Climate Change attitudes

 Yale Climate Change Conversations latest newsletter published on: 

Global Warming's Six Audiences Around The World

Our prior research has identified six distinct audiences within the public – the Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful, and Dismissive – based on their beliefs and attitudes about climate change.*

 

Key Findings:

• The Alarmed are the largest group in about three-fourths of the countries and territories surveyed.
• The United States is less Alarmed about global warming than most other top carbon-emitting countries.
• Among the top 15 emitters, the largest proportion of Alarmed are in Mexico, Brazil, and India.

* The identified attitudes are based on these definitions:

The Alarmed are convinced climate change is happening, human-caused, and an urgent threat, and strongly support climate policies.

 The Concerned think human-caused climate change is happening and is a serious threat, and support climate policies. However, they tend to believe that climate impacts are still distant in time and space, thus the issue remains a lower priority. 

The Cautious have not yet made up their minds: Is climate change happening? Is it human-caused? Is it serious? 

The Disengaged know little to nothing about climate change and rarely if ever hear about it. 

The Doubtful do not think climate change is happening or they believe it is just a natural cycle. 

And the Dismissive are convinced climate change is not happening, human-caused, or a threat, and oppose most climate policies. 

I find this is a bit more information than just speaking of Climate Change Deniers. 

When you see this photo, do you think at all about climate change? That's what I'm talking about. A brain shift, or paradigm shift, if you will. Each time we see a beautiful shot of nature, we can consider what climate change is doing, or will do, to that area. First thought for me is wildland fires, or forest fires. They are incredibly hard to fight in steep mountain terrain. What else might happen to this pristine landscape?

This is not "awful-izing" so much as bringing a different focus upon the view. Like taking a different set of binoculars which show something that isn't visible at first glance. If we think "wildfires on steep slopes," there are several avenues that veer off of that key phrase. Firfighters, number, equipment, availability. The following years with denuded slopes might also lead to mud slides and flash flooding. Are there people or wildlife affected by any of these possibilities?