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Climate change skeptics aren’t just fighting the science. There’s a powerful tide of public opinion against them.
Climate activists Lesley Butler and Rob Bell sunbathed on the edge of a frozen fjord in the Norwegian Arctic town of Longyearbyen April 25, 2007.
LIMA, Peru — Climate change skeptics such as James Inhofe, aka “the senator with the snowball,” have long been ridiculed for ignoring science.
Chairman of the US Senate’s Environment Committee, Inhofe (R-OK) has made a name for himself by peddling a bunch of climate change myths, everything from denying the phenomenon exists to claiming it simply doesn’t matter either way.
But now, thanks to a new global poll by the United Nations, we know it’s not just science that the likes of Inhofe are fighting. They’re also dog-paddling against a powerful tide of public opinion.
Nearly 80 percent of global citizens polled describe themselves as "very concerned" about climate change.
An even larger majority — more than 90 percent — say the new international climate treaty to be signed in Paris in December should have a long-term goal of zero carbon emissions.
In other words, more than 9 out of 10 people on planet Earth think we should stop burning the oil, gas and coal that have helped boost global temperatures to dangerous record highs.
A total of 10,000 people, from the Philippines to Arizona, took part in the poll on June 6. They were carefully chosen to represent the planet’s 7 billion population.
Interestingly, the climate crisis worried similar numbers of people in both poor and rich countries.
And 78 percent said the wealthiest countries should cough up more than the promised $100 billion per year by 2020 to compensate emerging economies for a range of impacts, such as droughts, storms and lost harvests.