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Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
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89 percent of people across the world wanted their national governments to do more to fight global warming. Over two-thirds then said they were willing to give 1 percent of their income to fight climate change. Crucially, however, they thought only a minority of other people—43 percent—would be willing to do the same.
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130,000 people in 125 countries, which account for 96 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, and was published in the journal Nature Climate Change. People in China, the world’s biggest polluter, were among the most concerned, with 97 percent saying its government should do more to fight climate change and four in five willing to give 1 percent of their income.
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The more strongly people believed their fellow citizens would contribute their money to climate action, the more likely they were to give themselves
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A large UN poll in 2024—dubbed the People’s Climate Vote—questioned 75,000 people in countries representing 90 percent of the global population. It found that 80 percent wanted their countries to strengthen their climate change commitments. Another recent survey of 40,000 people in 20 of the world’s most polluting countries found that 86 percent of people thought the same.
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perception gaps are real too. A US study from 2022 found people thought only about 40 percent of their fellow citizens supported major climate policies: The real proportion was about 75 percent. An earlier study found the same in China.
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The group found in 2024 that 72 percent of the UK public supported onshore windmills’ being built in their areas, but only 19 percent of MPs thought a majority of their constituents did so.
✏️ How can government be “representative” or “for the people” in any meaningful way when it’s obvious they’re not hearing their people at all? Or, more likely, hearing but not acting on their people’s opinions at all… 🔗 View Highlight
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The right-wing populist Reform UK Party recently labeled climate concern “hysteria” but 62 percent of the people who voted for the party in 2024 said it was important that the government cares about tackling climate change.
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Most people are social creatures, highly influenced by what others do and say. That is why correcting mistaken beliefs about the views of your fellow citizens can make an impact on what you think and do. There is a lot of research showing this can shift people’s views on a range of social justice issues.
✏️ Fits with what I see as humanity being super subjective and not robots.. never objective. We are driven by what other people think, for better or worse. 🔗 View Highlight
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People are also “conditional cooperators”: They are more likely to contribute to the public good if they think others are doing the same. “This motive has also been studied very extensively,” Boneva said. “If everyone else in a shared home is cleaning the dishes, you will do it too. If everyone else is just leaving their stuff, you won’t bother either.”
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Studies have shown that telling people how popular environmental action is with others can increase their own actions, for example in saving energy and green living. Correcting misperceptions among US citizens about the climate views of people in China increased support for a climate treaty.
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Change “simply requires that people be exposed, over and over, from sources they trust or identify with, to the fact that they are not alone in their concern and their willingness to take action.”