Montana in summer 2012. Image credit: USFWS/Gerald Vickers via InciWeb.org

With the election only a few weeks away, it is notable how absent climate change is from the political debate. Climate change presents one of the greatest long-term national security threats to this nation, yet the two parties have been lamentably silent on the issues.

Awareness of climate change seemed to have reached a peak in 2007, before the onset of the financial crisis and the great recession. As economic problems took hold in the country (and around the world), focus shifted away from what many perceived to be a peripheral issue.

Due to the extreme weather across the United States this past summer, that is changing. Record temperatures, severe drought, fires, floods, and other extreme weather seemed to have caught the attention of the American public.

According to the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University, both the belief that climate change is man-made and that it is a serious problem, is on the rise. From 2010 until mid-2012, the proportion of Americans who thought climate change was occurring rose from 57% to 66%.

The shift in public opinion also reflects the increasingly assertive tone from the scientific community. Recently, climate scientists have come out more definitively than they have previously on climate change. A report by renowned NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, linked specific extreme weather events to climate change, something he (and others) were reluctant to do in the past. He also noted that his previous projections had been too rosy – climate change is happening now, and it is worse than he predicted.

Similarly, a well-known climate skeptic, Robert Muller, made waves when he published an op-ed in The New York Times indicating that based on his research, he has converted from being a climate skeptic to a climate change believer. He also indicated that climate change is not only happening, but it is worse than the scientists have predicted, and it is almost entirely due to human factors.

Of course, the public interest in climate change ebbs and flows along with the occurrences of extreme weather. As the drought, hurricanes, fires, and extreme heat have receded as autumn moves in, front page headlines are also less frequent.

However, the shift in public opinion may be here to stay, especially since the extreme weather is not going away. This means that while in the past the two major political parties found it easier to avoid talking about climate change because the public was skeptical, they may find it increasingly hard to avoid the topic as the public tunes in.

Share on Facebook

Tweet