Politics belongs in the top topics that have been dominating this summer’s news. It makes sense as it is a presidential election year, what’s more with wars and conflicts around the globe.
But climate change and its effects haven’t gone anywhere and are getting worse. Just last week, Europe’s climate change service Copernicus announced that Earth hit the hottest temperature ever recorded for two consecutive, as per energypolicy.columbia.edu
The same report also said we’ve lived through more than a year of record-breaking temperatures.
During the June presidential debate in the USA, climate change did take center stage – but only for a moment. CNN moderators asked former President Donald Trump what he would do, if re-elected, to slow the climate crisis. His answer deviated quickly to other topics.
For his part, President Joe Biden – who has since announced he’s leaving the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris – played up his landmark Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in the U.S. history.
But where is the American public in all this?
How worried, frustrated, or hopeful are people feeling about global warming? How do those sentiments compare to those of other countries around the world?
This week we return to a conversation from last fall, when host Bill Loveless talked with Anthony Leiserowitz about Yale’s Climate Change in the American Mind surveys, and what they reveal about public opinion around climate change both here in the U.S. and around the world. They also discussed the current discourse in American politics, and how attitudes differ among registered voters.
Anthony is the founder and director of the Yale University Program on Climate Change Communication and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment.
He has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the World Economic Forum, and many other major organizations to understand the psychological, cultural, and political factors that shape climate change beliefs.
Anthony also hosts “Climate Connections,” a daily 90-second podcast about the climate crisis. Since Bill’s interview, Anthony’s program at Yale has released its Spring 2024 Climate Change in the American Mind survey results for Beliefs & Attitudes and Politics & Policy.
