Graphic and Data courtesy of Yale Program on Climate Change
Americans believe global warming is happening. So do some of Trump’s most controversial, and environmentally influential cabinet picks; they just don’t believe humans are causing it. Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication recently released a fascinating set of maps representing their survey work on climate change beliefs and perceptions among American citizens. In fact, it’s some of the most detailed and subtle data on climate beliefs yet.
Seventy percent of adults across the nation believe that global warming is happening. However, opinion changes on the cause of global warming. This is what both Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke said under sworn congressional testimony. Basically, we can’t prove that humans are causing it.
Estimated % of adults who think global warming is mostly caused by human activities, 2016. Graphic and Data courtesy of Yale Program on Climate Change
Furthermore, the general public believes that the scientific community is not in consensus. That is, only 49% of adults believe that “most scientists think global warming is happening.”
Graphic and Data courtesy of Yale Program on Climate Change
This might not be news to you. The earth’s climate is heating, and carbon emissions – both natural and man-made – contribute to that heating. Where the data begins to offer potent insight is in the ethical implications of climate attitudes. That is, what happens when we stop arguing the science of climate change and start asking about its impacts? Who suffers? Who will suffer? Who cares? The following questions map both the ethics and the anxieties of a nation deeply confused about the past and future of an event they are certain will become someone else’s major problem in the future.
Check out the research on Yale’s site, and play around with their interactive map to learn more.
