Via the Weather Channel, a new poll from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication reveals that a overwhelming majority of Americans believe recent extreme weather events were caused by climate change, and at least one third of Americans have been personally harmed by such events.
82 percent of Americans report that they personally experienced one or more types of extreme weather or a natural disaster in the past year;
35 percent of all Americans report that they were personally harmed either a great deal or a moderate amount by one or more of these extreme weather events in the past year;
By a margin of over 2 to 1 (52% vs. 22%) Americans say the weather in the U.S. has been getting worse -- rather than better -- over the past several years;
A large majority of Americans believe that global warming made several high profile extreme weather events worse, including:
-The unusually warm winter of December 2011 and January 2012 (72%)
-Record high summer temperatures in the U.S. in 2011 (70%)
-The drought in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 (69%)
-Record snowfall in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011 (61%)
-The Mississippi River floods in the spring of 2011 (63%)
-Hurricane Irene (59%);
-Only 36 percent of Americans have a disaster emergency plan that all members of their family know about or an emergency supply kit in their home (37%).
If Americans have been convinced in such great numbers, it can only be because they've personally experienced or witnessed the change in our weather. Because the media, and a large portion of our elected leadership, sure hasn't done anything to convince them.
It's snowing! In Winter! Where's the global warming!? -Sean Hannity