More In Europe Concerned About Climate Change Than In U.S.

[RestoreGore]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/04/news/poll.php

More in Europe worry about climate than in U.S., poll shows
British unit foresees 2007 as hottest ever

By Thomas Crampton Published: January 4, 2007

PARIS: Even as Britain's Meteorological Office predicted that this year would be the hottest on record, a new poll showed divergent levels of concern about climate change in Europe and the United States. Global warming and the El Niño weather phenomenon are likely to push temperatures above the record set in 1998, while 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest year globally, the government agency said Thursday.

The world's 10 warmest years since 1850 have occurred in the past decade, the agency said, with the last five years being the hottest on record for Britain. "This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," Katie Hopkins, a scientist with the agency, said. Meanwhile, a poll released Friday by the television news channel France 24 shows Americans as less concerned about climate change than Europeans.

While 54 percent of the French and roughly 40 percent of Germans, Britons and Italians rank global warming among the top two challenges facing the planet that personally affect them, the poll found that only 30 percent of Americans agreed. The survey, conducted for the program "Le Talk of Paris," included about 2,000 respondents across six countries with a quota-based selection from which the views of national populations can be extrapolated, according to the polling agency Novatris, a French subsidiary of HarrisInteractive.

"These results show the different stages of engagement about global warming on each side of the Atlantic," said Nick Pidgeon, a professor of psychology at Cardiff University in Wales who specializes in attitudes about climate change. "The debate in Europe is about what action needs to be taken, while many in the U.S. still debate whether climate change is happening." The national attitudes reflect the discourse of politicians and have a strong impact on policies, he added.

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"It is clear that it will take more than a film by Al Gore for the United States to take climate change as seriously as Europe," said Patrick Van Bloeme, general manager of Novatris. "Opinion leaders and politicians are pushing climate change in Europe, while the U.S. rejected the Kyoto protocol."
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If this poll is a true indication, what a disgrace. How many Katrinas will we have to have here before we wake up? It is simply in my view a case of what doesn't touch us doesn't concern us, and it is a very selfish ignorant attitude.

[Double T]

1. Once the greed-monger idiots of bushco are out of here...........

climate change and global warming will be top, front and center on the environmental roster. Gore in 2008.

[RestoreGore]

2. We Can't Wait That Long

The ice shelves in the Arctic would still be melting even if a Democrat was in the Wh now, and if we continue with the same behavior patterms regarding spewing greenhouse gases, we may reach the tipping point before then if we haven't already. That is what people need to understand. This has been a crisis in the making for thirty years and it will take more than one election to wake people up to the urgency. It is about morals, principles, and priorities, and about taking global action on a mass scale NOW. However, in a country where more people would rather watch crap tv shows than care about their planet, it isn't as simple as political sound bites.

[Double T]

4. I agree with EVERYTHING you are saying BUT.............

'WE' need leadership that openly recognizes and admits that there is a VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM with climate change and global warming BEFORE anything will be done about it. 'WE' have heard a lot of lip service from our current 'leaders' while the situation rapidly escalates into an irreversible disaster for our planet.

[RestoreGore]

6. Then The Democratic Congress Better Take Some Action Now n/t

[LSK]

3. potentially, they are more directly threatened

Recall from An Inconvienent Truth, if the Ice on Greenland falls into the ocean, that can disrupt the ocean currents (Gulf Stream?) that brings war weather up to the north Atlantic and could possibly put the UK and Northern Europe into an ice age.

[RestoreGore]

5. Does that excuse Americans from seeking truth and knowledge and taking action?

If I recall, An Inconvenient Truth also calls on Americans of all politics (Democrats spew CO2 in the air as well as Republicans and vice versa) to take action now from doing so in their own lives all the way up to demanding it from government on all levels and business. That was the entire point of the movie. And the affects are also being felt here. Rivers are experiencing lower water levels, the Southwest has experienced a sustained and economcially hurtful drought, temperatures have been the warmest ever recorded, The Great Lakes are even lower than usual, and it was seventy four degrees here just this past Saturday after three weeks plus of much warmer than normal temperatures. We also have not had one drop of snow, the trees are barren, yet the birds are still here. I have heard from a multitude of people that nature has gone awry, yet that seems to be as far as it goes. It is as if they think it will simply fix itself, or they simply don't care to know too much, because that would preclude them having to do something about it.

It is a pervasive and dangerous ignorance that is continuing to contribute to the affects others are feeling around the world. This country is responsible for I believe over thirty percent of all greenhouse gases spewed into the atmosphere every day on its own, and the affects of that behavior are being felt as far away as Africa and Australia because the web of life is all connected. That is unfortunately the concept that seems to elude so many and illustrates so aptly the "me" attitude in this country. Even with the tragedy of Katrina and a clean up still not completed Americans seem to have pushed it out of their consciousness because it is unpleasant and detracts from their diversions.

When Al Gore stated that we needed to disenthrall ourselves, he wasn't stating it just to hear himself talk. They are words that are true, and unless Americans begin to really do that now, we won't have a sustainable planet left to live in let alone run our media driven campaigns that tell Americans what they are going to care about. Politicians and pundits do not see the real urgency of this crisis, and it has to be the people of this country who take the lead in demanding change and making that change themselves. I am actually disappointed in reading this article, but moreso in the lackluster response.

[LSK]

7. no, it was only partially explaining why

Europe in an ice-age in 10 years might put the fear of God in a lot of people.

The great question is how to get Americans to take more direct action.

[NNadir]

8. Who'd have thunk it?

[Dean Martin]

9. Europe in general's always been ahead of us

In this type of thinking for about the last 40 years. They survived WWII, we helped them rebuild, then they seemed to begin learning from the mistakes while the US just seemed to become belligerent.

At least that's how it seems to me. I've always felt kind of out of place here. I've always felt more in tune with Europeans than with Americans for some reason.

[MountainLaurel]

10. No shit.

Americans won't notice until their SUV floats away when Florida sinks into the sea or this week's episode of Survivor is disrupted.

[Dean Martin]

11. You got that right

Put a tv in front of most and they become comatose. And, I hate SUVs. Hate em. They block others' vision, they're more dangerous (rollovers, etc), gas guzzlers, I see no purpose for them.

And, I recently read some European countries are going to start taxing the hell out of them like luxury cars to try to discourage their purchase and use. If that fails, they may start banning the sale of them. I don't have a problem with that.