Obama's climate change challenge: Americans just don't care
Alex Wong/Getty Images
A White House climate change report released Tuesday is packed with dire warnings about how America is already suffering from the disastrous consequences of rising temperatures. Yet a huge share of the public will likely greet the news with either an emphatic shrug, or a raised eyebrow.
And there's the problem for Obama when it comes to his oft-promised "pivots" to address climate change: A bunch of Americans either don't care about the issue, or think it's overblown.
Only about one-third of Americans say they worry a "great deal" about climate change, per Gallup. Meanwhile, the share of adults who think the threat of global warming is exaggerated has risen over the past two decades. And as global warming skepticism has evolved into a cottage industry — especially on the right — more and more Americans have decided the phenomenon isn't even real.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So though Obama may want to do something about climate change, Americans by wide margins would prefer that he focus his energy on a range of economic and foreign policy issues instead.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
The Earth is getting darkerUnder the radar The planet’s reflectivity is out of whack
-
Scientists want to use enhanced rock weathering to cool the EarthUnder the radar Rock dust could trap atmospheric carbon
-
Icarus programme – the ‘internet of animals’The Explainer Researchers aim to monitor 100,000 animals worldwide with GPS trackers, using data to understand climate change and help predict disasters and pandemics
-
Renewables top coal as Trump seeks reversalSpeed Read For the first time, renewable energy sources generated more power than coal, said a new report
-
China vows first emissions cut, sidelining USSpeed Read The US, the world’s No. 2 emitter, did not attend the New York summit
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
Earth's seasons are out of whackUnder the radar The seasons' unfixed nature in different regions of the planet may have impacted biodiversity and evolution
-
At least 800 dead in Afghanistan earthquakespeed read A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan



