October 9, 2012 12:47 pm
Three Quarters of Americans Now Believe Climate Change Is Affecting the Weather
Wildfires cut across Idaho in August 2012. Photo: Aqua – MODIS / NASA Earth Observatory
The past twelve months in America have seen a wide range of unusual weather events, from an unending drought across much of the interior to a record-breaking forest fire season and one of the warmest winters on record. And that’s just for the United States. There has been a bevy of unusual and extreme events taking place worldwide.
Conducted in the shadow of this hot and dry stretch, a new survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication has found that 74 percent of the American public now believe that global warming is changing the weather, a five percent climb over a similar poll that was conducted in March, 2012. The findings butt up against another survey, also conducted by the Yale group in March of this year, which found that 66 percent of Americans believe climate change is happening, with only 46 percent believing the shift in caused predominantly by human activities. The unusual split in opinion, with more people believing climate change is affecting the weather than believe in climate change, could just be an example of the previously noted trend that peoples’ beliefs in global warming tend to ebb and flow with the weather.
This growing belief in climate change could actually play an important role in the the coming month, as the U.S. presidential election inches ever closer. Yet another Yale survey found that, of the hotly debated “undecided” voters left in the country, 80 percent believed that global warming is taking place, with 65 percent saying it is driven largely by human activity.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Climate Skepticism Could Wipe Out Whole Towns in Australia
Watch Drought Dry Up America’s Groundwater
There’s a Reason It’s Called Global Warming: European Emissions Rise From Imported American Coal
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This should be re-written. All climate change affects the weather by definition. Presumably the studies are not looking at if American believe in tautologies, but their opinion on the existence of climate change.
Comment by Michael — October 10, 2012 @ 1:44 am
That doesn’t mean that a majority are willing to change anything to fight climate change. I’d be interested in your feedback about my page http://www.billdietrich.me/Reason/ClimateChange.html
Comment by Bill Dietrich — October 10, 2012 @ 11:40 am
Climate change needs to be part of the conversation. It was a shame that it was not mentioned at all last night during the debate.
If anyone is interested, my site, Climate Scores (www.climatescores.com) is grading the Presidential candidates on how they stand on climate change. We aim to give the necessary information to voters to make informed decisions in this critical time.
Comment by Yoni — October 23, 2012 @ 1:47 pm