Why We Need to Reach American Climate Change Deniers

While there are a growing number of people that accept the facts about our climate, almost one third of Americans are putting the survival of our species at risk. The industrial revolution took 200 years, if we are to survive, the sustainability revolution will need to make substantial changes in one tenth of that time. Time is running out, and unless we can find a way to get through to those who refuse to see the facts, we risk failing to make the needed changes in the time we have available. 

In April, 2012, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication released a poll that suggested that a solid majority of the US public feels that global warming is real. While almost 70 percent of Americans agreed that climate change is real that still leaves 31 percent who do not.

People are accepting the reality of climate change for a whole host of reasons, but one of the most obvious factors is the undeniable presence of extreme weather. The Yale poll asked people to agree or disagree with the statement, "global warming is affecting the weather in the United States," 69 percent of respondents in the new poll said they agreed.

While it is encouraging that a growing number of people see the veracity of climate change, we need to find ways to reach the 90 million Americans who, to be kind, lack intellectual rigor, (others might simply want to call them stupid). The one thing that many US deniers have in common is their support for the climate denying leadership of the Republican party.

It is easy to understand why so many laugh at the Luddites who ignore climate change. However, this group is no laughing matter as they are preventing us from adopting progressive national and state policies on energy and the environment. 

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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