Although climate change has had a direct impact on many — i.e.; the proliferation of catastrophic hurricanes in recent years — a recent poll suggests 43 percent of Americans admit they don’t worry about rising temperatures.
This thought process is less about a denial of basic science and data, experts say, and more about the way we think: our psychology wires us to dismiss things that don’t feel immediate or scary.
So how soon do we encourage people to start thinking about climate change (and taking action)? Some experts say, one way is to connect the issue to something more tangible—like the health risks associated to water and air pollution. The first step, though, is to understand and talk about it!
Infographic Sources:
- https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature
- http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/07/31/earth-likely-to-warm-more-than-2-degrees-this-century/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921692/
- https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/extreme-weather
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