Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t JoNova, GWPF; The USA are amongst the most skeptical of the countries surveyed (fourth from the bottom of believers).
International poll: most expect to feel impact of climate change, many think it will make us extinct
In:InternationalScience & environment
September 15, 2019, 2:00 p.m.New YouGov study of 30,000 people in 28 countries and regions uncovers noticeable differences in attitudes between East and West
Climate change may never before have been as firmly fixed in the public consciousness as it is today. With campaigner Greta Thunberg set to speak at the UN’s Climate Action Summit, a new international YouGov survey uncovers attitudes to climate change across the world.Acknowledgement of mankind’s role in the changing climate is widespread
That climate change is happening and that humanity is at least partly responsible is a view held by the majority across the world. Indians are the most likely to think that human activity is the main reason the climate is changing, at 71%.
At 35% Norwegians and Saudi Arabians are the least likely to think this, although a further 36% and 48% respectively in each country think that humanity is partially responsible for the changing climate.
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Read more: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/science/articles-reports/2019/09/15/international-poll-most-expect-feel-impact-climate
Its not all good news for US climate skeptics.
There is another chart (see the yougov link above) which suggests slightly over half of US people surveyed think climate change will have at least “a fair amount of impact” on the economy, so there is concern.
The survey also suggests that around 50% of people surveyed in the USA believe drastic changes are required to avert climate change, with an additional 15% supporting continuation of existing climate policies. I’m not sure how that view reconciles with the 36% who believe that humans are mostly responsible for climate change.
JoNova raises concerns about the poll methodology.
Scandinavian countries are highly skeptical of anthropogenic climate change, I found this surprising; for some reason I thought they were all activists. Greta Thunberg’s Sweden is third from the bottom of the list of climate believers.
For some reason Canada doesn’t appear on the summary page. I had a look at the full report, Canada gets a few mentions but I didn’t find an explanation of why Canada’s opinions don’t appear in the summary.
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I socialize and speak with hundreds a people monthly and topics of the day are very often part of the discussions. Climate Change rarely enters the discussion…almost only when I am the one bringing up the topic (Climate fraud). There have been a few instances where those in the conversation will say that “we should be doing more” about the climate” But their lives don’t demonstrate any concerns…most of their carbon footprints would rival Al Gore’s.
If pollsters would ever just step away and have poll takers simply list 10 or 15 things that concern them the most, the climate would never come close to implying that 35% of Americans are “Concerned Believers”.
Haven’t read all the comments, but I know more about polling than I do about atmospheric chemistry, and I have serious doubts about this polling methodology. The sample sizes are kinda okay for making “national” assertions, but what were the controls? How was the sample generated? Not randomly I bet. On line polls with voluntary respondents make great copy but I wouldn’t base major decisions on them. If as I suspect many people responding were motivated on the issue, interesting that 10% of Americans must have said “no opinion” and the USA sample was the highest percentage in the world saying there is no climate change at all or if there is, no human cause (15%). Public opinion polling like this basically is measuring only the penetration of the media messages bombarding people – and with the steady one-sided media diet, that level of skepticism is encouraging. Fewer than 40 percent put the main blame on humans?
I think the questions are misleading. “The climate is changing and humans are mainly responsible” is one. If they mean Co2 is responsible they should say that. Humans like all animal make changes in their environment. Cutting down trees, land use changes, air conditioners, use of heat retaining materials. All these cause warming yet I doubt if that is what they mean in the question.
Then, what drastic actions do 50% of US citizens think their government needs to do to avert climate change? Turn off their electricity?
I don’t think any government has managed to avert climate change.
It’s GLOBAL WARMING not climate change. ”Climate change” is made up. We should not allow ”them” to use the term. No proof the climate is changing because 30 years of weather does not a climate make. Only three climates. Cold, temperate and hot and they don’t change that often.
I find it interesting Norway and Sweden are at the bottom of the list. Norway does not surprise me as their whole economy revolves around oil. Their entire infrastructure, services, education, health and wealth are all derived from oil.
Patrick, that is a bit of a stretch—Oil and gas are now down to 17% of the Norwegian GPD. 98% of their electricity is from hydro. Perhaps the Scandinavians as a whole are more aware that glaciers recently came and went, all naturally.
Hydro is the next target for green dismantling. Don’t they know that?
Much of the rest of Norway’s economic sectors however depend upon fossil fuel revenues, to include services and construction. Also manufacturing and financial and real estate to some extent.
Certainly, there are both natural and anthropogenic causes of global warming. As to the proportions, everyone is entitled to make a guess (some guesses are more educated than others). However, anyone who claims the proportions can currently be measured is a science denier.
The poll failed to address an important distinction. I believe that humans are partly responsible for warming over the last half century but I also believe that CO2 is a trivial contributor. I believe that because that is what the (far from perfect) evidence says.
The corollary is that there are an awful lot of extremely corrupt people around, or possible people who are extremely arrogant and exceptionally dumb. These comprise largely of scientists, politicians and – particularly loathsome – celebrities. These are the people who are or will be most to blame for the total waste of trillions of $$, and diverting this money from worthwhile cause that would enhance peoples lives and reduce poverty. In my view they are criminals.
It’s suppose to be encouraging to skeptics but consider what the “36%” would have looked like before decades of propaganda?
In 1965 I’m reasonably sure the number would under 2% in the hard science and engineering community and most would have laughed at the proposition as it’s framed today.
That’s a pretty massive decline in deductive science reasoning. A pretty massive growth of government dependency in political academic funding trickling through the whole society.
What percentage of the current 36% are ready to punish nonbelievers? That’s the truly shocking decline in the society at large.
Excellent summary
+20
I was watching Hans Rosling on Ted the other day and I read his book a few months back. A consistent pattern I noticed was the Americans, although scoring badly generally on their knowledge of the state of the world, did score significantly better than Europeans. This is exactly the opposite of how us ‘sophisticated’ Europeans see ourselves compared to Americans. I believe Americans a better informed due to a single Factor: Fox News. We have little like that in Europe (somewhat in U.K.) and here in Ireland absolutely nothing other than the Marxist state broadcaster RTÉ.
Fox News does 10x more reporting of government audit reports than its peers. That difference gets overlooked a lot.
That’s interesting as the Scandinavian countries are well known for being among the best educated and most advanced countries in the world – longest life spans, healthiest people, etc. Liberals here cry about how they want to be like them all the time. I guess they won’t mention that little tidbit.
well then, case closed.
Science should always be put up for a vote among people, 80% of which have no Science education.
where do I send my check to the petro and coal companies? oh yeah, I already to the every month.
These results are very pleasing- clearly the overwhelming majority of people across the world’s countries believe that climate change is occurring and humans play some role in it- despite the best efforts of misinformation campaigns.
The only outliers are saudia arabia and the united states both of which have a very low level of scientific literacy amongst their citizens.
Beware of polls!
Although they can reflect what people think, these surveys should be read with the greatest skepticism. YouGov surveys are completed by YouGov subscribers. They receive gift certificates after completing a number of surveys.
My wife and I have subscribed to YouGov. Since most surveys are often long or even very long, we quickly concluded that the only way to make it a somewhat profitable activity was to answer… at random. I normally complete a survey of 30 to 40 questions in less than a minute, standing on the bus in the morning….
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator
When public support hits about 30 % the pitch forks are coming out .
10’s of thousands of preventable fuel poverty deaths and $trillions wasted on a con-job .
On a cheery note the Democrats and Liberals are going to get politically suicided
for being infiltrated by eco -anarchist socialist .
“Scandinavian countries are highly skeptical of anthropogenic climate change, I found this surprising; for some reason I thought they were all activists. Greta Thunberg’s Sweden is third from the bottom of the list of climate believers.”
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Nordic / Scandinavian “freedom of speech” as Nordic / Scandinavian law are very similar to nowadays thinking and nowadays laws:
https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Magnus_Lagab%C3%B8ters_landslov
Kap. 7. Om sysselmændenes ting (s. 13)
Kap. 8. Om domrov og betalingsterminer (s. 13 – 14)
Kap. 9. Om lagastevninger (varselsfrister for offentlig stevning) (s. 14)
–>
Chap. 7. About the things of the governors (p. 13)
Chap. 8. About Domrov and Payment Terms (pp. 13 – 14)
Chap. 9. About lawsuits (notice of public notice) (p. 14)
http://www.gutenberg.org › ebooks
The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre’s Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri …
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18947&ved=2ahUKEwi_nsyOj-fkAhXl0aYKHVL0CHoQFjAQegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw1IRge1Zr2QDj6H6_4NCXEt
Mississipi River / channels to the Gulf of Mexico:
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-huawei&nfpr=1&sxsrf=ACYBGNRACh_Vg5kJPqiOp_oBsEZqEL-nOQ:1569249880382&q=widest+part+mississippi+river&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_g7ytl-fkAhUK0aYKHfKjAtUQ1QIwH3oECAwQBg&biw=360&bih=574&dpr=3