Americans Are Well Aware Of Climate Change -- But Not About The Government's Efforts To Fight It

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In most parts of the country, the truth has been inescapable this summer. As the U.S. suffers through heat waves, wildfires and droughts, climate change feels right at our doorstep (and for those of us without air conditioning, doubly so). While climate change is not solely responsible for these harsh weather conditions, it has made them more frequent and more severe. And Americans say they are feeling it.

A majority of Americans — 71 percent — said their local community has endured at least one of five forms of extreme weather over the last year: heat, flooding, drought, wildfires or rising sea levels, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center conducted in May. And regardless of the type experienced, a majority of those who had faced such weather said climate change played a role. This is true even among Republicans, who are generally less likely to believe climate change is happening. For Republicans who said their local community had experienced extreme heat, for example, 79 percent said climate change contributed a lot or a little, while 21 percent said climate change did not contribute at all.

Whether or not they’ve experienced it firsthand, most Americans are worried about climate change. In a Morning Consult poll from July, 73 percent of Americans said they were at least somewhat concerned about climate change, including 39 percent who said they were very concerned. However, in this case, public opinion is split along partisan lines. While 91 percent of Democrats said they were very or somewhat concerned about climate change, fewer than half — 47 percent — of Republicans said the same.

Clearly, many Americans are feeling the heat and understand its causes. But what are they willing to do about it? Well, many are taking matters into their own hands and trying to make more climate-friendly choices in their personal lives. In that Morning Consult poll, 61 percent of Americans said they had changed their behavior “some” or “a lot” because of concerns about the environment. Democrats and younger Americans were more likely to say they’d changed their behavior. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z respondents said they’d changed behavior, compared with 60 percent of baby boomers and 59 percent of Gen Xers. Fewer than half of all respondents said that they stay away from single-use packaging or that they buy items with limited to no packaging. But most Americans said they recycle, use refillable water bottles, restrict their use of plastics and buy items made of recyclable materials because of concerns over the environment.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/climate-change-inflation/

[CoopersDad]

1. Encouraging.

There's so much to do, however.

Can our federal government end subsidies to fossil fuel extractors, and force agribusiness to use sustainable practices, gradually, for example?

[DBoon]

2. We need to make it politically imp[ossible NOT to do those thigns

The government "can", but as long as fossil fuel and agribusiness corporations hold so much power, they won't

[Kaleva]

3. Problem is that polls can't show how strongly people actually feel

I don't see much evidence that a sizeable segment of society is making efforts to adapt to the catastrophe that is fast approaching.

[doc03]

4. All the MAGAts I know will acknowledge that climate

has changed. But all of them also oppose anything
that will get us off focile fuel. Electric vehicles don't have enough range, batteries cost thousands. A heat pump in their home is no good, too cold. You have to flush a toilet 15 times. Washing machines don't use enough water. Republicans are just afraid of any change. They are scared of anyone that doesn't look like them or act like them.