Chinese Don’t Care About Climate Change

All governments around the world must come to terms with the negative effect of climate change, both individually and collectively.  However, China’s citizen’s barely care at all based on new research done by Pew Global Research Global Attitudes and Trends. This information is troubling since China is among, or is the leader in, the production of air pollution.

According to the authors of the study:

As a new Pew Research Center survey illustrates, there is a global consensus that climate change is a significant challenge. Majorities in all 40 nations polled say it is a serious problem, and a global median of 54% consider it a very serious problem. Moreover, a median of 78% support the idea of their country limiting greenhouse gas emissions as part of an international agreement in Paris

And

Climate change is not viewed as a distant threat. Across the nations surveyed, a median of 51% believe people are already being harmed by climate change and another 28% think people will be harmed in the next few years. More than half in 39 of 40 countries are concerned it will cause harm to them personally during their lifetime (the United Kingdom is the exception), and a global median of 40% are very worried this will happen.

Seventy four percent of respondents in Latin America said “climate change is a very serious problem” The figure was 61% in Africa.

However, that number is lower

  in China and the U.S., the two largest greenhouse gas emitters. For instance, just 18% of Chinese and 45% of Americans say climate change is a very serious problem, compared with a global median of 54%. Similarly, while four-in-ten around the world are very worried that global warming will harm them personally, just 15% in China and 30% in the U.S. share this fear. Overall, people in countries with high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita tend to express less anxiety about climate change than those in nations with lower per-capita emissions.

Concerns in the U.S. are much greater among Democrats and the young, and greater among Catholics than Protestants.

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The upcoming conference about climate change to be held in Paris, will not yield much in terms of real change if China and the U.S. refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem.