Breaking the American climate silence

Americans are more likely to discuss climate change with family and friends if they feel worried or at risk, perceive society as supportive of pro-climate behaviors or see global warming depicted in the media, according to a study published April 17, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Margaret Orr from George Mason University College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fairfax, Virginia, and colleagues.

Curbing global warming’s effects requires systemic changes and government policies to reduce carbon emissions. Among individual climate actions (e.g., avoiding meat and limiting air travel), discussing climate change with others can foster wider collective support for climate policies. However, only one-third of Americans report discussing climate change with family and friends even occasionally, leading to the trend dubbed “climate silence.”

To learn more about what prompts climate-focused discussions, Orr and her colleagues analyzed a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 3,079 American adults distributed between 2020 and 2021. The survey included questions like, “How worried are you about global warming?” and, “About how often do you hear about global warming in the media?”, and all participants indicated how often they discuss global warming with family and friends.

Results identified four factors that may predict climate change discussions: worry, perceived risk, perceived social norms and exposure to media coverage about global warming. Perceived social norms — perceptions about how members of society think, feel and behave — emerged as the strongest predictor.

With these findings, the researchers aim to support climate conversations through several methods, including using news, entertainment and social media to popularize climate action; highlighting risk factors or causes of worry (and pairing those issues with solutions to prevent mental distress); and encouraging climate journalism.

The researchers note that this study measured the frequency of climate conversations, not their content; future research might explore how and why content may differ. Additionally, this study focused on familial and friendship relationships among American adults; future studies might expand into other relationship types — like neighbors or coworkers — and into vulnerable communities.

The authors add: “We found that the more worried people are about climate change, the more they hear about it in the media, and the more they perceive themselves to be at risk from the impacts of climate change, they are in turn more likely to talk about climate change with others.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Climate: https://plos.io/428RLrV

Citation: Orr M, Borth A, Kotcher J, Campbell E, Myers T, Maibach E, et al. (2025) Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends. PLOS Clim 4(4): e0000538. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000538

Author countries: United States

Funding: This research is part of the Climate Change in the American Mind project jointly conducted by George Mason University and Yale University. This research was funded by the Schmidt Family Foundation (AL), the U.S. Energy Foundation (AL, EM), the MacArthur Foundation (AL), and the Grantham Foundation (AL). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of this manuscript. AL & SR received salary support from the above funders.