[Lexis]

Thirteen percent of Americans have never heard of global warming even though their country is the world's top source of greenhouse gases, a 46-country survey showed on Monday. The report, by ACNielsen of more than 25,000 Internet users, showed that 57 percent of people around the world considered global warming a "very serious problem" and a further 34 percent rated it a "serious problem." "It has taken extreme and life-threatening weather patterns to finally drive the message home that global warming is happening and is here to stay unless a concerted, global effort is made to reverse it," said Patrick Dodd, the President of ACNielsen Europe. People in Latin America were most worried while U.S. citizens were least concerned with just 42 percent rating global warming "very serious." The United States emits about a quarter of all greenhouse gases, the biggest emitter ahead of China, Russia and India. Thirteen percent of U.S. citizens said they had never heard or read anything about global warming, the survey said. Almost all climate scientists say that temperatures are creeping higher because of heat-trapping greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels. The study also found that 91 percent of people had heard about global warming and 50 percent reckoned it was caused by human activities. A U.N. report due on Friday is set to say it is at least 90 percent probable that human activities are the main cause of warming in the past 50 years. People in China and Brazil were most convinced of the link to human activities and Americans least convinced. The survey said that people living in regions vulnerable to natural disasters seemed most concerned -- ranging from Latin Americans worried by damage to coffee or banana crops to people in the Czech Republic whose country was hit by 2002 floods. In Latin America, 96 percent of respondents said they had heard of global warming and 75 percent rated it "very serious." Most industrial nations have signed up for the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which imposed caps on emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from factories, power plants and vehicles. President George W. Bush pulled the United States out of Kyoto in 2001, but said last week that climate change was a "serious challenge."

13 pct of Americans not heard of global warming: report - Yahoo! News

I'm finding it hard to get my head round the fact that 13% of Americans said they had never heard of global warming, compared of 4% in Latin America. America is media saturated, how is that possible?

[migamoo]

For some reason this doesn't surprise me at all.

[Jacob1983]

I would have loved to see Al Gore's reaction to this.

[Sternbetrachter]

Originally Posted by Fieryangel (View Post) For some reason this doesn't surprise me at all.

same here

[elisheva]

That seems really odd. I'd be curious to see the survey questions. Unless there are some media outlets that just almost never cover it? Hmm.

[Lost in Translation]

Originally Posted by elisheva (View Post) That seems really odd. I'd be curious to see the survey questions. Unless there are some media outlets that just almost never cover it? Hmm.

That's actually what I was going to say. I'd love to see the survey questions.

[Love & Passion]

Originally Posted by Fieryangel (View Post) For some reason this doesn't surprise me at all.

it shocks me, but doesn't surprise me. I'd like to see how many Australians don't know about it!!

[Jen Jaree]

I sure as hell hope Canada doesn't share that statistic.

[elisheva]

Canada isn't as great on global warming as we think we are, frustratingly enough. For all we talk about Kyoto and sustainability, we're not doing nearly as much as we should be. And it's not just the Conservatives; the Liberals are at fault too.

[Jacob1983]

I think a lot of people do think that global warming is happening. However, some including me believe that it's not entirely the humankind's fault. We believe that it's just a natural process.

It's just funny how America is. You can protest and question the war in Iraq all you want and you will get a big hug and standing ovation. However, if you protest and question global warming at all, then you're a stupid ignorant person. I smell a double standard.

[migamoo]

Jacob you think everything is a double standard. Global Warming has scientific proof that it's been worsening since the industrial revolution began. Why would it start then if not for all the pollutants we put in the air?

[-Kelly-]

What

[Love & Passion]

i told my dad, and he's like ONLY thirteen percent/?

[Lost in Translation]

Originally Posted by elisheva (View Post) Canada isn't as great on global warming as we think we are, frustratingly enough. For all we talk about Kyoto and sustainability, we're not doing nearly as much as we should be. And it's not just the Conservatives; the Liberals are at fault too.

Glad to see that the liberals are getting named in this too. Even though we may not be doing anything much about it right now, I'm assuming we have a smaller percentage of people who haven't heard of global warming.

Sara

[sunnykerr]

Well, much as I'm loathe to play into the stereotype, global warming is much more noticeable when your average climate is colder. We have polar bears coming into inhabited areas because lakes are thawing earlier. There are chunks of ice separating from the ice caps way up north. Not to mention that winter's arriving later and later and that, once it gets here, it's getting increasingly warmer.

Not that I enjoyed the -40 degree (windchill factor) temperatures of my youth, but they were the norm. So it's not so much that I'm missing them, but we had a rainstorm in the middle of February last year... How can you deny global warming when you're confronted with it every time you step out of your house?