PrintMost Americans dismiss climate change as a major environmental issue
We've known for years that Americans view global warming as one of the least important issues facing the country. A Gallup poll last month showed climate change ranking #14 in importance out of 15 issues facing the nation.
Now comes another Gallup poll that targets people's views on the top environmental concerns. You might think that when you narrow the issues down to the environment only, that more people would express their concerns about climate change.
That simply isn't the case.
Most Americans continue to show low levels of concern about climate change, with little more than a third saying they worry “a great deal” about it.
Climate change was toward the bottom of a list of eight environmental concerns in a recent survey by the group, with 35 percent saying it is a major worry.
"The percentage expressing a great deal of worry about pollution of drinking water, as well as contamination of soil and water by toxic waste, increased by seven percentage points,” Gallup said. “Worry about climate change and global warming, on the other hand, went up by no more than two points versus last year.
Drinking water pollution tops the list at 60 percent, followed by toxic soil contamination and pollution of lakes and rivers at 53 percent apiece.
Air pollution comes in at 46 percent.
The relatively low concern about climate change or global warming coincides with a report released this week by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warns of potentially several future impacts from the phenomenon.
“Americans’ generally low level of concern about global warming compared with other environmental issues is not new; warming has generally ranked last among Americans’ environmental worries each time Gallup has measured them with this question over the years,” the polling group said.
What is enouraging is that despite all the propaganda from global warming hysterics, there has been an effective counter by skeptics. Barely half of Democrats believe global warming is a serious concern - a sign that the president's prattling about the issue isn't working even with members of his own party.
What this poll shows is that the Obama administration and the EPA are pursuing policies that are out of the mainstream. Radical environmentalists are failing to convince the vast majority of Americans that their climate change agenda is necessary, or desirable.
