ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
TABLE 1
Climate Change Beliefs Over Time of National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Members and the United States Public From the American Climate Metrics Survey
Climate Statement
Survey Respondent Agreement With Statement (%)
2016
2017
2018
2019
NEHA Members
U.S. Public
NEHA Members
U.S. Public
NEHA Members
U.S. Public
NEHA Members
U.S. Public
80
Yes, climate change is happening.
83
83
86
80
83
80
87*
Climate change is due to human activities.
31
26
32
49
35
23
50*
24
Climate change is due to natural causes.
17
13
15
27
10
16
13
14
Climate change is due to a combination of human and natural causes.
45
55
46
17
47
53
33*
52
I am concerned about climate change.
70
76
71
76
77
73
78
76
45
I am VERY concerned about climate change.
47
38
51
44
48
40
62*
I think people around me are concerned about climate change. The effects of climate change have already begun to happen.
NA
NA
52
57
58
59
NA
NA
77
60
76*
52
Note. Chi-square analyses were conducted on the 2019 data only. NA = not applicable because the question was not included in the survey that year. *Significant based on chi-square analyses ( p < .05).
public respondents (80%) shared this senti- ment. Asked in 2018 and 2019, three quar- ters (77% and 75%, respectively) of NEHA members also believed that climate change has already had noticeable eects on the planet, compared with slightly more than one half (60% and 52%, respectively) of the U.S. public. In 2019, 52% of public respondents thought there were noticeable eects of cli- mate change, a significant dierence from the 76% of NEHA members who reported having noticed climate change impacts. Year after year, concern about climate change was high among respondents from both the public and NEHA member groups; NEHA members who reported concern over the years ranged from 70% to 78% compared with the U.S. public range of 73% to 76%. In 2019, 78% of NEHA members indicated con- cern about climate change compared with 76% of the public (a nonsignificant dier- ence). But of those 78% of NEHA members, 62% reported being “very concerned” about climate change; this number is compared with 45% of the public, which is a signifi-
cant dierence. The public respondents and NEHA members were comparable in report- ing if they believed that the people around them were concerned. In 2019, slightly more than one half of NEHA members (58%) and the U.S. public (59%) perceived that people around them were also concerned about cli- mate change. NEHA members and the sample from U.S. public generally believed that climate change is due to a combination of human and natural causes rather than human activities or natural causes alone. There was a significant dier- ence in 2019 between the 52% of respondents from the public and the 33% of NEHA mem- bers who attributed climate change to a com- bination of natural and human causes. There was a noticeable increase, however, from 31% of NEHA members in 2016 to 50% in 2019 who attributed climate change to humans. In 2019, the number of NEHA members (50%) who recognized climate change was due to human behavior was double the U.S. public average (24%), which was a significant dier- ence. In 2019, a similar percentage of NEHA
members (13%) and public respondents (14%) linked climate change mainly to natu- ral causes. See Table 1 for more information on the beliefs and concerns of those surveyed across the 4 years. Survey Results: Perception of Harm In 2019, ACMS participants were asked about the harm of climate change on diverse groups, which was a new question added in the 2019 survey. NEHA members were significantly more aware than the public respondents were about how climate change will harm dierent groups of individuals, responding that climate change will harm them a great deal or moderately. More than one half of NEHA members (59%) felt that climate change will personally harm them or their families, compared with approximately one half of the public (52%). Compared with U.S. public respondents, more NEHA mem- bers believed that climate change will harm low-income households, urban communities, rural communities, future generations, and the U.S. Of the U.S. public, only 55% agreed
10
Volume 86 • Number 7
Powered by FlippingBook