Tag: climate change

Al Gore is Back, Just in Time

Trish

I woke up thinking about the disheartening news yesterday that Trump is doing his level best to set back Obama’s efforts to avert climate change. And then I saw this video, and realized that Al Gore is still out there somewhere, plugging away at making it better. As Gore put it in his response to Trump’s announcement:

No matter how discouraging this executive order may be, we must, we can, and we will solve the climate crisis. No one man or group can stop the encouraging and escalating momentum we are experiencing in the fight to protect our planet.

Badlands National Park Defies Trump, Tweets Climate Change Stats

Buck Banks

“Badlands National Park posted several facts about climate change on its official Twitter account Tuesday afternoon, sharing statistics that might contradict the beliefs of President Donald Trump’s new administration,” Time reports. “The Badlands National Park tweets come after Trump’s administration enforced a social media blackout on the Environmental Protection Agency, barring EPA staff from publishing news releases, blog posts or social media updates.”

Americans Deeply Divided on Climate Change

Buck Banks

1/3

Of Americans say they care a great deal about climate change, according to a new Pew Research poll. “Among them, 72% are Democrats and 24% are Republicans; both numbers include independents who say they generally lean toward one party. … On other questions on climate change, Americans remain starkly divided: Nearly 7 out of 10 Democrats believe climate change is mainly a result of human activity; less than a quarter of Republicans believe that.”

It’s Quickly Getting Too Hot to Work

Buck Banks

$2 trillion

Amount that rising global temperatures could cost the global economy by 2030, according to Quartz. “New research suggests that climbing temperatures will make it harder for workers to do their jobs, particularly in the world’s poorest economies. The situation is worst for those in the lowest paid and most heat-exposed professions, such as construction and farming.”

Nearly Three-Quarters of Americans Say Climate Change is Real

Buck Banks

70%

Of Americans say that the world’s climate is undergoing a change leading to more extreme weather patterns and sea level rise, including 41% who call climate change a very serious problem, according to a new Monmouth poll. Key takeaway: “There is a significant partisan divide in this view. A majority of Democrats (63%) and a plurality of independents (42%) see climate change as a very serious issue, while just 18% of Republicans agree. On the flip side, a plurality of Republicans (43%) believe climate change is not happening at all, compared with just 17% of independents and 10% of Democrats who feel the same.”

Climate Change Doesn’t Worry Most Americans

Buck Banks

1 in 4

Americans are extremely or very worried about climate change, according a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About one out of three Americans are moderately worried and the highest percentage of those polled — 38 percent — were not too worried or not at all worried. Despite high-profile preaching by Pope Francis, only 36 percent of Americans see global warming as a moral issue and only a quarter of those asked see it as a fairness issue. “As top-level international negotiations to try to limit greenhouse gas emissions start later this month in Paris, the AP-NORC poll taken in mid-October shows about two out of three Americans accept global warming and the vast majority of those say human activities are at least part of the cause.”

Climate Change Is a Key Issue for Millennials

Buck Banks

73%

Of millennials favor setting a goal to power America with at least 50% clean energy by the year 2030 (including 52% who are very favorable). The same poll, conducted by Hart Research Associates, found that “It is clear from our research not only that Millennials accept the science of climate change, but that a candidate who does not is at a disadvantage. We heard throughout our conversations with swing-state Millennials that climate denial is associated with stubborn or backward-looking thinking. And in our survey, 70% of Millennials say they would have major concerns (45% very major concerns) about a Republican candidate who disagrees with NASA, the US Military, and 97% of climate scientists that human activity is responsible for climate change, including 69% of independents and half (50%) of self-identified Republicans.”

Obama Fast-Tracking Climate-Change Initiatives

Buck Banks

40

Number of measures to fight carbon pollution the White House has proposed just since the start of 2015, “stepping up the pace ahead of critical talks for a global climate change deal,” the Guardian reports. “Two years after Barack Obama’s sweeping promise to fight climate change on 25 June 2013, the president has used his executive powers to spit out new climate events or announcements at a dizzying rate of one every 4.5 days this year, according to the running tally kept by the White House.”