By P Gosselin on 21. May 2022
“Surprising results”: Germans are much more worried about the economy, peace and health than they are about “climate change”, a comprehensive series of surveys reveals.
Part 3 of the most recent German Klimaschau here looks at five recent surveys of some 2000 German private households conducted since 2012 by market research group FORSA. The surveys were commissioned by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research.
The results were published in a paper authored by Manuel Frondel et al, May, 2021 in Zeitschrift für Energiewirtschaft (Journal for Energy Management). The title of the study in English: “Perception of Climate Change in Germany: A long-term survey of private households.”
The main purpose of course was probably to determine just how much concern and anxiety exist among the German population with regards to climate change. Are they now ready to relinquish their liberties and prosperity in exchange for the illusion of better weather?
One of the survey questions was: “There are many challenges that people worldwide are confronted with. Please indicate how important you personally view the following challenges.”
Respondents were able to rate the various challenges using a scale of 1 to 5
1 = not important at all
2 = somewhat unimportant
3 = moderately important
4 = rather important
5 = very important.
According to the Klimaschau, the results “were surprising.”
Climate change was rated by the 2000 households as being among the least of their worries. More important were issues concerning health, war and social equality. Over the 8-year period, worries over climate change barely changed, despite all the XR, FFF and Greta Thunberg publicity.
And with the current spiraling inflation, energy shortages and other supply chain woes, “climate change” likely has fallen even lower on the list of worries by German private households today, and is probably very near dead last.
When the persons surveyed were asked to rate the challenges with respect to how relevant they were to their families, “climate change” did indeed land dead last.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that the authors believe Germans may in fact not be open to paying more on climate change, especially in view that electricity prices in the country are the world’s highest.
Yeah, a pandemic and a looming war in Europe will shove fantasy concerns to the side every time.
The surveys were done over eight years so The Wuhan flu and war were not an issue.
The question is why the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research is surprised at the results.
Is it that the Germans were not swayed with all the propaganda about “Global Warming” or that they still had a modicum of common sense.
OK, I missed that. Thanks.
It’s not surprising when not a single German will have experienced any “climate” change
It is, however, said that every extreme weather event is caused or intensified by climate change according to the near-saturation media coverage of attribution “science.” But bread and butter issues for common folk will out.
Most people aren’t stupid and realise to those reports are bullshit. But many pay lip service to cagw because it looks good and shows you’re caring for the planet and the alleged victims.
Virtue-signaling to impress their friends and neighbours!
They do when they travel for holidays.
Yes, especially to warm places.
I’m surprised the surveyors were surprised since the Green Party did this. If even they got “woke” about renewables vs no energy, that might have been a clue about German’s attitudes.
German Green Party Embraces Coal, LNG and Nuclear
https://bit.ly/3C9DmwL
3/1/22
After all, when the inevitable happens, like this, it just might wake up even the dead and the woke.
Weather Lulls: Germany Forced To Burn 20% More Coal, The Very Energy Source That’s To Be Phased Out
https://bit.ly/3Nvbec8
11/27/21
Oh dear! The Climate Communication isn’t working out? I suggest the following then: Have sirens go off every day at a certain time directing people to drop what they are doing and go to Climate Communication Centers where instruction about Climate Change and the Right Way to think about it are given. Anyone who doesn’t go will be fined and repeat offenders jailed. It’s for The Planet!
Heh. THAT will convince them. 😄 I hope they do do that. Instead of voting “Not important at all,” the Germans will be so ticked off they’ll write in a negative value:
AGW-Förderung ist etwas, gegen das man kämpfen muss! Meine Stimme -97!
(AGW-promotion is something to fight against! My vote -97!)
hahahahahaaaaaa!
The disconnect between politicians and the people has never been greater.
The disconnect between politicians, the MSM, the NGOs, advocacy groups, and the people has never been greater.
The problem is the way everyone is conducting the debate about climate and policy. You have the curious situation where survey after survey shows the voters are not worried about the so called climate crisis, and yet government after government deploys measures to reduce emissions.
Opposition generally focuses on proving that there is no climate crisis, that forecasts of doom are unfounded, that the data record of global temperatures does not show what the activists allege. And this form of opposition seems to have little or no effect on policy decisions.
It is because its irrelevant to them. The problem with the current agenda, that we will move countries to all electric, heat pumps and EVs, and convert the grid to wind and solar, is not that there is no climate crisis. You cannot reverse this agenda by arguing about climate science.
You can however reverse it by pointing out that the agenda is impossible – intermittency makes running a grid on wind and solar impossible at present size, let alone the doubling or so that the all electric agenda will require. This is the only way to attack the agenda.
You have to point out that whether there is a climate crisis or not, you cannot run grids on wind and solar.
Argument about whether there is a climate crisis tacitly concedes the argument that if there is, it would justify the wind/solar/electric policy. It would not, because whether there is or not, this policy will not work.
It is a bit like arguments over religion. There are lots of people arguing that the great founding figures of major religions are not historic. So we have arguments over the historical Jesus or Muhammed or the Buddha. They get nowhere for the mass of people, however historically interesting they may be.
That is because what people are interested in is the religion in practice. Whether the founders existed or not is of minor interest, the question is whether the religion as practiced both past and present and as it can be joined today commands ones respect and ethical assent. Argue about that. Whether the religion survives that criticism is independent of whether the founders really existed. Is the Sermon on the Mount praiseworthy, whoever said it? That’s the question.
Similarly, can you run the proposed grid off wind and solar? And if you did, will it lower global emissions? Those are the only important questions.
If Jeus or Mohammed did not exist then it’s all a bunch of phoney baloney, innit? On the other hand, confirming their historical existence proves nothing about their alleged divinity.
In other words, a different apology is in order.
If Jesus did not die and rise from the dead, Christianity is null and void. Christianity is not a bunch of ethics rules and fine sayings. It is about atonement for sin and the eternal destiny (Heaven or Hell) of one’s soul. Without the atoning sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, you could obey all the ethics rules you could possibly identify and your soul would still be doomed.
This is a science blog, Janice. Best keep it that way.
I was responding to Michel. Perhaps, you might do better direct your criticism at her or him.
Totally agree Michel.
Why argue religious beliefs (AGW), when the easier demonstrable issue is the inadequacy of wind and/or solar alone or in combination to provide 24×7, always working dispatchable electricity.
It’s always been the “whole package” dogma about AGW = Renewables that bugs me
Climate scientists have zero expertise in power engineering.
Solzhenitsyn- To do evil, a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good.
Thomas Sowell- It is usually futile to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying
a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.
Orwell- the object of power is power
It’s totally religious- CAGW is a cult who believe they’re doing good & judge anyone who disagrees
with them as being evil. Those people must be destroyed using all means possible to claim
victory by achieving total power. Ignore the facts, full speed ahead. Our righteousness must prevail!
I recently tried that approach with a group of people online I’ve known a long, long time. They are tried and true members of the Church of Climageddon.
Didn’t go well. The standard rejoinder is that every single person who makes the following claims is bought and paid for by the oil industry (every religion needs a devil).
So they Believe that wind and solar are no longer intermittent sources if you have enough capacity for it. They Believe the technology exists to store enough energy in batteries to make the grid reliable. They Believe it will all cost less than oil and gas once there’s enough of it. They Believe energy companies can produce anything they need them to produce on zero notice using all the leases they have that they haven’t developed.
In short, they Believe whatever CNN or The New York Times tells them to Believe. And these aren’t stupid people – this is their religion, and I guess throughout history people tend to gravitate toward some sort of religion.
The troubling part is that academia was often the counterbalance to a fundamentally religious society. But when academia is corrupted by religion, you get Dark Ages. And that is where we’re headed. Both literally (no more reliable energy) and figuratively (Dark Ages come with extreme restrictions on speech and behavior).
We’re screwed. This is happening, and our children are thoroughly indoctrinated and welcoming it with open arms.
Dark ages are caused by real climate change, The (cold) Medieval vs the Medieval Warm. The effect is documented.
Not much of a sample size, though.
When I went to college, the idea you could claim you were offended and the university president would fire the offender, give you a teddy bear and tuck you in at night was considered satire. Today, you’ll get your firing, your teddy bear, your tuck-in from the president, along with a mint on your pillow sourced by native Peruvian llama farmers (don’t ask what’s in the mint).
Take heart.
This young man lived his entire life in Communist China. From the time he could understand Mandarin, his mind was inundated constantly with propaganda.
And yet…..
Truth wins.
Every time.
“There yet remain many (young and old) in [the U.S.] who have not bowed the knee to [the AGWists].”
Climate Change at Bottom Of List Of Worries For German Households, Comprehensive 8-Year Survey Shows
As does a global multi-year UN survey and every survey done in every country. You wouldn’t know that from the media because they are predominantly Leftists; the group that is apoplectic over this imaginary problem and broadcast their doomsaying daily. The good news is that normal people—the quiet majority—haven’t lost their minds and wisely prioritize real problems ahead of Leftist fantasies. The crevasse between the media and reality continues to widen. As an astute statesman once said, “The fake news media is the enemy of the people”.
The media responded to this revelationary survey by –
IGNORING IT.
If ever there was a clearer example of media bias by omission of salient information, this is it.
Well, the Germans may not be worried but I am deeply concerned about the climate today. As I write this, at 11:05AM it is seemingly a perfectly pleasant late spring day. The sky is azure blue with the occasional cloud scudding majestically by, there is the lightest of breezes, the temperature (best guess as I don’t own a thermometer) is within a degree or two of where I would expect it to be at this time of year. I think there was even an hour or two of gentle rain just before dawn to keep the local flora happy. CO2 must be causing this! What should I be experiencing? Fire? Tempest? Pestilence? I am in paroxysms of panic trying to figure out why the weather is normal today.
You are experiencing “Extreme Normal Climate”, R-H Shark. You should be worried.
According to alarmists, you should be worried and panicking just because you woke up in the morning… that is, if you got any sleep at all worrying and panicking.
It’s all so exhausting, innit?
Something doesn’t make sense here. Germany has embraced their energy transition with enthusiasm. They pay the highest electricity rates in the world. The reason they give for these high rates is to fight climate change. How do German politicians who support these energy policies get elected?
Why do Germans think Heidegger and Nietzsche were philosophers? Were even thinkers?
They are a country which is very practical and scientific in many ways, and in other ways completely mad. And you never know which you are going to get. In the present case they have gotten themselves sold on green energy which isn’t working and could never work, and even if it did could not affect climate one way or the other.
This is their mad side. At least this time the madness doesn’t involve declaring war on everyone, something to be thankful for.
“Germany has embraced their energy transition with enthusiasm.”
That’s the propaganda, the facts tell a different story.
Let’s not forget as well that Germany is particularly dependent on Russian imports, which in 2021 accounted for 55% of its gas supply, 35% of its oil and 45% of its coal.
If Germans are so unconcerned about climate, why did they get roped in by so many crackpot schemes to change it? Germans pay double for electricity than nearby countries, have scarred their famously tidy countryside with thousands of windmills, and have more installed solar capacity per capita than anywhere else — despite the country being less sunny and windy than average. And despite the fact that Germany is a small country with negligible ability to affect “global” anything?
Do Germans believe draconian measures will actually create better weather 200 years from now? Or prevent it from getting worse? Slide slower into less worse? Something?
Or does Germany just do self-destructive guilt trips far above the global average?
‘If Germans are so unconcerned about climate, why did they get roped in by so many crackpot schemes to change it?’
The German philosophical tradition is the foundation of collectivism.
Germany is in Northern Europe, well away from the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream. It’s cold, wet, and cloudy most of time. Germans love to vacation in warm climate areas, to get away from their crappy “natural” climate. Here in Southwest Florida, the largest contingent of our foreign visitors and vacation home owners are Germans, and they all say the same thing:
“We love Germany, but for the weather … the weather there sucks!” Ditto with other Northern Europeans.
Global warming is exactly what real people there want!
Duane: Exactly. Threatening Germans with warmth is a bit like threatening desert dwellers with rain.
“Germany is in Northern Europe, well away from the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream.”
I’m afraid you don’t know anything about the location of Germany. It’s NOT in Northern Europe but in Mideurope! The summer-Temperatures are at about 18°C in average, Heat waves with more than 30°C at max. are common. It seems to be no isolated case that Americans don’t know enough about the word outside the US?
Dufus – Germany is most certainly in northern Europe – it borders on the Baltic Sea and the (drum roll …) North Sea, which together the two seas form the northern boundary of most of the European mainland.
Europeans (and everybody else in the world) considers anywhere north of the Mediterranean countries, or parts of countries (like northern France) to be northern Europe – because geography, and because climate, stupid!
“but in Mideurope!”
It’s Central Europe in English.
How dare they ask directly and report it.
Despite decades of “the big lie”, people know it’s…a “big lie”. Weird and obviously the fault of “misinformation “ as defined by your government and the evil WEF.
Don’t look. Sounds like movie title.
Q: Why is the girl in the photo wearing a Netherlands flag? To show that the Germans who believe human CO2 emissions can significantly shift climate zones are mixed up??
May 20-05-22: “HSBC’s Stuart Kirk tells FT investors need not worry about climate risk”
Heresy!
May 23-05-22: “HSBC suspends banker over ‘nut job’ climate comments, say reports”
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61519111