More than one in six US citizens do not believe humans are damaging the climate, and many do not believe climate change is happening at all.

The YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project compared answers to environmental questions from participants in 23 countries.

The results revealed that 13% of Americans believe ‘human activity is not responsible at all’ for climate change, and an additional 5% said they think the climate is not changing.

An incredible 17% of Americans agreed that ‘the idea of manmade global warming is a hoax that was invented to deceive people’.

Shockingly, only three in ten Americans agreed with the statement that human activity is the dominant cause of climate change.

An additional four in ten Americans polled believed that human activity is at least partly responsible.

Science

Scientists around the world are overwhelmingly in agreement that humans are causing climate change.

The emission of greenhouse gases from human activity is the dominant factor – with emissions still on the rise meaning temperatures are higher than ever before and still increasing, while sea levels are rising faster than ever.

Of the 23 countries studied, the US was the third highest for manmade climate change denial, behind only Indonesia (18%) and Saudi Arabia (16%).

US participants were also the most likely western country to be unaware that climate change happening, or if people were responsible – at 13%.

When presented with the statement ‘human activity is not responsible at all’ for climate change, the percentage of participants who agreed were:

• Indonesia 18%
• Saudi Arabia 16%
• US 13%
• Mexico 10%
• Australia 8%
• Poland 8%
• Germany 7%
• China 6%
• France 6%
• Britain 4%

Recent warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have revised the window of opportunity to combat climate change to just 12 years, which has spurred on a wave of strikes and student protests.

And this week a UN report explained that 1 million species are currently at threat of extinction due to human activity.

What do you think of this poll? Tell us in the comments section below!

Oli Gross

Oli’s career and personal ethical values both help shape his reporting of the diverse world of veganism. His background is in local newspaper and magazine journalism, and his work has included reporting court cases, celebrity interviews, business analysis, food and drink features and government legislation.

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