Congratulations, America. You have finally rejoined the rest of the world in generally agreeing that an accumulation of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere is causing the globe to warm. Yes, America believes in climate change again. It only took a year of epic droughts, a spate of unruly wildfires, and deeply unpleasant heat waves; it only took America striking an uncanny resemblance to the seventh level of hell. But we’re back.That’s the word from the latest Yale study on the subject — its Project on Climate Change Communication has been studying our nation’s global warming belief patterns for years now. Belief in climate change has returned, and in a big way.From the study: “Americans' belief in the reality of global warming has increased by 13 percentage points over the past two and a half years, from 57 percent in January 2010 to 70 percent in September 2012. At the same time, the number of Americans who say global warming is not happening has declined nearly by half, from 20 percent in January 2010 to only 12 percent today.”70% belief is huge. That’s a bigger cut than believe in evolution; nearly half of the nation believes in creationism, according to recent research.And here’s the kicker — a majority of Americans believe that humans are behind our hot planetary mess, too.“For the first time since 2008, more than half of Americans (54%) believe global warming is caused mostly by human activities, an increase of 8 points since March 2012. Americans who say it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment have declined to 30 percent (from 37% in March).”’Bout time.
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