A 2024 survey “Global representative evidence on the actual and perceived support for climate action” showed that people are willing to sacrifice personally for the greater good
Earlier this year, for the second time in five years, the United States began the process of removing itself from the Paris Climate Agreement.
This is devastating for three reasons.
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WATCH HEREFirst, it signals to the world that the United States is no longer part of the global climate change solution.
Second, it may make some countries question if it is worth it for them to remain in the agreement.
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But third and most importantly, the agreement, while not perfect, had goals that were absolutely achievable, even if not as quickly as some might have hoped.
A 2024 survey, “Global representative evidence on the actual and perceived support for climate action” was published in “Nature Climate Change.” The researchers surveyed almost 130,000 individuals across 125 countries between 2021 and 2022, a year before 2023, the year that many climate scientists consider the worst year on record and possibly the tipping point.
The results show that the world wants more climate action, not less.
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Some of the key findings
Globally, 69% of those surveyed said they are willing to contribute 1% of their income to fight global warming, but only 43% think that "others" are willing to do the same.
This gap shows that people want to fight climate change but don’t realize that others actually want to do the same.
Globally, 86% of those surveyed that other people in their country should fight global warming, while 89% think their national government should do more.
When you put all of this together, the takeaways are that people are willing to sacrifice personally for the greater good, people want more climate action from their neighbors and their government and people are more likely to take action if others take action.
