The Anthropological Similarities in Climate Change Mitigation Tactics and Climate Perceptions in Thailand and the United States

Understanding climate change mitigation tactics and perceptions in developing and developed nations is critical to understanding how climate change affects every human being despite their country of origin, socioeconomic status, race, and gender. Thailand and the United States are key representations of developed and developing nations attempting to mitigate the climate crisis. (Kelsey, 2014). By researching the effects of climate change on communities using anthropological methods to understand the differences between urban and rural communities in the United States and Thailand, we will learn how countries are adapting to climate change. The two chosen countries were determined based on their current mitigation tactics and political, economic, and social background. There are clear differences between the two countries such as GDP and life expectancy. In 2018, the United States GDP was 20.544 trillion USD and 504.993 billion USD in Thailand while the life expectancy was 78.5 in the United States and 76 in Thailand (World Bank, 2020). In addition to analyzing both countries, I decided to examine different regions. Evaluating the rural and urban settings allows for a deeper analysis on how climate change impacts developing and developed nations. Statistically, rural communities have less developed infrastructure, fewer educational institutions, and less conservation policies. Because of their lack of resources, developing countries are hit harder by climate change (Dubois, 2020).

This study used in-depth interviews and a comprehensive survey to understand the demographics of the participants and their knowledge of climate change. Through the survey, I analyzed the responses to generate graphs comparing individuals from Thailand and the United States. Recent studies on the devastation and immediacy of climate change suggested there was an urgency on understanding the impacts of climate change in both developing and developed countries. Hopefully, this study illustrated how countries can learn from one another, despite their different credentials (developed and developing).