Climate change and call for action

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2015 was the hottest year since 1880, when record keeping began, with December and October as the hottest months of the year but also the warmest ones in history.

The agency also reported that the first three months of 2016 had already surpassed the temperatures of the same period last year and overall the highest monthly temperatures departures in record have occurred in the past nine months.

Tatiana Schlossberg from the New York Times considers that these and other similar reports have added a sense of urgency to world leaders and diplomats, gathered last week to sign the climate agreement reached by the end of 2015 in Paris.

How are people around the world perceiving these efforts and climate change in general? In a Spring 2015 survey of 40 nations, Pew Research Center found that the majority of individuals believe climate change is a serious problem and a global median of 54 percent think it is a very serious problem.

However, there are differences among regions. According to the survey, countries in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia are more concerned, while individuals in countries like Russia, China and the United States are less concerned.

Interestingly, the more concerned individuals live in nations that produce fewer levels of carbon emissions and are usually developing nations. This is consistent with the results of the study, that show a negative correlation between climate change concern and CO2 emission per c�pita. This means that as CO2 emissions increase concerned for the change in climate is lower. At this extreme we find countries like the U.S, Australia, Canada and Russia while at the other side there are countries from least developed regions.

In terms of solutions to climate change, there is agreement about a combination of lifestyle decisions and policy. 78 percent believe her/his country should limit emissions as part of an international agreement, in line with the Paris Accord actions, and 54 percent consider rich countries should do more to address the problem. There is also an understanding of individual actions, 67 percent of respondents think people will have to make major lifestyle changes to solve or ameliorate climate change.