Report · Jul 16, 2024
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2024
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Emily Goddard, Jennifer Carman, Matthew Ballew, Marija Verner, Teresa Myers, Jennifer Marlon, Sanguk Lee, Matthew Goldberg, Nicholas Badullovich and Kathryn Thier
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes, Climate Impacts and Behaviors & Actions
5. Global Warming and Personal Agency
5.1. Few Americans think it is too late to do anything about global warming.
About six in ten Americans (63%) either “strongly” (37%) or “somewhat” (26%) disagree with the statement: “it’s already too late to do anything about global warming.” By contrast, relatively few Americans (12%) either “strongly” (2%) or “somewhat” (10%) agree with this statement. An additional 18% say they “don’t know.”
5.2. About half of Americans disagree with the statement “the actions of a single individual won’t make any difference in global warming.”
About half of Americans (53%) either “strongly” (20%) or “somewhat” (33%) disagree with the statement “the actions of a single individual won’t make any difference in global warming” (refer to data tables, p. 98), while 47% of Americans either “strongly” (17%) or “somewhat” (29%) agree that individual actions won’t make a difference.
5.3. Half of Americans do not think new technologies can solve global warming without individual action.
Half of Americans (50%) either “strongly” (19%) or “somewhat” (32%) disagree with the statement “new technologies can solve global warming without individuals having to make big changes in their lives” (refer to data tables, p. 99), while a similar percentage (49%) either “strongly” (8%) or “somewhat” (40%) agree with this statement.
