There’s so much confusion about climate change.
Consider two data points:
• Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree humans are causing climate change by burning fossil fuels, but only 10% of Americans know that, according to surveys from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
• And about four in 10 adults worldwide have never heard of climate change, according to Gallup surveys. Rates of climate ignorance are higher in some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, like Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Those numbers are shocking, but they shouldn’t be surprising. World leaders will meet in December in Paris to try to hammer out a hugely important treaty on climate change, but, outside those policy circles, most of us aren’t talking about climate change. In the United States, where climate skepticism is relatively high, 75% of people say they “rarely” or “never” talk about it with family and friends, according to Yale researchers.
We know what’s causing climate change: burning fossil fuels for electricity, transportation and heat, as well as other activities that help carbon accumulate in the atmosphere, like chopping down rainforests.
We also know the antidotes to climate ignorance: education and conversation.
That’s why CNN is going to take your questions about climate change as part of the network’s Two° series. We’ll do our best to answer at least one of them each Friday.
To submit your question, go to this Google Form.
You’ll see the answers online (sign up for the Two° newsletter, or visit the project’s homepage to be sure you don’t miss the answers) as well as on CNN International.
Feel free to ask about anything — climate science, statements from politicians, impacts, solutions, causes. All of it is fair game. Already, your questions and comments have shaped this series. A reader in California, for example, asked a question that sent me on a voyage to the Marshall Islands, in the remote Pacific, to explore the concept of “climate refugees.” A question about climate skeptics resulted in my trip to Woodward County, Oklahoma, which is one of the most climate-skeptical places in the United States. I’m currently exploring meat’s contribution to climate change because that’s a topic you selected in a Facebook poll.
As I’ve written before, you’re in control of the Two° series, not me. I want you to have every opportunity to make your voice heard, and to get your climate questions answered.
Thanks so much for participating in this series. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
