As each hellish new natural disaster is matched by an equally hellish political stalemate on climate legislation, a growing segment of the American population is thinking: What can I personally do to get some climate action going here?
On Tuesday, the Yale Program on Climate Communication shared a new analysis looking at where the American public stands on the issue of civil disobedience — namely, are people willing to show up to some form of nonviolent protest to demand action on global warming? This builds on earlier research from the same program, which found that the American public can be divided into six different “audiences” characterized by the following stances on climate change: Alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful, and dismissive.
Nine percent of the “alarmed” group — those who most strongly support climate policies” and are convinced global warming is happening, human-caused, and an urgent threat — responded that they “definitely would” participate in some form of environmental civil disobedience if someone they like and respect asked them to. Of everyone surveyed, even inclu... Read more
