Public concern about climate change warnings is growing – Is it growing with that?

Essay by Eric Worrall

“…Individuals do not feel they have enough bandwidth to tackle climate actions” above all else, “…”

AP-NORC poll: Many in the US doubt their own climate impact

By HANNAH FINGERHUT and NUHA DOLBY

WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans are now less concerned with how climate change may affect them personally — and about how their personal choices affect the climate — than with how three years ago, a new poll shows that, even if the majority still believe climate change going on.

A June poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted before Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday, found that a majority of US adults think Governments and corporations have an important responsibility to tackle climate change. The new law will invest nearly $375 billion in climate strategies over the next decade.

Overall, 35% of US adults say they are “extremely” or “very” interested about the impact of climate change on them personally, down from 44% in August 2019. Another third said they were somewhat concerned. Only about half think their actions have an impact on climate change, compared with two-thirds in 2019.

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Much Climate scientists told the Associated Press the change is relevant but not surprising because individuals are feeling overwhelmed. by a range of problems, now including an economy hit by inflation more than two years after the pandemic. Beside outnumbered by other problemsAccording to the poll, climate change or the environment is mentioned by fewer Americans as priorities today than it was just a few years ago.

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Although the climate crisis would require an “all of the above”, it is “logical” that individuals do not feel they have enough bandwidth to tackle climate action “above everything else” Kim Cobb, director of the Institute at Brown University for the Environment and Society.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/inflation-science-technology-climate-and-enosystem-9038738cbda161f43e5d0d2fbd5e738b

I believe there is a simpler explanation for this anxiety – the exaggerated panic of Covid has damaged public trust in our institutions. People are less likely to believe other exaggerated scare stories. Look how the fear of monkeypox has subsided.

And people actually have a lot more practical issues to worry about lately, like out-of-control inflation, gasoline prices, the war in Ukraine, and simmering tensions in the South China Sea.