New pollingof young adults from the Harvard Public Opinion Project is getting deniers excited about the future. It found that 18 to 20-year-olds were the group least inclined to agree with the statement, "Global warming is a proven fact and is mostly caused by emissions from cars and industrial facilities such as power plants."
The polling also showed that only around a third of those surveyed agreed the government should do more on climate at the expense of economic growth. Again, the youngest group was also the most conservative, flying in the face of conventional wisdom.
Chris Mooney at WaPo looks at the survey, noting the "somewhat odd question setup" that splits the "global warming is a proven fact" option into man-made and natural-caused. As a result, respondents were divided about the cause of warming, with 20% thinking the causes are natural and 55% knowing its human-caused. Mooney notes that this is about equal to the general public, leading to the conclusion (and headline) that millennials aren't that different from their parents, at least on climate.
Two other stories from Harvard provide a bit more context, though not necessarily more clarity. One shows that young Americans oppose fracking more than the general population, while the headline of the other piece may provide context as to why young Americans aren't more in line with the science on climate change: "Young American's Growing Distrust of Science."
It seems that—thanks to the controversy (legitimate or manufactured) over GHGs, GMOs, PCBs, vaccines and evolution—scientists no longer enjoy the same level of respect they once did. Ironically then, the generation most enamored by technology may end up being the most mistrusting of those who create it.
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