Human Activity is the Main Cause of Climate Change, Reckoned Over 47%

Climate change is one of the main concerns in today’s world. The effects of the climate crisis are all over the globe, and they’re affecting more people than ever before.

According to NASA’s science instruments, the Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history. Global warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. Earth’s warming has a major impact on the atmosphere, oceans, sea levels, fires, and biodiversity.

Real Research gathered public opinion on the climate crisis through its online survey app.

The survey “How Severe Is the Climate Crisis?” was divided into three sections, the first section was about how aware the respondents were of climate change and its impact; the second section was about the responsibility of the issue; and lastly, the public’s sentiment towards climate change.

Highlights:

• Nearly half of the respondents (47.2%) said the main cause of climate change is human activity.
• 45.7% shared that the environmental crisis made them choose not to have children.
• Around 35% are neutral about the global environment.

Causes and Impacts

Climate change can happen for many reasons; It’s a long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns, and these shifts are either natural or human-made. According to our survey on the climate crisis, 47.2% believed the main cause of the climate crisis was human activities, such as an increase in greenhouse gasses and urbanization, while 30.37% thought it was a natural process, such as a change in the Earth’s orbit and rotation. 22.43% weren’t sure of the causes.

While 37.74% thought the climate crisis wasn’t severe, 30.44% believed it was, and 31.82% were neutral. The climate crisis is undeniably a serious problem, evident in its impact on various global issues today.  Our survey respondents witnessed the effects of climate change in the form of floods, heat waves, and drought (27.47%) as well as news reports (23.18%) about floods, heat waves, and drought in other nations. 16.36% received news reports of polar regions’ melting glaciers and ice caps; 10.19% had a food shortage; 9.84% understood the seriousness of fine dust occurrences; and 6.79% observed animals suffering as a result of climate change.

Read Also: 60% Believe Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Will Mitigate Effects of Climate Change

Responsibility

Despite the fact that human-caused problems originate all around the world, 14.76% of respondents thought China was mostly to blame because it is the world’s greatest emitter of carbon dioxide. 14.27% attributed it to latecomer African countries, while 10.21% of respondents thought it was individual residents around the world. 8.79% of respondents attributed the problem to industrialized nations (OECD members), while 7.67% blamed the United States, the second-largest producer of carbon dioxide. Global conglomerate firms were blamed by 6.56%, the United Nations and other international organizations by 6.54%, oil-producing nations in the Middle East by 6.13%, and other factors were listed by roughly 19.39% of respondents.

Identifying the responsible parties could facilitate proposing climate change solutions. For this reason, 19.97% thought countries with higher cumulative carbon emissions per year should be more responsible. While 19.69% thought countries with higher carbon emissions per year were to blame, 17.55% thought countries with higher carbon emissions per capita should be held accountable. Some (13.22%) said countries with higher GDP were at fault, those who weren’t sure were 16.07%, and 13.5% didn’t specify.

As it may be challenging to determine who specifically is responsible for global warming, many believed that within their countries, various entities play a role. Conglomerates are considered responsible by 15.97%, governments by 15.23%, and individuals by 12.26%. Meanwhile, 11.61% blamed the social community, 11.37% blamed politicians, and 10.1% condemned small companies. 14.54% thought others were responsible.

People’s Sentiments Towards Climate Change

The climate emergency is already having an effect on some animal species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 51.65% agreed and viewed animal extinction because of climate change as a severe issue, but 48.35% disagreed.

Although the effects of climate change are significant and may harm future generations, 58.63% of respondents said they didn’t feel guilty about not doing anything to stop them. However, 41.37% of people felt guilty about not battling as much as they would have liked to.

Over half of respondents (53.3%) disagreed when asked if they felt depressed and angry as a result of climate challenges, and 46.7% agreed. In addition, while 54.3% did not agree, 45.7% said that the current climate issues were the reason they decided against having children.

When asked whether they were feeling angry towards the climate change contributors, more than half (52.01%) agreed, while 47.99% disagreed.

Furthermore, 56.32% disagreed when asked whether ambitious climate pledges are more significant in presidential elections than any other pledges and 43.68% agreed.

Read Also: 30.57% Believe Our Priority Should Be to Protect and Restore Forests

Fighting Climate Crisis

World scientists are combating the environmental crisis. Earlier in 1987, the Montreal Protocol was adopted, a protocol to help fight against the thinning ozone layer. Recently, the UN, US, and EU confirmed its success. You can read more about this on Over Half Are Aware of  Earth’s Ozone Layer Recovery.

Currently, scientists propose six steps to fight climate change, about which people have different opinions. World scientists recommend replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and imposing a strong carbon tax. More than half (60.27%) disagreed, and 39.73% agreed. 65.77% agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while 34.23% disagreed.

Additionally, scientists recommended cutting back on animal products and adopting a vegetarian diet, to which 55.07% objected and 44.93% concurred.

The majority, who were concerned about the climate crisis, supported ecosystem protection and restoration (58.6%), while only 41.4% opposed it.

Also Read: 80% Heard of Extreme Heat Warnings Issued Caused by European Heat Waves

Taking Actions

23.47% of the respondents believed that governments should lead the way in addressing the climate shift, while 20.8% believed that international organizations should. 19.44% believed that individuals should take the most initiative, 17.23% said that businesses should, and 19.06% believed that other entities should.

To help the entire world, all organizations can start by making little adjustments to tackle climate change. According to the results of our study, 29.91% thought governments should offer incentives for eco-friendly corporate practices, and 22.74% of respondents said that governments should look into alternative energy sources. Governments should manage waste (21.83%), research the most effective way to distribute energy (13.17%),  warn the entire country about the severity of the issue (9.16%), or take some other action.

When asked what businesses can do to combat climate change, 30.22% responded that they can manufacture products that burn fewer fossil fuels, 25.47% that they can develop projects for alternative energy, 23.71% that they can manage waste, 16.21% that they can create eco-friendly products, and 4.39% that they can use other methods.

International organizations can aid in the fight against global warming, according to respondents, by facilitating government participation (26.71%), developing climate change response strategies (25.07%), educating people about the issue (22.88%), and starting conversations about it (13.69%). Another option to help stop the climate disaster is by giving disadvantaged groups and politicians more opportunities for communication, while 3.24% preferred other strategies.

According to 20.59% of those who responded to our survey, people can contribute to the solution by making eco-friendly purchases. 19.08% of respondents said that people should use less single-use plastic, 18.28% said they should recycle their waste, and 17.04% said they should get involved in environmental causes or volunteer. 9.29% of respondents stated that people should consume less water, electricity, and food; 7.66% preferred walking as a mode of transportation; 5.63% preferred vegetarianism; and 2.43% had other ideas.