FIGURE 1
Climate Change Harms Perceived by National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Members and the United States Public From the 2019 American Climate Metrics Survey
49
Harms Whites
61
52
Harms Latinos and Hispanics
69
55
Harms African Americans
69
63
Harms people in the U.S.
73
55
Harms people in my community
65
61
Harms rural areas
72
59
Harms urban areas
71
67
Harms future generations
79
62
Harms people in low-income households
74
52
Harms me personally or my family
59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
% of Respondents U.S. Public NEHA Members
Note. All NEHA percentages are significant based on chi-square analyses ( p < .05).
that climate change will harm people in their community, compared with 65% of NEHA members. Lastly, approximately two thirds of NEHA members (69%) believed that climate change will harm African Americans, Lati- nos, and Hispanics, while on average only approximately one half (54%) of the public respondents believed that there will be harm across these groups (Figure 1). Survey Results: Benefits of Action Versus Costs of Action Respondents were asked if the U.S. took steps to prevent climate change, then to what extent would these actions impact four national issues (Figure 2). NEHA members responded that climate change solutions will improve our health “some extent” or “a lot” (increased from 65% in 2016 to 73% in 2019), the economy (increased from 45% in 2016 to 64% in 2019), and jobs (increased from
47% in 2016 to 59% in 2019). The majority of the public agreed with the three perceived positive impacts, but there was a decrease in agreement across all three areas from 2016 to 2017. For the 2019 data, significantly more NEHA members than the U.S. public believed that if the U.S. took steps to prevent climate change, then these actions would improve health, the economy, and employment. Agreement about if there will be a posi- tive impact on the cost of energy has slightly increased for NEHA members, from 21% in 2017 to 26% in 2019. Fewer NEHA mem- bers felt this way, however, compared with the U.S. public. The public data showed a larger increase in the percentage of respon- dents who thought there would be a positive impact on the cost of energy (increased from 27% in 2017 to 37% in 2019). In 2019, com- pared with the U.S. public, significantly fewer NEHA members perceived a positive impact
on energy costs if the U.S. took steps to pre- vent climate change. Respondents were then asked about the costs of acting on climate change. NEHA members were less likely to agree than their public counterparts about the importance of prioritizing economic growth over acting on climate change (Table 2). From 2017 to 2019, only one quarter (25%) of NEHA members agreed with this statement compared with approximately one half (48%) of the U.S. public. In 2019, significantly fewer NEHA members (26%) agreed with the importance of prioritizing economic growth over acting on climate change, compared with 48% of the U.S. public respondents who agreed with that statement. Similarly, over the years less than one quarter (21%) of NEHA members agreed that the costs and sacrifices are too high to address climate change, compared with approximately 40% of the public respon-
11
March 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
Powered by FlippingBook