A third of Americans deny human-caused climate change exists
IN RECENT WEEKS Canadas west coast and much of Americas Pacific north-west have experienced an extreme heatwave. Lytton, a village in British Columbia, reported record temperatures three days in a row: a new record was set on June 29th when thermometers read 49.6C (121.3F). The warm, dry conditions proved perfect for wildfires, and on June 30th residents were evacuated as a blaze engulfed the area in 15 minutes. Almost every building in the village was destroyed. Heat and smoke from those fires formed pyrocumulonimbus clouds, creating firestorms with lightning and powerful winds that threaten to destroy millions of acres of land. It is a grim example of an increasingly familiar pattern. Each summer western America is afflicted by fires that pollute the air, kill wildlife and force people from their homes. Such infernos are becoming more frequent and more ferocious: the area burned yearly by wildfire in America has quadrupled in 40 years. According to a new poll from YouGov, 51% of adults see these events as the result of climate change (though the link between specific weather events and broader climate change is often tricky to establish). A significant majority of the public, 61%, agrees that the worlds climate is changing as a result of human activity. There are still some naysayers. In the poll, 36% of Americans think extreme weather just happen[s] from time to time; 30% deny that human-caused climate change exists at all. One out of every ten say the worlds climate is not changing, a view held most prominently by those on the political right, who have recently been more prone to disbelieve science and embrace conspiracy theories. According to polling data from the Pew Research Centre, the partisan divide over the cause of climate change has been present since at least the mid-2000s, but has grown since. Although congressional Democrats and Republicans agreed on pursuing climate legislation in the early 1990s, in the 21st century many Republicans have adopted a hard opposition to any serious new climate regulations. In 2015 Donald Trump claimed that climate change was a hoax and that he did not think trends in warming were exacerbated by human action. Despite the threats of unprecedented warming, Americans do not consider the matter a priority. YouGovs weekly polling over the past six months shows only a small increase in the share of adults rating climate change and the environment as the biggest problem facing the countryin January an average of 9% of adults said so; in June 13% said the same. That compares with 13% and 16% who view the economy and health care respectively as the top concerns, according to The Economists continual analysis of YouGovs numbers. Long-term action to curb greenhouse-gas emissions will be needed if the world is to avert ever more extreme weather events. Acknowledging the scale of the problem would be a start.