But with the state of the economy and other issues taking precedence, Americans are less and less concerned about global warming, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 7-11 among 1,503 adults.
What's telling about the results of this survey is the fact that Americans are thinking more about domestic issues these days. There is less of a global mindset. Take a look at the following chart, which was available on the same Pew survey page.
Americans haven't been so focused on their own country's issues since the mid 1990s, which is ironic since things seemed to have been going pretty well at the time, at least compared to now.
Getting back to how we view changes in weather patterns, the term we probably should be using is climate change. On average, many areas are indeed getting warmer. But they're also getting colder in the winter. Maybe the Earth's axis is changing, or other developments may be causing overall climate change.
The media needs to get over the misleading term "global warming." Not every area is going to get warmer. Some scientists predict the coming of a "little ice age."
We may be experiencing man-induced climate change, and that is something we can address by reducing carbon emissions and other air pollutants.
Regardless of your thoughts on global warming, climate change, et. al., it does behoove us all to reduce our reliance on carbon-based fuels. Doing so will reduce pollution (thus reducing allergies, thus reducing health care costs) and it will reduce our reliance on foreign energy sources (thus reducing our need to assert ourselves in far-flung conflicts, thus reducing our military expenditures and loss of life).
As a tool to get the public's attention, the mantra of global warming has had its time. Now it should die, and we should focus on the other benefits of alternative energy sources.
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