Why don’t Americans care about climate change?  It is clear from many studies that Americans are aware of climate change.  However, our efforts to change our behavior and greenhouse gas emissions have been very limited at a national scale when compared to other industrialized regions such as the European Union.  A review of many studies reveals that overall Americans realize that climate change is occurring but have failed to reach consensus on the cause or way forward (Clement, 2013), (Leiserowitz et al, 2012, 2013),  (McCright and Dunlop, 2011).  There appear to be a couple reasons Americans are not acting: relative priority and partisanship.

Americans are aware of global warming based on surveys that show about 70% of Americans agree that there is solid evidence that the earth is warming.  However, 64% of Americans don’t feel that global warming will present a serious threat during their life time.  This is reflected in the relative concern for global warming when compared to other national issues.  Global warming showed up behind the economy (68%), reducing federal spending (49%), restructuring the federal tax system (40%), enacting stricter gun control laws (32%), slowing the rate of growth in spending on Medicare and Social Security (29%), addressing gun violence (28%), addressing immigration issues (21%) with only 18 percent of those surveyed indicating addressing climate change was one of the highest priorities (Clement, 2013).  This low priority and a belief that we will not be significantly impacted by global warming during our life time reduces the sense of urgency to address global warming.

My blog post “Partisanship: The Most Pressing Concern for Energy Policy Today” discussed the partisanship problem.   A review of Americans views on climate change continues to support the increasing partisan divide today.  The partisan divide was shown by Clement, Leiserowitz et al, and McCright and Dunlap.  As noted by McCright and Dunlap, the partisan divide increased in the recent decades.  This divide has been polarizing on a wide range of social, economic, and cultural issues.  The polarization of the party elites diffuses down to the population and is evident in the bipolar views on climate change (McCright and Dunlap, 2013).  The ideological divide reaches deep and even questions the industrial capitalistic underpinnings of our society.  Without the current low cost benefit of alternatives to fossil fuels and no price on carbon emissions, people are questioning the capitalist model that would be slow to respond to climate change without the economic incentive or adequate policy.  Additionally, the shift towards socialist ideologies such a universal health care is viewed as a threat to capitalism by conservatives who support much of the oil and gas industry.  This shift is evident by a large divergence in partisan views on climate change that started in 2009 and continued to increase since.  Coincidentally, that recent divide coincides with President Obama’s election.  It is possible that Democrats drive to push an unpopular change to health care and an unwillingness to compromise by both parties is further exacerbating the partisan divide and putting climate change policy in jeopardy.  It is regrettable that our partisan divide creates a view of climate change as Democrat vs. Republican when the issue effects everyone.

How do we get Americans to recognize the impacts of climate change and increase the priority relative to other issues?  How do we bridge the ideological divide so that climate change policy does not become a victim of our current partisan struggles?  These are big questions we need to answer in order for our nation to move forward and address climate change.

References:

Clement, S.  How Americans see global warming – in 8 charts.  The Washington Post, 22 April 2013.

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., and Hmielowski, J. D.  Climate Change in the American Mind.  Yale University, New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. 2012.

Leiserowitz, A., Feinberg, G., Howe, P., and Rosenthal, S.  Climate Change in the Texan Mind.  Yale University, New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. 2013.

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Feinberg, G. And Howe, P.  Global Warming’s Six Americas, September 2012. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. 2013.

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Feinberg, G., Marlon, J. and Howe, P.  Public support for climate and energy policies in April 2013. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. 2013.

McCright, A., and Dunlap, R.  The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization of the American Public’s Views of Global Warming 2001-2010.  The Sociological Quarterly, 52, 2011, pp 155–194.