In the 1970s, Earth Day was a day on which only the most socially conscious people spoke out about protecting the environment. Skeptics called them tree-huggers or extremists. Compare that Here is the latest quote:
Jeffrey Duchin is a Seattle-King County health officer. He said that climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity. Over the past two years, Ive been obsessed with Covid.
Remember this 1991 ad, which ran in newspapers all over the country and radio ads as well as targeted ads on talk radio?
(The Information Council for the Environment).
It was from the Information Council for the EnvironmentSponsored by Electric companies and coal companiesThey used coal. The group claimed that climate change was just a theory and not a scientific fact. It claimed that no evidence was available to prove that carbon dioxide was the primary reason for climate change.
Today, the Pew Research Center reveals, The majority of Americans believe climate change is affecting their local community, with 70% living near the coast..
(Pew Research Center).
And, 67% of Americans see an increase in extreme weather. But, partisans differ over government efforts..
Gallup polling asks Americans if they believe that global warming is a serious problem. The ratio of Americans who believe it to be exaggerated versus those who believe it to be understated is almost equal. However, if you look back a decade, you will see that these numbers have changed.
(Gallup)
Gallup has been following American attitudes toward environment issues for decades. One trend is clear: Economic matters are more important than environmental concerns when the economy falters.
(Gallup)
We witnessed the impact of rising gasoline prices on President Biden’s face this month. He approved the summertime consumption of E-15 ethanol, which is associated to higher summer air pollution. Parts of the country that have access the higher ethanol fuel will see a 10-cent savings per gallon.
This CBS story is the opening of this CBS story:
If climate change were a disaster movie, it would be accused of being too extreme: wildfires Reducing entire towns to ashesHurricanes Cities being swampedDroughts Draining lakesAnd Withering fields, and raging seas Redrawing the maps of our coasts. And now, many cities and states are asking, who’s going to pay for all of this?
“This is real; we’re on the front line of climate change right here in Charleston,” said John Tecklenburg, the mayor of Charleston, South Carolina. The city’s been battered by an endless parade of floods due to sea level rise. Some homeowners are forced to raise their homes several feet in desperate times.
Charleston and more than 20 other cities, counties, and states are suing ExxonMobil and Shell to recover the climate change costs.
(CBS News)
Yales Program on Climate Change CommunicationInteractive maps and graphics recently published that allow you to drill in on public opinion regarding climate change At the very local level in each state. This is the big picture:
(Yale Program on Climate Change Communication).
The Yale project asked people to describe global warming to them. It was interesting to see that while most Americans said it would affect people in other countries, they don’t yet know how it will affect them.
(Yale Program on Climate Change Communication).
Gallup recently asked Americans to complete a survey.What the Biden administration should do in response to climate change. Respondents said yes to incentives to purchase electric cars and install wind power. Gallup asked Americans whether they supported increasing fuel efficiency requirements in new vehicles, and whether the country should spend more federal funds to install electric vehicle charging station.
(Gallup)
Here are some recent stories about climate from the past week
- Climate change affects military installationsMilitary Times
- New dataClimate change made hurricanes stronger. The Weather Channel
- Wind Power overtook Coal, Nuclear in the United States for the First Time on March 29The Hill
- Expanding drought leaves the West US scrambling for water, The Associated Press
- How tech can address climate changeRecode/Vox
- Climate change will disrupt supply chains long after the pandemic ends. Yale Environment 360
- Commercial fishing is being affected by climate change. WHYY/Rutgers
- Stinky Yards, Back-Up Pipes: Climate Change is destroying Septic TanksThe Washington Post
- Biden Will Open More Public Land for Drilling The New York Times
- California is not a place for brewing. Ballot Measure to Reduce Single-Use plastics, Los Angeles Times
Another interesting angle:
One 2016 studyBaltimore’s weather is a key factor in crime. According to the study, the highest daily temperature was associated with violence and trauma in Baltimore. This study also suggested that hospitals consider temperature increases when forecasting staffing needs. Another study found thatWe found that for every degree increase of the maximum daily temperatures, there is a 1% increase in the assault rate.
The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, Natural Resources Defense Council and Wisconsin Health Professional for Climate Action conducted a study that found that climate change and related air pollution cost Americans $800billion a year. This includes premature deaths, lost jobs, and mental health harms.
While some factors are more easily quantifiable than others, many of these factors can be hard to quantify. For example, hundreds of Americans could be affected by these factors. Last summer, heat stroke claimed the lives of dozens.This can cause cardiac arrest, brain damage, and other organ failure. Still moreTook their lives from drowningAs they tried to cool off. Between the heat emergency and coronavirus cases, hospital staff and emergency workers were stretched thin.
These are the impacts of climate-related health issues. Duchin and other public-health experts refer to them as the domino-like health equity and equity challenges that are emerging.
Covid-19 already put stress on our health care system. Now, we have to contend with a climate-induced weather phenomenon that will add additional stress to our emergency medical services as well as our health care delivery system. To combat these multiple threats, it is important to increase the resilience of our health system.
A new Harris poll84% of teens believe that climate change if left unchecked could cause political instability around the world and make parts of the planet uninhabitable. Pollsters found that 84% of teens believe that legislators and companies are not doing enough.
Since the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, we have come a long ways. It was first proposed by Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, around the same time as the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland.
Nixon won the fight to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and passed the Clean Air Act. The fight against pollution and litter began but journalists soon began to study the effects of environmental toxicants and shrinking green areas.
One year later, the first Earth Day. 25%43% percent of Americans believe that it is important to protect our environment. Today, 43% percent Americans agree. There are many concerns about climate change22% of them worry a lot about it.
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