45% of Americans Don't Believe Humans Cause Climate Change

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbd9m/vice-guardian-poll-americans-climate-change-man-made-climate-crimes

Nearly half of Americans still don’t think climate change is caused by human activities, but Democrats were far less likely than Republicans to hold those views, a new VICE News and Guardian poll has found.

This year was marked by several unprecedented natural disasters, including a “heat dome” marked by sweltering temperatures of up to 113 F that plagued the Pacific Northwest, killing hundreds, and record-breaking wildfire seasons that razed entire towns and displaced thousands. Experts linked the string of natural disasters to the climate crisis, and yet, many Americans are still struggling to understand whether and why the generation-defining crisis is happening.

The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Americans on behalf of VICE News, the Guardian, and Covering Climate Now, by YouGov, comes less than a week before leaders and delegates from around the world meet in Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations’ climate change conference. The data shows that climate change is a top voter issue in the U.S., behind health care and social programs. For college grads and Democrats, climate change jumped to top spot (for Democrats it was tied with health care).

But while 69.5 percent of respondents believe global warming is happening, they were divided on what’s causing it. Forty-five percent don’t think humans are mostly to blame for global warming, opting instead to blame “natural changes in the environment” or “other,” and 8.3 percent denied global warming is happening altogether.

*snip*



We're fucked

[dawg]

1. I fear that we're too fucking dumb to continue to exist.

[BlueJac]

4. No kidding!

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yep. Human greed, corruption and ignorance will lead to extinction.

[triron]

11. Easily misled too.

Democracy probably can't survive that level of stupidity either.

[SheltieLover]

2. Inconvenient truth, so deny it!

[LeftInTX]

3. That may be, but many more care about the environment

For instance: Many see numerous advantages to mass transit simply from a practical standpoint
Many want clean water and clean air..

Many believe global warming is happening and want to mitigate risks.


Many don't see the man made CO2 cause and effect. This is because CO2 by itself is harmless. There is also the question of, "What can we do about CO2?". This is an extremely complicated question with extremely complicated answers. Where does CO2 come from? It comes from so many sources....

50 years ago, we were worried about carbon monoxide, mercury and sulfur in the air. All of those are pollutants that should not be in the air. These are direct pollutants.

Now we are worried about rising CO2. However CO2 is naturally occurring and even though it has risen, it is not directly harmful like other pollutants.

Also the cause and effect of CO2 is not instant. For example: Why does Texas have longer summers? It's because the Gulf of Mexico is warmer.

Why does warming of the arctic cause colder winters down here? Even the names polar vortex and stochastic stratospheric events go beyond most people's comprehension. How do you quantify stochastic events? How does the stratospheric temperature effect the troposphere? https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/research-highlights/quantifying-stochastic-ucertainty-detection-time-human-caused-climate-signals

[BlueIdaho]

6. How very convenient for them...

To hell with any sense of responsibility to the planet, to fellow humans, and to your own well being. I guess if you can’t put a price tag on it - it just ain’t important.

[jcgoldie]

7. or

they just dont give a fuck.

[StarryNite]

15. Yup

[Elliot Waves]

8. What I've seen posted on other forums

This is one of the things I've seen them post on another forum

[maxsolomon]

13. What forum? Care to share?

That graphic makes me deeply skeptical.

[WarGamer]

17. That graphic is a little old...

China is now well over 2x the US as they've been building coal fired power plants like crazy the last few years.

[Elliot Waves]

22. McDonnell Douglas

A few years ago I worked for McDonnell Douglas and there's a forum some of post on. I haven't posted in a while but here's the forum. The post would of been from the off-topic.

https://tonymadgehjg.proboards.com/

[WarGamer]

18. For those curious about the importance of CO2 levels even though they're a tiny % of the atmosphere

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/07/30/co2-drives-global-warming/

CO2 makes up only about 0.04% of the atmosphere, and water vapor can vary from 0 to 4%. But while water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, it has “windows” that allow some of the infrared energy to escape without being absorbed. In addition, water vapor is concentrated lower in the atmosphere, whereas CO2 mixes well all the way to about 50 kilometers up. The higher the greenhouse gas, the more effective it is at trapping heat from the Earth’s surface.

[Drunken Irishman]

9. I feel we're losing the debate.

Here is a poll from 2018 where the numbers are far more decisive.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/396487-poll-record-number-of-americans-believe-in-man-made-climate-change

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. TFG supporters are idiots

[dalton99a]

12. Meh, climate change is natural. Let it happen

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/world/europe/russia-arctic-climate-change-putin.html

How Russia Is Cashing In on Climate Change
Global warming may pose grave dangers around the world, but as one tiny Russian town on the Arctic Ocean shows, it can also be a ticket to prosperity.
By Andrew E. Kramer
Published Oct. 22, 2021

PEVEK, Russia — A refurbished port. A spanking new plant to generate electricity. Repaved roads. And money left over to repair the library and put in a new esplanade along the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

Globally, the warming climate is a creeping disaster, threatening lives and livelihoods with floods, fires and droughts, and requiring tremendous effort and expenditure to combat.

But in Pevek, a small port town on the Arctic Ocean in Russia’s Far North capitalizing on a boom in Arctic shipping, the warming climate is seen as a barely mitigated bonanza.

“I would call it a rebirth,” said Valentina Khristoforova, a curator at a local history museum. “We are in a new era.”

While governments across the globe may be racing to head off the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, the economics of global warming are playing out differently in Russia.

...

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. To be clear, is your post title your own opinion? (nt)

[Silent3]

28. Climate change *can* be natural, but the current change isn't

One very important difference about the current change in climate is that it’s happening quickly (especially in terms of geological time), so the only analog to a natural change is a natural catastrophe, like a meteor impact or an enormous volcanic eruption.

Benefits to tiny arctic port towns and the like will in no way counterbalance the devastation caused by rising ocean levels flooding coastal cities and small islands, disruptions to agriculture and wildlife, wild fires, droughts, etc.

[Hortensis]

14. There's a difference between belief and position.

I'm sure some of these people, a good portion, are standing on a political position. Who's worse? Idiots who've internalized the lie or those very aware it's a lie?

[WarGamer]

16. It's a complex topic.

I've read many different opinions.

Is it 100% man-made? 90%? Is it 50% man-made? 10%? 1%?

Are we in a natural hot cycle?

One thing is for SURE.

The Earth is heating up and man isn't helping. NO ONE can argue that.

You can't "tesla" or "solar panel" your way out of this, it's time for preparation.

Just a reminder... 50 million years ago, there were ancient crocodiles and palm trees in the Arctic Circle... mostly explained by the 1000ppm CO2 level in the atmosphere.

Today's CO2 level is 415ppm

You know what it's projected to be by the end of the century, less than 80 years from today?

1000ppm

Enjoy.

[Kaleva]

20. I very much agree

[Elliot Waves]

23. My thoughts on future energy

I know with a lot of people nuclear energy is absolutely taboo. And I don't necessarily disagree with those who feel that way. But in my opinion solar and wind honestly speaking isn't going to cut it and themselves cause serious environmental impacts on the extracting and processing of the necessary raw materials in producing them and the amount of real estate required from them.

Nuclear energy in my opinion has, for lack of a better phrase, an ace up its sleeve. Instead of the high pressure water cooled fast breeder type reactors we've used. We go back to one of the first type reactors that did work but got cancelled during the Nixon administration in favor of the fast breeder reactors due to lobbying (money of course), and due to it's production of weapons grade material as well as a few other similar reasons.

This other type reactor (low pressure, liquid fuel, thorium reactor), could replace all the world's coal and petroleum powered power plants and the amount of emissions eliminated from that would be enormous.

However I do not believe electrical vehicles are the answer to vehicles. The reason again is due to the amount of environmental impact the production of all the batteries it would require to be made. The extraction and processing of the raw materials necessary would do more harm than good in my opinion.

I know some people also realize this and think hydrogen is the way to go instead. I have reservations about using hydrogen as well. The reasons are. First of all the emissions is basically water vapor and water vapor is a major greenhouse gas unlike CO2 which is a minor greenhouse gas. Secondly, I am not so certain extracting that much water to drive all our transportation needs is a good idea. That might actually be a bad idea.

So for vehicles I think such things like natural gas or developing other liquid fuel variants which produced much cleaner emissions is what should be considered.

Anyway I am going to post a video. And it is certainly a long video. But anyone who might be interested in what I think is a very promising energy we should be working on. I'm gonna post the video below. I encourage watching it. Even if it is done in parts because how long the video is.

So anyway, that's my thoughts on future energy. I know there may be some that disagree or maybe even completely disagree. This is just my opinion and I respect anyone's opinion who disagrees. Discussions of ideas is how we always figure things out.

[WarGamer]

25. What you say is probably mostly true...

But may be sadly irrelevant for this topic.

I don't want to sound like an alarmist... but we're fucked. Truly fucked.

There's no backing out of this.

Put it this way...

Hypothetically, let's say getting 1000 gas vehicles off the roads reduces CO2 emissions by X...

Every new Coal powered power plant built in China and India produces 1000000X

And China and India are opening new plants WEEKLY.

This is the Titanic. The hull is ripped open. The pumps are running at full speed but they only buy time... the damn ship is made of iron and WILL sink.

[Kaleva]

19. An example of why I think there's little chance in mitigating climate change.

All we can do is prepare to adapt the best we can. Many won't make it but some will.

[Ron Green]

21. It wasn't just 113 in the Pacific Northwest.

It was 118. I measured that myself in Salem. The hottest weather I’ve ever experienced, and I grew up in Texas.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. 0.0000003% Of Americans Doesn't Believe This Poll

Yeah, I'm just saying I don't believe it.
It's way too hard to ask the question among a populace with limited scientific knowledge to get a valid response.
I don't even believe the 69.5% number.
69.5% believe CC is occurring & only 8.3% deny it's existence? What about the other 22.2%? They "sort of believe" or "sort of deny"?
I think this poll is worthless.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. 2 questions - see also the Guardian article on the poll

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/26/climate-change-poll-oil-gas-companies-environment

1st question, reported in the Guardian: Do you think that global warming is happening?
Yes 69%
Don't Know 12%
No 19%

2nd question, in Vice:
If global warming is happening, do you think it is...
caused mostly by human activities 55%
caused mostly by natural changes in the environment 31.6%
other 5.1%
none of the above because global warming isn't happening 8.3%

So we've got a spectrum:
~55% think warming is happening, and mostly caused by humans
of the ~37% who say that if it's happening, then it's not mainly caused by humans, perhaps two fifths of them do think it's happening, and three fifths don't - but can see it's a possibility, so can suggest causes
~8% are totally convinced there's no warming, so won't even think about a cause.

I'd like to see crosstabs on this, but can't find them.