Two days after the Trump administration blocked a global declaration from even mentioning the term "climate change," a new survey out Wednesday shows the U.S. public continues to lead internationally when it comes to denying the scientific reality of the planetary crisis.
As The Guardian reported, a YouGov/Cambridge Globalism Project poll of 23 countries found that 13 percent of American respondents agreed with the statement, "human activity is not responsible at all” for the climate crisis.
The U.S. was behind just two countries in the poll, with 18 percent of Indonesians and 16 percent of Saudis saying human activity has nothing to do with the fact that average global temperatures have risen by 0.8° Celsius (1.4° Fahrenheit) since 1880.
Respondents in other Western countries, including almost every European country, were far less likely than Americans to deny that the climate is changing and that humans are responsible. Fewer than 10 percent in most countries across Europe denied the statements.
Seventeen percent of Americans polled told YouGov/Cambridge Globalism Project that they believed the concept of a human-caused climate crisis is "a hoax that was invented to deceive people."
Such beliefs have been pushed by President Donald Trump, who claimed in 2012 that the concept of the climate crisis was created by the Chinese and said during the 2016 presidential campaign that the idea was a "hoax" which had created a "money-making industry."
On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demonstrated the climate science denial embraced by the Trump administration when he blocked language about the climate crisis from a resolution passed by the seven countries in the Arctic Council.
However, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe pointed out on social media that the U.S. has been forced to confront reality in recent years as the solar power sector has added far more jobs than fossil fuel industries.
And in the US, there's many relevant stories but here's just one: there's more solar jobs than coal. https://t.co/01MJjSeiNP
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) May 8, 2019
The other countries where respondents were most likely to deny the effects of fossil fuel extraction have also had to face the reality of the climate crisis, Hayhoe said.
Saudi Arabia is planning a major push on renewables simply because their own consumption is falling https://t.co/uqoOs9Tck0
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) May 8, 2019
While Indonesia is falling behind on its carbon targets, it is simultaneously moving its capital inland in part because Jakarta is sinking into the ocean https://t.co/iB5qjg1EHO
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) May 8, 2019
"What used to be entirely natural disasters, many of which including hurricanes, heavy rain and wildfire are now increasingly being super-sized or amplified by a changing climate, are costing the U.S. billions a year in damages," Hayhoe added.
While even climate science-denying governments are beginning to confront the crisis through policy, one climate campaigner told The Guardian, fossil fuel companies and the powerful lobbyists that represent them have managed to keep many Americans unwilling to accept the reality of climate change.
"The Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry have put billions of dollars into lying to the American public, even sending literature to science teachers in schools," Margaret Klein Salamon of the advocacy group Climate Mobilization told The Guardian. "They are so well organized and have managed to turn climate change into a controversial subject that gets shut down. It's clearly working."
