Survey unearths international climate-change attitudes
A majority of South Koreans believe global warming is a critical threat. Same with Iranians. And Mexicans. And Israelis. But Americans — not so much, says a recent survey of more than 20,000 people in more than 15 countries. Granted, the U.S. could have been more ignorant: a solid 46 percent of Americans deemed climate change critical, and an additional 39 percent labeled it “important.” Also encouraging: 43 percent of U.S. residents favor attacking global warming even if it involves “significant costs,” while a mere 17 percent favor the let’s-study-it-some-more approach. Chinese views were similar to Americans’; in India, 51 percent viewed climate change as critical, while only 19 percent gave the thumbs-up to significant costs for mitigation. Australians were the most concerned about global-warming risks, and the most climate-change-lackadaisical country was the Ukraine, where only 33 percent of respondents said global warming was critical. One Kiev hotel room for Al Gore, please!
