Majority in US concerned about climate: AP-NORC/EPIC poll

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, EMILY SWANSON and NATHAN ELLGREN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden heads to a vital U.N. climate summit at a time when a majority of Americans regard the deteriorating climate as a problem of high importance to them, an increase from just a few years ago.

About 6 out of 10 Americans also believe that the pace of global warming is speeding up, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

As Biden struggles to pass significant climate legislation at home ahead of next week’s U.N. climate summit, the new AP-NORC/EPIC poll also shows that 55% of Americans want Congress to pass a bill to ensure that more of the nation’s electricity comes from clean energy and less from climate-damaging coal and natural gas.

Only 16% of Americans oppose such a measure for electricity from cleaner energy. A similar measure initially was one of the most important parts of climate legislation that Biden has before Congress. But Biden’s proposal to reward utilities with clean energy sources and penalize those without ran into objections from a coal-state senator, Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, leaving fellow Democrats scrambling to come up with other ways to slash pollution from burning fossil fuels.



The shoreline is receding at Emerald Bay on the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe on Oct. 20, 2021 east of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Drought fueled by climate change has dropped Lake Tahoe below its natural rim and halted flows into the Truckee River. President Joe Biden heads to a vital U.N. climate change summit at a time when a majority of Americans regard the deteriorating climate as a problem of high importance to them. That's the finding of a new poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/climate-joe-biden-science-environment-and-nature-only-on-ap-1e48e3315d2e0b618ccaa4a8d466e057

[Alexander Of Assyria]

1. Truly a galactic shift in public sentiment. Cant help but wonder if

all the advertising lately for electric vehicles, and even the fake concerns ads by the dying fossil duel industry has much to do with it?

[JudyM]

2. As with all our key issues, more pointed messaging is nec. to get through faux/sinclair et al's mud.

Seventy-five percent of Americans believe that climate change is happening, while 10% believe that it is not, the poll found. Another 15% are unsure.

Among those who say it is happening, 54% say that it’s caused mostly or entirely by human activities compared to just 14% who think — incorrectly, scientists say — that it’s caused mainly by natural changes in the environment. Another 32% of Americans believe it’s a mix of human and natural factors.

And while Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say climate change is happening, majorities of both parties agree that it is. That breaks down to 89% of Democrats and and 57% of Republicans.

Bizarro world. 43% of repukes are seriously ignorant of facts.

Jim G. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181572849

[Javaman]

3. doesn't matter, no one listens to the majority in this nation anylonger

only the loudest right wing fascist minority gets has a voice that anyone listens to.

because climate change and the end of civilization isn't news sexy.

[tclambert]

4. Yeah, but people think it's too hard and costs too much to do anything. So much easier to continue

business as usual.

Here's what I've realized. We (the whole world, not just Americans (but especially Americans)) don't want to make a big effort and spend a lot of money to change our lifestyles, and we won't until the Global Climate Catastrophe punches us right in the face.

And fossil fuel companies will continue their propaganda campaigns against science and reason so they can continue to massively profit off burning as much oil and coal as possible and kick the can down the road to some future CEO who will face the trillions of dollars of liability they will have to pay for wrecking the climate.

Then when the catastrophe smacks us hard, we will say, "Oh, okay. We should do something about this right now."

Except it will take a couple of decades to end our dependence on fossil fuels for energy. After that, it will take another couple of decades for the atmosphere to reach a new equilibrium temperature.

We will have forty years of the catastrophe getting even worse AFTER we finally recognize the catastrophe already has its hands on our throats.

So we'll save a serious effort and a trillion dollars now in order to face a mammoth effort, 100 million dead, and $100 trillion expense later.