Abstract

Farmers and ranchers in the Canadian Prairies are at risk of climate extremes, yet climate change remains a divisive topic. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 33 agricultural producers who discussed climate change during a larger project on adaptation to climate extremes. We inductively analyzed climate change beliefs and perceptions into five themes. Common themes included uncertainty and attribution skepticism (i.e., attribution of climate change to natural cycles only). Past experience and personal observation strongly shaped climate beliefs, but in diverse ways. We examine links between producers’ climate change views and their adaptive and mitigative practices. Climate change belief did not appear to influence farmers’ environmental practices, which are motivated by economic and environmental factors. Although past experience encourages adaptation, beliefs about natural climate cycles—and the limitations of even intergenerational memory of past extremes—may ultimately reduce preparedness for the unexpected “extreme extremes” of the future.

抽象的

加拿大大草原的农民和牧场主面临极端气候的危险，但是气候变化仍然是一个分歧性的话题。本文以对33个农业生产者的定性采访为基础，他们在一个更大的气候极端适应项目中讨论了气候变化。我们将气候变化的信念和看法归纳为五个主题。共同主题包括不确定性和归因怀疑（即，气候变化仅归因于自然循环）。过去的经验和个人观察强烈改变了气候信念，但是方式却多种多样。我们研究了生产者的气候变化观点与其适应性和减缓性实践之间的联系。气候变化的信念似乎并没有影响农民的环境实践，而这种实践是受经济和环境因素驱动的。