Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Apathy grows regarding alleged worldwide climate change
December 6th, 2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Worldwide climate change is claimed to have the potential to affect every living thing on planet Earth. It's surprising to learn how the subject has been dismissed by some in industrialized nations. A recent survey by GlobeScan, an international research consultancy, shows a sharp fall in the level of public concern worldwide about the issue.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Worldwide climate change is claimed to have the potential to affect every living thing on planet Earth. It's surprising to learn how the subject has been dismissed by some in industrialized nations. A recent survey by GlobeScan, an international research consultancy, shows a sharp fall in the level of public concern worldwide about the issue.
The 26-country poll asked more than 13,000 people to rate the seriousness of environmental problems including climate change. Results revealed that the proportion of those who rated climate change as a "very serious" problem fell from 61 per cent last year to 53 per cent this year, after years of increasing concern.
These figures come as delegates from 193 nations are meeting in Mexico for the Cancun climate summit.
Other findings from the poll show that the proportion of people who believe that "the dangers of climate change are exaggerated," has increased from 42 per cent in 2008 to 48 per cent this year.
"The combined effects of economic recession, the confusing results from last year's Copenhagen climate conference, and the controversy surrounding climate science seem to have shaken the belief of people in industrialized countries that climate change is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed," Chris Coulter, the senior vice-president of GlobeScan says.
"This makes it even less likely that governments will feel the pressure to reach a strong agreement in Cancun."
Sustainability expert Paul Hohnen points to the danger of the increasing indifference towards the climate change issue. "The problem with climate change is that while public opinion may go up and down, emissions are going only one way: up. And that inevitably means higher average global temperatures and more climate instability, everywhere," he says.
"However, public opinion can shift again quickly. It might only take a few more floods in Pakistan or India, more heat waves and fires in Russia, or a series of crop failures in the US mid-West to re-awaken public concern.
"Then some hard questions are going to be asked about who let this happen and who's going to pay for the damage."
A far more alarming shift, according to Hohnen, has been the recent assumption of the mainstream that climate change is now unstoppable.
"Rather than trying to stop or slow climate change, more efforts may now be put into adaptation. This means more sea dykes, weather-proofed buildings and intensive agriculture. To finance this, capital will be pulled back to reinforce local infrastructure and self defense measures. If this happens we will see profound implications for international trade and finance."