Half of Americans say climate change isn’t a major threat: Why the environment isn’t about science in the U.S.
Despite the evidence and constant messages of threat from leading scientists, the idea that climate change is a myth still permeates the zeitgeist.
The disgusting reality that this problem, the health of our planet, has been politicised by those in power due to the prodding from the richest group of white men in the world is a tragedy for not just America, but the human race.
Of course, this is not the only problem to be politicised by the rich, but it’s the only planet we’ve got to fix or we’re doomed. Forget Musk thinking about breeding Martians; forget spending billions on flood walls along the coastlines — these are all distraction tactics so the world’s most monied people in human history can continue to do what they do: poison our planet.
A recent report from Gallup says: “Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are concerned about global warming or climate change, with 61% worrying about it “a great deal” (40%) or “a fair amount” (21%). Separately, nearly half of Americans (45%) believe global warming will pose a serious threat to themselves or their way of life in their lifetime."
Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.11° Fahrenheit (0.06° Celsius) per decade since 1850; 2024 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850; the 10 warmest years in the historical record have all occurred in the past decade (2015-2024). Despite the facts from Climate.gov, over 170 million people believe that climate change will have no effect on them in their lifetime.
This is because Donald Trump and his cronies have been allowed to freely peddle lies in the media, propagated by people such as Rupert Murdoch, to no rebuttal whatsoever. It has gone from a global emergency to another front in the endless partisan war: the split is so wide that your stance on the environment now predicts your party affiliation better than your views on taxes.
Gallup add that white men were the group least likely to believe the incoming effects of the burning planet, the same group that sits atop the Trump voter demographic for the 2024 election. I’m not drawing race lines but political ones, providing evidence that Trump supporter numbers directly correlate those regarding the denial of global warming. His lies are having a huge effect on how we live our lives. I’m going to finish on the words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson: “climate change is not a belief:”
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