Climate Change Concern – Australia Vs. USA & The World

They say people are the same wherever you go. But attitudes towards climate change can vary place to place.

In terms of the USA, results from an AP-NORC poll carried out in June released yesterday indicate:

• 52% of Americans think their actions influence climate change (down from 66% who said the same three years ago).
• They are  less concerned about the effects of climate change on them personally ( 35% in 2022, 44% in 2019).
• Fewer feel a great deal of personal responsibility to address climate change (45% in 2022, 50% in 2019).

Regarding the cooling off (probably a bad choice of words), this could be due in part to other pressures and distractions pushing climate change back down the priority line.

Australian Climate Change Attitudes

What about attitudes here in Australia? While it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison as questions and responses differ, a Lowy Institute poll conducted just as Russia invaded Ukraine found:

• 60% of Australians believe global warming is a serious and pressing problem and we should begin taking steps now even if significant cost is involved. This result was unchanged from 2021.
• 62% say climate change poses a critical threat to Australia’s vital interests in the next ten years – also unchanged since 2021.
• 77% supported Australia committing to a more ambitious emissions target for 2030; which has since occurred – even if it’s not as ambitious as some believe it should be.
• 64% supported introducing an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax (we had one around 10 years ago), compared to 40% in a similar question in 2016.

So, even with local and global events threatening to distract, it was interesting that attitudes to climate change didn’t really waiver.

In terms of actions on climate change at a personal level, results from another poll released last month indicated more than 68% of Australians considered installing solar panels “important” or “very important” in addressing climate change (a bit over half said they already had or would soon).

Global Attitudes

A little dated compared to the above and again not apples-to-apples, but figures released in July from the 2021 Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll indicated 67% of people considered climate change as a threat to their country — a slight decrease from 2019. Among that percentage are the 41% who viewed it as a ‘very serious threat’, which is unchanged from 2019.

The accompanying report noted:

“In regions with higher educational attainment, such as Northern America and Australia/New Zealand, about half of people said climate change is a ‘very serious threat.’ This percentage varied widely with people’s likelihood of worrying they could be seriously harmed by severe weather events.”

Many people don’t just worry about it; they’ve already experienced the impacts of climate change in various forms – fire, flood, drought, storm damage, pestilence over and above “the norm”.

It’s all a bit biblical.

And as more people make the connection between the severity and frequency of such events and climate change, perhaps their attitudes to the issue will change with it.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/climate-concerns-polling-mb2596/