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Young Americans not well educated? Ignorance about Climate Change

“Most Generation Xers are surprisingly disengaged, dismissive or doubtful about whether global climate change is happening “

“The results of this report suggest that better educated young adults are more likely to recognize the importance of the problem”

Uninformed Generation X are unconcerned about climate change, Click Green, 19 July 12, As the United States suffers a summer of record-shattering heat and the UK experiences record summer rainfall, a University of Michigan report finds that Generation X is lukewarm about climate change – uninformed about the causes and unconcerned about the potential dangers

“Most Generation Xers are surprisingly disengaged, dismissive or doubtful about whether global climate change is happening and they don’t spend much time worrying about it,” said Jon D. Miller, author of “The Generation X Report.”
The new report, the fourth in a continuing series, compares Gen X attitudes about climate change in 2009 and 2011, and describes the levels of concern Gen Xers have about different aspects of climate change, as well as their sources of information on the subject…..
Only about 5 percent of those surveyed in 2011 were alarmed about
climate change, and another 18 percent said they were concerned about
it. But 66 percent said they aren’t sure that global warming is
happening, and about 10 percent said they don’t believe global warming
is actually happening……
Given the greater anticipated impact of climate change on future
generations, Miller expected that the parents of minor children would
be more concerned about the issue than young adults without minor
children.

“Not so,” he said. “Generation X adults without minor children were
slightly more alarmed about climate change than were parents. The
difference is small, but it is in the opposite direction than we
expected.”

Miller found that Gen X adults used a combination of information
sources to obtain information on the complex issue of climate change,
with talking to friends, co-workers and family members among the most
common sources of information.

“Climate change is an extremely complex issue, and many Generation X
adults do not see it as an immediate problem that they need to
address,” Miller said.

“The results of this report suggest that better educated young adults
are more likely to recognize the importance of the problem, but that
there is a broad awareness of the issue even though many adults prefer
to focus on more immediate issues—jobs and schools for their
children—than the needs of the next generation. These results will not
give great comfort to either those deeply concerned about climate
issues or those who are dismissive of the issue.”
http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/analysis/general-analysis/123631-studuninformed-generation-x-are-unconcerned-about-climate-change.html

July 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA