Politicians Think The Public Don’t Want A Deal To Stop Climate Change. They’re Wrong.

We're way more worried about climate change than politicians seem to realise.

The world's heating up

Via climatechange2013.org

In the last 100 years the planet's already warmed by nearly 1°C.

And it's about to get a lot hotter.

Via thinkprogress.org

But compared with what we've already seen, there's way more warming projected to be around the corner.

Already, people are feeling the effects of climate change

Via thinkprogress.org

Around the world, record-breaking storms and heat are already becoming more common than ever before. And that's with just the 1°C of warming we've had so far.

And yet we're still pumping out greenhouse gases faster than ever

Via unep.org

Despite the recession and deals to cut back, the world's emissions are still going up.

While politicians are nowhere near a deal to slow them down

Via theguardian.com

And no-one's expecting much of the climate conference in Warsaw this week.

Which is fine for politicians, because their voters don't care about climate change, right?

Wrong.

People might not say that climate change is the most important thing facing the country today, like the economy...

Via ipsos-mori.com

Questions that ask about the most important issues facing the country today find that people are, naturally, worried about the things directly connected with their day-to-day lives, like jobs, crime and immigration.

... but 90% of us still think that climate change is real ...

Via noiseofthecrowd.com

That's stayed the same for the last four years, despite much of the media throwing everything they've got behind claims that climate scientists have got it wrong.

... and all over the world, people are worried about it ...

Via pewglobal.org

Only 13% of people in Britain say that climate change won't be a threat. That's fewer people than want to sack the Queen and make Britain a republic.

... and want their governments to sign a deal to cut emissions.

Via environment.yale.edu

Two-thirds want a global deal to cut emissions. That's as true of supposedly heel-dragging America as it is of Britain.

In fact, we're ready to take action ourselves

Via noiseofthecrowd.com

More than 4 times as many people say they're motivated to take action about climate change as say the opposite - and fewer than 1 in 10 say that climate change doesn't matter.

And we're happy to have wind turbines near our homes - in fact compared with any other energy source, we're positively ecstatic about wind turbines.

Via noiseofthecrowd.com

More than twice as many people want wind turbines near their homes than want gas power stations. And fewer than 1 in 5 would be happy with shale gas fracking nearby.

But we know we can't do it on our own and, above all, we want politicians to stop wasting time and start dealing with climate change right now.

Via carbonbrief.org