Climate Change in Spain and U.S.: The Public Understanding on the Topic of Climate Change in the United States

The Public Understanding on the Topic of Climate Change in the United States

Chau Giang

"Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us." - Bill Nye

Overview: Discussing the public understanding of Climate Change. Recent researches and polls have shown the understanding of Climate Change has changed from 1997 to 201. The people of the United States still have a difficult time accepting Climate Change is occurring even with the abundant of scientific evidence.

The American Public’s Understanding of Climate Change

According to American Psychologist, a time series of public opinion polls in the United States shows the changes of the public understanding from 1997 to 2010.

The polls consisted of three statements: Global warming is

is beginning or has begun
is due to more human activities than natural causes
will pose a serious threat to them or their way of life in their lifetime

Gallup polls taken in 2007 and 2008 show that 49% of the American public endorse the idea of Climate Change. The percentage is only half of the country compared to countries like Japan, which in the same polls resulted in 91%, or Argentina of 81%.
From gallup polls, it shows a significant and noticeable different in Climate Change depending on the political party an individual is in.
According to a poll of 1,058 people, the American public acknowledge that Climate Change is happening but less than one out of 4 people are extremely concerned about it

Difficulty accepting Climate Change is happening now and right in front of our eyes

Most scientists or specialist on the topic of Climate Change agree with Climate Change is happening now and something needs to change but to a non-scientist, it is more difficult and it can create misunderstanding of what Climate Change is.

For scientists, they have a wider understanding of what Climate Change is because of their science background. Scientist are able to understand the research behind the evidences of Climate Change but to an individual who does not have a strong science background, being told about the research will not be a great help. Those individuals will not understand all the information being put out and possibly only pick up what they can understand, which then can lead to misconceptions.

Climate Change is a hard topic to understand to some because it is invisible. It is easy to say it is not happening.
Climate Change is currently not directly affecting the public and the topic of Climate Change has yet to boil up to a point where the public wants to put it as top priority.

Misconceptions

"Scientists disagree about whether humans are causing the Earth's climate to change."
"Lots of things can impact climate—so there's no reason we should single out CO2 to worry about."
"Climate naturally varies over time, so any change we're seeing now is just part of a natural cycle."
"The hole in the ozone layer causes global warming."
"There is nothing we can do about climate change. It's already too late."
"Antarctica's ice sheets are growing, so it must not be true that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt."
" Global warming is a good thing, because it will rid us of frigid winters and make plants grow more quickly."
"The warming scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat, rather than anything to do with greenhouse gases."
"Global warming is the result of a meteor that crashed in Siberia in the early 20th century."
" Temperatures in some areas aren't increasing, so global warming is a myth."