short-term objectives of government and industry agencies, and obligations to act responsibly toward future generations. Extending prior qualitative research on shale development and on energy systems change, this research brings open-ended and cross-national public deliberation inquiry to bear on broader issues of climate change, responsibility, and ideas about how shale development might undermine or reinforce the energy systems that people consider important for the future.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Shale development; Fracking; Energy transitions; Risk perception; Energy futures; Climate change
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0959-3780
Funders:	US National Science Foundation (cooperative agreements SES 0531184 and SES 0938099)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 March 2017
Date of Acceptance:	6 November 2016
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 19:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99564

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